Comments on Green Lifestyle Consulting: Good for the Environment and Your Budget: Buying i...

Groceries are one of the biggest expenses each mon...

2010-09-07T08:08:14.685-04:00

Groceries are one of the biggest expenses each month for many families, so here are some simple tips from our readers to help you save money on your groceries.

fully support buying in bulk, BUT doing it at a lo...

2010-01-14T20:42:22.595-05:00

fully support buying in bulk, BUT doing it at a local food co-op where (a) you can bring your own containers, as Northwest Mom points out, (b) you can find much more locally produced food, cutting way way down on shipping emissions, and (c) you're much more likely to be buying food that was responsibly grown, processed, shipped, etc.

Just one tiny example: palm oil. It's in an unbelievable amount of the everyday food and hygiene products we buy from major companies who want to make food and other items as inexpensive as possible to attract as many consumers as possible. But the rush to create more palm oil for Pringles and Oreos and Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Dove soap and Johnson & Johnson Body Wash has caused the complete destruction of millions of acres of peat forests, which are the world's major carbon sinks. Fully 4% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions have been linked to the destruction of Indonesia's peat forests. That's an incredible amount of environmental damage you're doing every time you purchase any product made with palm oil. And that's before you even think about the emissions from shipping all that palm oil from Indonesia to factories in China, the U.S., Europe, etc where the "food" is assembled before shipping out to Costco, BJs, etc. Oh, and don't forget about the corn starch and corn syrup (high fructose or otherwise) that probably comes from the United States, and the soy-based ingredients that may come from fields in Brazil that were once lush Amazon forests sucking in CO2 and providing habitat for thousands of species of plant and animal life -- many of whom are now endangered.

cheap food sounds good at face value, but it is cheap for a reason. and most of those reasons are really bad for the environment. I would imagine if you could tally them up, they'd be way worse than any environmental benefits of buying in bulk.

FYI, more on palm oil here: http://us.oneworld.net/article/081508-forest-defenders-target-snack-foods-cosmetics and here: http://www.theproblemwithpalmoil.org/

Also check this: Eating in America: At What Cost?
http://us.oneworld.net/node/142583

It's worth mention buying unpackaged items in ...

2010-01-13T23:55:10.436-05:00

It's worth mention buying unpackaged items in bulk (by the scoop), like flour/sugar/beans/pasta/spices/etc. there are many vendors on etsy.com who sell bulk bags and/or you can take your containers in from home, get them weighed prior to filling (tare weight) and then not have to repackage at all.

Even if you use the store provided plastic or paper bags for the bulk bin foods, you're saving on packaging, as most foods have a cardboard box around the plastic bag.

in the stores here in Oregon, the bulk bin foods are usually fresher and cheaper per pound than even the bulk packs at costco.

All good tips. We "Costco" it when we ca...

2010-01-13T21:03:55.400-05:00

All good tips. We "Costco" it when we can and I also go through PeaPod for groceries (saving money on gas) because with 3 under 3, it is extremely hard to get out!! Following from MBC!