We have grown up thinking that cheap food is good food.
Statistically, Americans spend a smaller percentage of our budget on food. But buying cheap food isn’t necessarily a good
thing. We have lost sight of purchasing
food that is of good value. That is, buying
food that is good for us and the environment. That one dollar burger at a fast
food chain is cheap, but it does more harm than good.
Many of you will be tempted to live off of ramen, fast-food,
and other “cheap” foods because you feel that eating in an environmentally
responsible manner is too costly. However, eating sustainably doesn’t mean you
have to start spending a fortune. There is such a thing as foods that are
low-priced and low-impact. That’s why I’m going to share what I learned trying
my best to eat sustainably while on a tight budget, while shopping a big chain
grocery store.
Yes. You heard me right. “A big chain grocery store?” you ask, “There’s
no way those things are environmentally sound…”
The truth is, there are good, sustainable choices you
can make at a chain grocery store. Not every town will be blessed with a co-op
(and they tend to be on the expensive side anyway), so I feel it is an
important skill to know how to navigate a store that a majority of you will be
visiting regularly.
Before I go on, there is one skill you are going to
have to have in order to make this work: imagination. Basic cooking doesn’t
take a ton of skill, but it does take a lot of imagination. Sustainable meals
are not pre-packaged meals, and so it’s up to you to put together a good
combination of foods. The internet will be helpful in teaching you some of the
basics of cooking as well as looking up simple recipes. Once you have the
basics down, the rest is like coming up with different chemistry experiments. Eating
sustainably will also require a few more extra minutes in preparing a meal in some
cases.
Before we head out the door, there are a few things
you should consider doing. One of the hardest things I had to do was plan what
I was going to eat that week. I mean, who knows what they are hungry for 5 or 6
days from now? However, I found I could purchase less food this way because I
could figure out items that could be used for multiple meals. If I hadn’t made
some sort of a plan, I probably would have ended up buying way more
“just-in-case” foods that would sit around, unused, taking up space, and
generally being a nuisance. Also, I hated throwing out food that went bad
because that was like throwing out the little money that I had.
Now it’s time to go to the store! The first thing you
need to know about the store is the layout- The entrance to grocery stores are
usually where the fruits and vegetables are located, setting your mind to think
that everything in the store is fresh and healthy. Around of the rest of the
outside of the store lie the other basic food groups: fresh breads, dairy,
eggs, and meat. However, most people
tend to stray off of this circular path and go into the centerpiece of the
store: the aisles. Things found in the aisles tend to be processed food like
cookies, crackers, fruit snacks, cereals, ramen noodles, and mac n’ cheese.
We’re not going to be visiting the aisles just yet.
Instead, we’re going to travel around the sustainable ring of the grocery
store.
PRODUCE
One thing you will
need to learn to love and embrace is fruits and vegetables. Eating lower on the
food chain ensures you are efficiently using resources; it takes 13 pounds of
grains or plants to produce just one pound of beef. If we all ate more produce
and less meat crop space could be used to grow food directly for human
consumption rather than for livestock feed.
However, simply switching to a plant and fruit based
diet does not automatically mean you are eating very sustainably. Every time
you eat a fruit that is not local, you are eating fossil fuel.
No, you’re not LITERALLY ingesting it, but some fruits
you eat had to travel long distances to get to you. Choosing locally-grown
produce decreases distance, and so reduces the energy needed to transport or
refrigerate the food. It also allows you to know exactly where your food came
from; in some cases, the source is nearby so you can check it out yourself! Many
supermarkets even have sections of unpackaged produce labeled “locally grown”.
DAIRY/EGGS
Most
dairy-products and eggs come from animals that are factory farmed. These factory
farms are resource suckers. It would be wise to cut down on the overall amount
of dairy and eggs that go into your shopping cart. For the dairy and egg
products you do purchase, look for higher welfare animal products. These farms
will be smaller in scale and provide a closer reality to the “closed loop”
model, a model in which there is no such thing as “waste”, but continual
inputs.
MEAT
Heading over to the meat, this is where a big reality
check might set in, especially people like me on a tight budget. There’s no way
of getting around it: good meat is EXPENSIVE. I could not bring myself to eliminate meat
entirely from my diet, even though it would have cut my grocery bill
substantially. Because of cost, my partner and I were limited to 1.5 chicken
breasts each a week for our meat intake.
This turns out to
be enough for a sustainable diet that includes meat. As mentioned above, raising animals takes a
lot of resources and space.
Something I
learned recently is that, like produce, meat has seasons too! While in today’s
factory-farmed culture meat can be abundant in all seasons, you can help
support better practices by buying sustainable meat when it is in season. Meat
bought in the proper season will taste better too! In the summer, your meat purchases should be
chicken because that is the time when the extra broilers not used for
egg-laying in the spring are now nice and plump. In the winter, cows and pigs
have extra fat stored from foraging in the fall and so should be purchased
then.
I recommend going
up to the deli to get your meat. There is less packaging, and you can get
EXACTLY the amount of meat you want, thus reducing waste! Plus, it might be fun
to talk to an actual human being while at the store.
ROLLING INTO THE AISLES
Now, if there is anything else you require, it is time
to go into the aisles. However, as I mentioned earlier, you would be better off
avoiding the aisles as much as possible. I found out rather quickly that once I
had gathered up items that were sustainable and healthy, I had little to no
money left for all of those delicious comfort foods.
By now you have become overwhelmed with, and maybe
even angry, at the prospect of having to GIVE UP so many of the foods that you
love.
I’m not outright BANNING you from ever buying these foods.
However, I am trying to move you away from resorting to foods like mac n’
cheese for a majority of your meals. Foods like this are a special treat, not a
staple pantry item. I’m not going to lie. Not being able to have chips,
cookies, and the like available to me every day of the week wasn’t easy to
swallow at first. However, one thing that really clicked for me was the cost of
such items. Oreos cost about four dollars a package. I can buy potentially more
food that’s better for me with those four dollars, like four giant bell
peppers. Also, those four giant bell
peppers will be used for various uses in many meals during the week, while
Oreos won’t even last that long. I don’t know about you, but those Oreos last
maybe a DAY or two with me around.
One thing to keep in mind is that we’re not perfect and
we can treat ourselves to fun snack foods every
once and a while. The goal here is not to restrict what one should eat, but
to understand that some foods, when eaten at a high rate, contribute to both
health and environmental problems. I
would also suggest checking out alternatives when they are available. For
example, when you have those Mac n’ Cheese cravings I would recommend buying
Annie’s Organic/Natural Mac n’ Cheese products. It’s a different take on a
comfort food classic, but it’s very delicious and a bit more sustainable.
You might also find that some of the new sustainable recipes
you come up with become comfort foods in themselves. This was the case for me
and my newfound love for stuffed peppers. The great thing about stuffed peppers
is the variety of ways you could prepare it. Don’t forget the sprinkling of
cheese at the top!
I will admit, at the present time, it isn’t always easy
to decipher what is good. I was never
able to remember which food items had which problems under the pressure of the
grocery store lights. So, here are some helpful questions to ask yourself when
buying a food item:
- Do
you NEED this food item to survive?
- Is
the food item in season?
- Is
the food item local?
- Is
the food item organic?
-Organic food can
be expensive, so it is helpful to prioritize which foods are worth buying
organic, such as fruits and vegetables that a prone to pesticide contamination.
- Is
the food item humane/fair trade/ grass-fed ?
-Labels like Free
Range, Cruelty-Free, and Eco-Friendly have vague or no definitions and
standards, and so are not regulated. For example, Free Range poultry means that
chickens had access to outdoors, but does not specify how much space or time
was allotted to the chickens.
If you can answer “Yes!” two at least two of these questions about the
food item you are purchasing, then you are well on your way to living a more
sustainable and healthy life!
Well, maybe not single-handedly, but you are making a
difference. ]Once you become more conscious of your food choices and get the
hang of buying more sustainably, there are a variety of other ways you can
influence change in the food system. You can help imagine a future food system
where my guide will become obsolete because it will be hard to make the wrong
choice in what food to buy and eat. Until then, I hope this quick tour has made
you ponder not only how you would answer the question “what should I eat?”, but
“what am I eating?” and “where did it come from?” as well.
For more information, see:
McMann Liz. “Whole Foods on a Budget,” and “Deciphering Product Labels” in the 2012 Annual Do It Green! Magazine.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s
Dilemma.
