Green Tips for Grocery Trips
Here are a few ways you can make planet-friendly choices when grocery shopping.

Less packaging
Avoid foods that come with lots of packaging, and buy larger sizes or bulk items when you can. Individually packaged foods are convenient. But the manufacture, transportation and disposal of packaging uses energy and sends waste to our landfills. Learn about our packaging choices.

Bag the paper and the plastic
Don’t use disposable shopping bags or produce bags. Keep reusable shopping bags handy in your car, and use them every time you shop.

The manufacture of plastic bags releases toxins into the environment. And plastic bags often end up in the ocean or in landfills and can wreak havoc with wildlife. Paper bags aren’t much better; their manufacture often involves the clear-cutting of forests and the use of lots of fuel.

Minimize the road trips
To save gas and reduce your car’s greenhouse gas emissions, avoid frequent trips to the grocery store. Combine grocery shopping with other errands, and buy a week’s worth of food, or more, while you’re there.

Public transit and bicycling will reduce the earth impact of your grocery runs. Carpooling will too, and the company of friends can make shopping more fun. Find public transportation in your area.

Buy organic, when you can
Buy organic to help keep contaminants from our soil, air, rivers and drinking water. Organic farmers don’t use toxic, persistent pesticides or chemical fertilizers. When you buy organic, you help to keep agricultural chemicals from contaminating the earth.

If you can’t go all organic, try to at least buy organic dairy products and meats. Choose organic when buying fruits and veggies that, when produced non-organically, tend to carry high concentrations of pesticides. Our Shopper's Guide to Pesticides will help you choose wisely.

Not just any food you sea
Download a free Seafood Watch Pocket Guide from Monterey Bay Aquarium, and use it to make seafood choices that help keep our oceans healthy. The guide will help you avoid products of fishing or fish-farming practices that harm our oceans.