A journey to rid my life of plastic - One step at a time/ Week 3

Selective Shopping - Week 3

This week I made a concerted effort to avoid products packaged in plastic. Some things were easy and others will take some research.

First, I was happy to see the IF YOU CARE brand has a number of products in my Hannaford market. This product line seems to be a great option for household items such as kitchen gloves, baggies, paper towels and parchment. I made sure to reach for olive oil in a glass container instead of plastic. I purchased orange juice in cardboard as well as creamers. I selected cranberry juice in glass bottles too. As I was deciding on these products, I also tried to consider how big a container would make sense for our household. It makes sense to try to buy as big a container as possible, to create less waste in the end. I assume one large container of something is less waste than numerous small containers.

My husband likes deli turkey and at the meat counter I asked them to wrap just in the brown paper. They doubled the brown paper and that worked just fine for the short trip home. At home I used some wax paper as a liner so that the moisture wouldn't leak.

I was stumped by yogurt. All yogurts seem to be packaged in plastic. I also struggled with cookies and crackers. Though their outer package is cardboard, most have a plastic liner. I am going to take a trip to our local food co-op to see if they have more options. I am also stumped by seltzer or sparkling waters - or any bottled water for that matter. Even Perrier seems to be packaged in plastic now. I will do some homework on these things items because they are all part of our regular shopping.


Next week I will report on what I find at the local food co-op and whether there is more variety and also within budget.

NOTE: My father (who can be handy) made us a drying bobble. For those plastic bags we still have hanging around, this is a perfect way to wash, dry and reuse. He bought some dowels, a small piece of 1" pine as a base and wooden balls from the hardware store. He used a hand drill to make some holes in both the base and the balls on top. A little wood glue and paint finished up the project.

Terrific!