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BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biters cut their number of grocery shopping trips in half, in a year we'll save enough gas to drive a car roundtrip from San Fran to Bozeman 1,365 times.
COCKTAIL FACT
The average supermarket contains about 30,000 items - about 2.5 times as many as it did 20 years ago.
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home › tip library › Eco-Efficient Grocery Shopping
Are you all about the '10 items or fewer' line?
The Bite
It's overrated. It might save a couple minutes, but if you fill up your cart and later, your fridge, you'll make fewer overall trips to the store, and save energy, cash and (dare we say?) even time in the process.The Benefits
- Pollute less. 1/2 of the pollution associated with transporting your food comes from your drive to and from the store (the other 1/2 comes from the transport from farm to distribution center to store).
- Both fridge and freezer are more efficient when you pack them full (but not so full that cold air can't circulate). In a power outage, they'll even hold the temp for twice as long as half-full ones.
- Save cash on electricity bills and gas.
- Save time. Even the time spent parking can make you think twice about going to the store for just a couple items.
Personally Speaking
Last time Heather drove to Rainbow Coop (her fave grocery store in San Fran), it took her 20 minutes just to park. After which point she called up Jen to say, "I'm moving to Bozeman."Wanna Try?
- Stock up the fridge, but be smart about your produce choices so that you aren't letting all your new goodies spoil before you get a chance to eat 'em.
- Fridge empty? Pack it with water-filled containers to keep efficiency high.
- Ideal Bite's BYOB Tip - always remember to bring your own bag to the store.
Jan 05,2007
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Packing It In
When we first started the Bite, during interviews, Jen and I were often asked "Which one of you is more green?"
The answer was always one of my wicked little pleasures in the workday. Although Jen is greener than I am - hands down - at the time, I was living in Brooklyn. In NY, I took public transit everywhere, and if I needed organic milk, well, I could just walk to my little corner deli and get all the organic goodies I wanted. Meanwhile, Jen was living in a small town in Montana, an hour's drive from the closest co-op. Thus her trip to get HER organic milk packed a somewhat bigger footprint.
So for one glorious moment, I could feel smug and green and good for the planet (until Jen would remind me and the interviewer that she was a vegetarian, which pretty much trumps the eco-impact of my daily diet in one swift play).
Still - it's a scary stat, and one worth noting: when we talk about the carbon output of the foods you eat - the embodied energy of your grocery choices - a full HALF of the fuel used to get that strawberry to your table comes from your own drive to the store.
So pack it in, kids. Load up not only the car, but also the fridge (which works better when full anyway).
-Heather... off to feel guilty as I toss out the rotting produce I forget to eat before I headed to Europe...
Biter Comments...
I definitely try to pack it in...as I'm buying for 4, but my problem is that I don't always know what to eat first. Does anyone know which foods spoil more quickly than others? Is there a rule of thumb or perhaps a website that I could refer to?
Thanks biters!
Interesting about the fridge/freezer efficiency. Thanks for that.
But I agree with Shawn: why not take public transportation or walk to buy fresh for the day (the traditional European way) instead of driving to buy in bulk and (let's be realistic) throw out what you don't use?
SF has one of the best public transportation systems in the country, Heather. You could go months there without driving to the store. Maybe not to Rainbow, but there are many other worthy contenders for your dollar, no?
When you do drive to the store, Wynn, I think it's worthwhile to stock up on pantry items that will keep indefinitely. Think in terms of what cuisine type you cook most often: for Italian/Med, olive oil, tomato paste, red papper flakes, canned tomatoes, capers, canned white beans and chickpeas, dried and frozen pasta, frozen vegetables, dried oregano, bay leaves and so on.
For Asian, canola oil, sesame oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, miso paste, chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, coconut milk, veg & chicken stock, peanut butter and so on.
Every time I go to the store to pick up fresh ingredients for the day or half-week, I do a quick check of our pantry and pick up the things we're low on. With a constantly stocked pantry, you're better able to address whatever you're craving that day.
(Cautional: personal plug coming next)
At Cookthink.com (which will launch in a month and a half), we're going to address all of this in a really systematic (some would say obsessive) way. In the meantime, you can catch up with us at our blog or by signing up for our weekly ingredient-focused email.
One of the stores we shop at is only about a mile away, so sometimes we walk over, bringing backpacks, etc. to put everything into -- saves on paper/plastic bags as well as gas. Some things we can only get three stores that are a couple of towns over, so I try to get everything I need from those stores once every few months, plus combine going to them with going to some other stores or events (monthly meetings in that town), so I'm not just going a long distance to shop at one store.
And while fresh fruit and veggies are nice (esp. in season!), I usually stock some dried fruits and nuts for healthy snacking. And they travel well too, so great for long trips, camping, hikes, etc., no freezer packs needed.
I'm really glad you mentioned taking public transit, Heather. I don't know if today's Bite was at all spurred by that incendiary article in The Economist last month (Good Food--Good Food?), but as an urban planning grad student, I feel compelled to say that the root problem lies in the way we plan most cities in America. Totally car dependent. Planning ahead to make fewer trips to the store and linking trips are great personal steps to take, but we've all got to push for compact development and public transit if we want to shop like Europeans.
When I lived close to a store I used to walk to get fresh food everyday but now I live 20 minutes from a grocery store. I find that it also saves money to go food shopping less frequently because the more you go the more you buy. My goal is once every 10 days. We eat the fresh produce first and then switch to frozen. In the summer there is a farmer's market I stop at for produce.
Hey all,
I finally bit the bullet and started menu planning. It works! Nothing fancy in my case, just labeled Pasta night, bean night, soup night, grill night, Easy night (something from Amy's), and a creative night, where I actually use a recipe and make something new. Then I listed faves under each category, and use that list to make a weekly plan. From there, a grocery list, with lunch, breakfast, and snacks added.
There are fancy versions of menu planning all over the web, and a nice one from Saving Dinner. I go after basketball on Thursdays since they are close by and can go the week on one trip for a family of 4. It truly is easier.
Of course, being in Europe right now, I have the little store and bakery within walking distance for emergencys, but still.
Yep, when it came to menu planning , resistance was not futile, just stupid.
You can also try to combine your grocery shopping with another trip. For example, I have to go down to Princeton (about a 45-minute drive) once a week for dance practice, so I combine this excursion with a trip to the Whole Earth Center (a superb natural foods store) for organic produce and bulk goods. Then I fill in the gaps by going on foot a few times a week to our local supermarket and picking up a few items at a time to carry home in my handy little tote bag.
The info on the frig being packed surprised me...I thought it was just the opposite so thanks!
RE: keeping lots of veggies fresher, longer... here is my big tip ...buy these evert-fresh veggie bags and extend the life of your produce. They really work. The produce also retains higher amounts of vitamins when stored in these bags. There's a cave in Japan where the food doesn't rot as quickly and they discovered it's the mineral in the cave. Somebody figured out how to coat the inside of these bags with that mineral!
you can buy them at Whole Foods in the produce section or search online. Be sure to put one veggie type in each bag, press the air out against your body and secure top w/a twist tie. The bags are reusable for years but the mineral wears out after about 10 uses. I take mine to the store and wrap my produce there before check out so I don't use any additional plastic bags. These rock!
http://www.evert-fresh.com/
They also keep fresh cut flowers fresh...great for a special event.
Cheers to all,
Suzanne
I snowed a foot today, and I still rode my bike to work. I have a basket and carry a messenger bag so quick runs to the grocery store not only reduce the amount I drive, but also give my legs a good burn with all the additional weight... And i love my vitamin cottage canvas sack!
I was surprised to read the thing about having containers of water in the fridge increase efficiency? Is that for real (ie, what's the footnote?)
I'll really do that but haven't seen it on any of the "reduce your carbon footprint" top ten lists I've seen over the past few months ...
I live in a pretty "green" city with great public transportation. I don't own a car and I know a lot of people who don't......and I know that's common on the east coast.....but the left???
Still.....I love grocery shopping online. It's like a gift having someone bring it to my door. And we have a fabulous organic/sustainable grocery that delivers. Once the farmer's market closes that's my main way to shop.
Jo-
The Consumer Energy Center website (from the CA Energy Commission) has the containers tricks and many other energy-saving fridge tips:
http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/appliances/refrigerators.html
The American Red Cross details how packing your fridge full can help preserve food during a blackout:
"If you have space in your refrigerator or freezer, consider filling plastic containers with water, leaving about an inch of space inside each one. (Remember, water expands as it freezes, so it is important to leave room in the container for the expanded water). Place the containers in the refrigerator and freezer. This chilled or frozen water will help keep food cold if the power goes out, by displacing air that can warm up quickly with water or ice that keeps cold for several hours without additional refrigeration."
http://www.redcross.org/general/0,1082,0_92_4418,00.html
I always feel better with a stocked fridge...
usually i can get away with doing one major shopping trip every couple of weeks...and walk to the neighborhood grocerie for supplements such as additional vegs or milk...it's taken a while to learn to get enough vegs so that i have plenty, but not more than i'll eat before it goes bad...
i'm usually on my bike or the bus anyway...
sometimes when i'm out doing something with my mother or brother, i ask them to drive me to the store on the way home...but that isn't too often...
i figure if i ever learn to drive and get a car...i'll get lazy and drive all the time...i'd rather be active, ride my bike and not have to worry about driving in traffic...
I almost always ride my bicycle to the store. It's a recumbent bike with lots of luggage space (including great panniers made from recycled four-gallon oyster buckets by a company called Cobbworks) so it can carry a lot of groceries in one trip.
Just curious about the source of the stat that 1/2 of the transpo cost comes from the drive to the store? How did you arrive at that figure? It seems it would vary wildly depending on how far one lives from one's store and how far one's food travels. If I drive (or walk) 1 mile to the store to pick up groceries transported 1500 miles (the national avg distance), then I'm not contributing half the pollution for sure!
For those who ride their bikes, you should check out the XtraCycle. It gives your bike the carrying capacity of a (very) small car without the pain of hauling a trailer around. Very cool!
According to a recent report from the UN (Livestock's Long Shadow), animal agriculture produces 18% of greenhouse gases--more than all transportation combined.
So while it's great to debate modes of transportation, it seems much more pressing to get people to examine what they eat.
Meat (and dairy and eggs) are killing the planet faster than our cars (and planes and boats and trains).
I am an inventor. My latest invention was developed to simplify the chore of carrying and managing all those bulky plastic bags we all get, and hate, from the supermarket. Just one of my easy carry bag handles will allow the user to carry up to 50 pounds of groceries home, to your door, in just one trip. If you drive to the supermarket, my easy carry plastic bags handles will keep all your plastic bags of groceries upright and together. Your groceries will never spill on the floor, or in your trunk. They're easy to use, efficient, and inexpensive. You can learn more at http://www.baggybuddy.com
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Shawn | January 05, 2007 at 05:05 AM