After moving out of the dorms, I was forced to tackle a college student’s biggest dilemma: grocery shopping. The related problem includes cooking, knowing what to cook, how to cook, all while juggling what to buy at the grocery store. Fortunately, I have grown to enjoy cooking and finding time in my day to prepare a meal. Yet, I often struggle to find time to grocery shop, causing me to over-purchase. Over-purchasing often results in my food expiring far before I planned on using it. This pushed me to investigate sustainable grocery shopping with intentions to reduce food waste and purchase more sustainable products.
Sustainable grocery shopping in of itself is a broad term. This could range from reducing plastic use to reducing food waste associated with overshopping. However, I wanted to share some key aspects that have helped me.
Buy less, shop more frequently
This part is key to reducing food waste, especially for someone like me who has a largely vegetarian diet. A helpful tip in a separate blog is to create a shopping plan for the week. I found that creating a meal plan for the week has encouraged me to not only practice using all my groceries, but also to cook during the week. Another means of reducing food waste includes knowing how to identify food expiration dates, because often the listed food expiration dates are inaccurate. One company called Imperfect Foods seeks to reduce and fight food waste, and highlights how often food companies will write earlier expiration dates (e.g. “Best By…”) and pushes the consumer to discard products that are still safe and edible. The company encourages consumers to use applications such as The FoodKeeper to track the quality of your produce.
Cook with friends or housemates
This one is my particular favorite because it is a really fun way to bond with friends. It can also make a meal slightly more affordable if the groceries are split between an extra person or two. I find that cooking goes by quickly with the extra help in the kitchen. It has encouraged me to make more creative or complicated meals. And there’s a bonus: no excessive leftovers that go un-eaten!
Shop local and organic
As a college student, this aspect of sustainable shopping can be very difficult because it is often the most expensive option. My favorite grocery store is the Davis Co-op, and I often find some of the freshest produce from our local farmers. For those struggling with expenses, however, I did find many on-campus resources at UC Davis that inspire creative cooking. The Pantry, for starters, provides fresh produce for free to students. Similarly, the Student Farm often has excess produce that goes straight to students.