No food packaging challenge

[JoshuaSpodek]

This wasn't a money-saving exercise, though it ended up that way, and increased independence too, so I figured this community might like reading about it. I hope a few might also try it out. It's easier and more educational than you'd expect.

I decided to go for a week buying no food with packaging I had to throw out -- no boxes, no plastic containers, no rubber bands holding the broccoli together, etc. I ended up going for 2.5 weeks and loved the experience. Now, about six weeks since I started, I'd say the experiment created long-term changes in my eating. Canned food seems increasingly weird. Like, what's the melting temperature of aluminum and why should I pay someone to make a can for me to eat a few beans?

I wrote up the experience for those who want more background or pictures.

• http://joshuaspodek.com/avoiding-food-packaging
• http://joshuaspodek.com/buying-food-packaging-eighteen (lots of pictures)
• http://joshuaspodek.com/bought-food-packaging-2-5-weeks

After thinking about trying it for a while, one day I just decided to start. I wasn't trying to make a perfect rule for myself, since shooting for perfection was holding me back from actually doing it. I planned to use the experience to learn how to do it better the next time.

I allowed myself to finish packaged food I already had and to fill bags I brought to the store. I found the experience easier than I expected.

The result saved more money and time than I expected and taught me more about food than I expected. Some examples:

• My garbage production dropped to almost nothing, a bigger drop than I expected. I think my compost production stayed about the same.
• I saw yet more ways how much food people throw away and garbage they produce. More precisely, I saw how much I threw away, and I take responsibility for my behavior.
• People I told about it liked the idea. It made for interesting conversation without the usual questions I get about where I was getting protein, etc. when I say I don't eat meat.
• I bought and ate closer to the plants (and fungi) than ever.
• I made a habit of soaking new dried legumes when I almost finished the last ones I cooked, which made it easy. I ate a lot more beans than before.
• I went to my corner produce guy and bulk food store more than ever.
• I started looking at packaged food as less appetizing.

Anyway, I recommend trying it. I thought I'd struggle for the week, but ended up finding it easier with each day. I expect it will change my shopping habits for the long term.

Good luck if you try it yourselves!

[meandmyfamily]

Very interesting!  Thank you for sharing!

[dudde_devaru]

Awesome OP. Good job there! I saw the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in March and from then reusing the old plastic containers for groceries. Have used only 7 plastic bags and all are still going strong.

We eat lot of similar veggies and hooked onto Thukpa (Nepalese Soup) for lunch/dinner from a month

[JoshuaSpodek]

Thank you. Yeah, those pictures of the garbage in the Pacific, washing up on the shores of distant beaches... where do people think it comes from? It also motivates me.

I won't lie, getting more fit without any effort motivates me too.

Thanks for the link to the zero waste thread -- http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/zero-waste. I'm heading in that direction. I don't remember the last time my trash bag filled up and it's only about a shopping bag (which I reuse since starting composting means all my trash is dry). Maybe once or twice in 2015. I've also only emptied my recycling once or twice. I'm starting to see recycling as closer to trash than using less now that I've seen how easy it is to use less. The material may go back into circulation but it uses a lot of energy.

Still, it gives me direction and motivation to continue.

[StockBeard]

JoshuaSpodek, what was the impact on your grocery bill? Did it increase? Decrease? Stayed roughly the same?

[JoshuaSpodek]

JoshuaSpodek, what was the impact on your grocery bill? Did it increase? Decrease? Stayed roughly the same?

I didn't keep track, but I think my cost per meal made of groceries probably stayed about the same.

The bigger effect, though was that I didn't eat out, so the total I spent on food dropped a lot, though it might increase my total grocery bill. One meal in a sit-down New York City restaurant is at least ten dollars, which costs a day or two of non-packaged food.

I'd guess I saved about $50 per week.

Coincidence or not, I happened to have a lot of guests in that time and I kept giving them food. How can you not show off and share home-cooked food? So that increased my grocery bill. On the other hand, I took home a couple meals worth of fresh vegetables from social events i went to that they were going to throw out.

Since then I've stuck with the habit of not buying food with packaging and I keep not eating out so that savings is enduring.

[JoshuaSpodek]

have you been here:  www.zerowastehome.com it's great!!

Just checked it out. Inspiring, especially the home pictures.

I do probably 75% or more of her tips, although she has more design skill.

The Refuse part of not wasting takes a lot of effort. Mainstream culture equates giving material stuff with caring. Besides warping emotional expression into consumption, it leads to a social issue of not accepting what you know will be trash, like shopping bags at the store, water bottles (as if we'll die if we go two hours without water), etc. As a social issue, it's hard to turn away garbage in every day life. Habit makes it easier, but retailers constantly push push push packaging and garbage on you. Sometimes you have to refuse something five times before they stop trying to force it on you.

My corner produce vendor is used to me refusing bags, but he still habitually grabs bags to put my produce in. Maybe it's a sales technique to get the produce into bags, but it's weird how automatic behaviors have become that put garbage into the environment.

We all know it. This experiment made it yet more clear because it enabled me to do something about it more.