To go back to non eco friendly versions to save money?

[troobleflooble]

For a while now I've been saving old coffee jars to store my dry goods in - I live in a very damp property so anything in a papery bag (eg flour) tends to get mouldy and spoiled. These jars are the perfect size to stack in my cupboard and fill the space really nicely. The only slightly annoying thing is that standard size packs of rice, pasta etc are too big for one jar so I end up having to decant them into 2 or more.

So I was really excited when I found a local zero waste store where I could take all my jars to fill with all my dry goods, I could get the perfect amounts and not have to worry about all the plastic packaging.

But. I am on a very low income and a strict budget. I noticed after my last trip to the store that actually it was working out almost double the price that I could buy the stuff I need for a lesser amount! For example, I could buy 2 1kg bags of oats from Aldi (where I normally shop) for £1.50. The zero waste store worked out at 2.56 for 1.2kg. Literally the only advantage is that I bring my own container and have no packaging waste.

I feel bad but wibu to revert back to supermarket stuff? I just don't think I can justify more money for less stuff if the only difference is slightly better quality and more eco friendly 😞

I recently filled my vinegar bottle up from a no waste shop. It was £2.50! I pay 26p normally. You can only do what you can afford, saving the planet should be on corporations not people ona budget.

You need to take care of yourself first. For every person on the breadline doing what you are, there is a millionaire travelling in their private jet.

No. Better to save the money you need. If in the future you have more money, go back to using the eco store then. If I have enough money I will buy Ecover washing powder etc but if my money is running out I will just get supermarket own brand to tide me over.

You can only do what you can afford, saving the planet should be on corporations not people ona budget.

Completely agree with this

OP YANBU

Sadly, being eco friendly or buying food from local farmers is a luxury not everyone can afford.

not wasting food is the most eco thing you can do. Please don't stretch yourself.

Also sainsburys own label cleaning products are cheap, non animal tested and green.

Your financial situation is more pressing for you right now. I've always said that being able to be environmentally conscious is a privileged position

Absolutely don't feel bad!
Not all things will work for you

It's admirable you want to do your part, but if it's not affordable it's not sustainable. Shops and countries should be working on making biodegradable packaging instead of creating an elite eco market.

This is something that really annoys me about the whole.eco movement. Like people protesting palm oil when it's the most economical product to use and the source of many people in poorer countries livelihood.
I'd personally keep doing the jar thing
with your bagged products because it sounds like a neat solution and ensures you don't get things spoiled so create excess waste.

How much packaging are you actually saving compared to the additional cost? If you have an Asian grocery shop near you, can you buy 5kg bags of rice and so on, choose the biggest sizes of items available that you will actually use so less overall plastic? Aldi organic oats are in paper bags. It's all a drop in the ocean compared with the waste produced by businesses though.

Plus that unpackaged stuff must come in a container of sorts.
They probably go to Aldi and decant the packaged oats into their dispenser

I definitely will be keeping the jars! They work really well it's just a shame that it's so much more expensive to go to the zero waste place because I honestly was super excited to find this place and really wish it were more doable for me at the moment. I'm very good at not wasting food 😁

There's a farm near me that produces extremely good quality and high welfare meat and dairy, they do deliveries and I've had it before and it's SO good! I'd love to buy all my meat from there but it's about three times the price of supermarket meat. It's a goal I'm working towards.

You can only do what you can afford, saving the planet should be on corporations not people ona budget

My thoughts exactly .

But as usual let’s shout at the working classes about what they should And should not be doing rather than making changes at the top

Lidl's 1kg oats are inexpensive and come in paper sacks 😊

It's a shame but I think you have to look after yourself first too.

The Aldi/Lidi oats are exactly the ones I'm thinking of 😂 I still have to decant them into other containers but I get so much more for the money!

OP, I work in sustainability - your consumer choices have to be sustainable for you as well. If it doesn’t work for your budget, it doesn’t work.

There are so many layers to what makes something ‘eco-friendly’ to the point that eco-friendly doesn’t really mean very much anymore - it’s the details that go into making it sustainable that do. And that’s the same for the individual choices and changes we make, or don’t make. And it’s absolutely ok to not be able to do everything.

My hope is we get to the point where zero waste etc is the norm and there’s not a premium on it. Shopping this way shouldn’t be a luxury.

Until then, you do what you need to.

It makes me so cross that being environmentally friendly is now a luxury. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s DM was a proper knit your own yoghurt type, but so much of it was about saving money, and that often equalled being environmentally beneficial as well.

It's like green energy tariffs - why are these more expensive? Why do they add a green premium to these tarriffs to provide more research into green energy etc - why is this not added to the normal tarriffs to bring those up in price to fund research?

You need to pick your battles.

I would also factor in if you have to go to two shops (the sustainable one and your regular one, as I would think most no packaging shops don't sell the full range of chilled/frozen/fresh) what is the environmental impact of the extra journey vs the packaging.

YANBU. Do not make yourself poorer for the sake of this.

In the supermarket trying buying things that come in recyclable packaging. Some vinegar comes in glass, for example. Maybe go to the no packaging store for things that come in plastic (like pasta, wtf?!)

Switch to shopping in Iceland instead. They have reduced plastic by about 70% and are determined to stop use totally.

Also switch to glass bottle products eg ketchup, mayo etc.

Get an eco egg. Buy big bags of rice etc as it works out less plastic than the little ones.

You can only do what you can, within your circumstances.

I've chosen what is important to us and what we can prioritise within our budget. Beyond that, money/time/convenience takes over.