Most of us are trying to be more conscious about being eco-friendly these days, and thankfully there are some really easy things you can do to be just a little bit more sustainable in your day-to-day life. Thinking more sustainably about your weekly shopping is a great place to start, and takes virtually no effort, so it really is a win win situation!
Firstly, make sure you’ve got your own bags with you when you go out to buy anything. It sounds simple enough, but we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve totally forgotten and had to buy new ones, or juggle our shopping home in our arms. To avoid this, keep an emergency bag or two in your handbag, changing bag, or car – that way you’ll never get caught short at the checkout even if you didn’t think about bags when you left home! Reusing bags you already have is the best solution here, but if they’re getting a bit worse for wear, try getting something like a Turtle Bag – they fold up tiny, but hold loads when you’re using them.
The next thing you can do is shop local! Instead of getting everything from a supermarket, find your local greengrocers, cheesemongers, or butchers to tick off some of the things on your list. Even if you can’t get your whole weekly shop from local shops, just shopping local more than usual will have a great impact. You’ll be keeping money in the local economy, and probably buying from somewhere that contributes a whole lot less to CO2 emissions. It’s a bonus if you can walk to your local shops instead of taking a car!
If you start shopping local a bit more, you’ll probably find that a lot less of your produce comes in unnecessary packaging. Even if you need to get things from a big supermarket, this is something to be mindful of – wherever you can, go for the option with less packaging if you can. When it comes to fruit and veg, you can take your own mesh bag, or just buy it loose, instead of using the little plastic bags that supermarkets tend to provide. One of the best ways to reduce the amount of single use plastic you use is to find your local refill shop. Most towns and cities have them, and you just take your own bags, bottles, and jars to fill!
However you decide to try and do your bit with sustainable shopping, remember that it’s not all or nothing, and every little thing helps!
Violet x
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