Fluther challenge: How many foods can you name, not including fresh fruits and vegetables, that you buy from a grocery store that don't come pre-packaged in some way, in some sort of plastic?

My grocery store has a meat section that’s kind of like a butcher shop, they cut up the meat for you. Beef, sausages, whatever. Obviously they wrap it when they give you it, but otherwise it isn’t pre-packaged.
There’s also coffee beans, serve yourself style, and a candy section, once again you fill a bag yourself.
Sometimes there’s food on the floor, and…wait. XD

Edit, I forgot, there’s also a fish section that works like the mini butcher place. While there is packaged fish, the ones behind the counter aren’t, and there’s also a lobster tank.

Meat, fish, bulk foods (nuts, grains, etc), baked goods, bread, olive bar, coffee, fresh pasta.

@DoNotKnow Oh right, olive bar and bread, we also have that.

Meat
nut butters
bulk foods (nuts, granola, grains)
bread

@Symbeline and @DoNotKnow, what do they wrap the meat in when they give it to you? And what do you do with it when you get home? Do you eat it right away, or do you store it?

All the baked goods we have come in plastic of some kind because it goes stale really quickly if it isn’t.

What do you put bulk foods, such as nuts and grains in to carry them around?

Coffee comes in cans.

What is “fresh” pasta?

The word “Bread” keeps re-occuring. Bread goes stale pretty fast. How do they keep it from getting hard in just a couple of hours?

The meat gets wrapped in paper (although, come to think of it, it’s weighed on a sheet of thin plastic, and that’s actually included most of the time). And I buy meat that I plan on eating within 24 hours (max).

You have paper bags to take the baked goods home.

You can serve up and weigh the bulk goods in a plastic bag (or I suppose you could bring your own – or use paper).

Coffee from a can?

We have a fresh pasta bar (uncooked), but I don’t think that’s very common, actually.

You buy the bread you plan on eating that day. Then, you can make some great things with stale bread over the next couple of days (baked french toast, for example).

I’m actually seeing that many of the things I provided in my list are disqualified because they are eventually brought home in plastic of some kind – even if not pre-packaged.

Rice, eggs, sugar, flour, cereals, biscuits and cheese.

Bread is stored in the shelves and bought in paper bags, at my local grocery store. Pasta is sold either in plastic bags or cartons.

Our grocery store does make specialty bread. But…it’s in a paper wrap that has plastic on the inside. I use what I want for a meal, then freeze the rest, and take what I want as I go. Lasts forever, almost. OK, a month.

Other than that, for daily sandwiches and grandkids and stuff, we just go with whatever inexpensive sandwich breads they have on the shelves.

The only rice I can think of comes in plastic sacks.

I’ve never seen biscuits for sale at the grocery store. I just use Bisquick to make my own…which has a plastic sack inside the box.

Also, the only cheese I have seen, even specialty cheeses, are wrapped in plastic. Cheese is another of those things that goes bad quickly when exposed to air.

I’m just trying to figure out how to buy and store things without the use of plastic.

The meat is wrapped in some paper thing, then they put that in like this giant ziplock bag. If I buy meat it’s usually to eat it right away, but some does get stored in the freezer. Some types of meat last a few days, I use it for sandwiches. I’m guessing it’s the same for fish, but it’s expensive as fuck and I’ve never actually bought any couhter fish.

For your bread question, I have no clue how they keep it fresh. My guess is that it’s made on the spot and what isn’t sold is chucked at the end of the day. It has to be said, that bread is kind of wrapped…baguettes and shit are stored in paper bags. But the bags aren’t sealed.

For the nuts, well we don’t have a nuts section, not one that I’ve seen anyway. If there is one, it’s probably where the candies are.

And finally the coffee beans, there’s bags you grab and put the beans in. You can also grind the beans yourself with a machine they have there, and then you put your coffee in those same bags. (which can be sealed)

What are the coffee bags made of? Plain paper? Or are they lined with thin plastic? My husband can go through a large can of coffee in two weeks! We’d go broke trying to keep him in specialty coffees, even if our local store offered the beans and the grinder…which it doesn’t.

It used to be the coffee containers were made of metal. They were great for storing old cooking grease in. They’re plastic now, but they can be recycled, which kind of goes to the crux of my question, which I realize I didn’t specify, which was how to reduce the plastic foot print in the landfills. Plastic never decomposes.

I don’t think most of us realize how many things wind up in plastic, even if it’s kind of hidden. If it’s not at the store, it’s what we put it in when we get home, to freeze it. Nothing beats plastic for keep things from getting stale.

It seems like sooner or later everything ends up in plastic. It’s not like the days when the mom walked to the market and good all the food for their meals for that day.

I guess I could by 5 or 6 of those cloth sacks though, and use them for fruits and veggies and the peanuts they have out in a big bin once a year, because, obviously, I don’t freeze those.

Other than that, I just don’t know how to get away from plastic.

Hm, I don’t remember what the bags are made of…I only bought beans once. I always get canned coffee, because yes, that posh bean shit costs tons.

Geez. I went out on the deck and saw the new cooler we bought…plastic. Someday it will wind up in the trash.

My keyboard, plastic.

Yeah, I’m thinking those coffee bags are lined with thin plastic. I used to be a coffee snob and only buy beans that were roasted within a few days. But I just don’t have access to freshly roasted beans right now. I just buy Peet’s. You can usually find it for $6.99 for a 12oz bag (which I believe is some kind of aluminum-ish?).

Note: Ask your local market if you can bring your own containers for bulk foods (and even meat). Depending on local health laws and store policy, they may allow it.

I’ll look into it. Thanks DNK.

I get my meat wrapped in waxed paper by the butcher. Nut butters I get in a reusable container. Bread doesn’t go stale if you eat it right away.

Coffee comes in wax coated bags from local roasters.

I can’t eat an entire loaf of French bread, like the one my husband just bought “right away.” I can’t. It came in a “paper’ bag, but the bread itself came in a plastic bag inside the paper bag. I just took a couple of pieces out to make a tomato sandwich and put the rest in the freezer. It will last a month that way. I have just got to figure out what I can do with all of the filmy plastic though.

@zenvelo also, I noted that I am from a small town. We don’t have such amenities as “local roasters.”

What prompted this was a Jelly condescendingly telling me that if I was so worried about it, to quit buying “pre packaged foods.”
As this thread shows, it’s almost impossible to buy foods that doesn’t make it’s way into plastic sooner or later, even whether we realize it or not. The meat the butcher wraps for us is wrapped in plastic before it’s wrapped in butcher paper.

If it didn’t make it’s way into plastic we’d be throwing away about half of what we buy.

Since you specified “pre-packaged”, I can only suppose you mean at the source.
I say more than half, as I shop mostly at co-ops and natural food sources where I take my own containers. A lot of them are plastic, yes, but they are being washed and re-used often. This has more to do with my very dicey gut than with being environmentally absolute, as I tend to have rather unpleasant consequences if I don’t eat very carefully.

That said, yes, plastic is ubiquitous, and avoiding it is almost impossible. I am often frustrated by how difficult it is to avoid it.

Well, pre packaged could also mean that the butcher at the grocery store grinds up the hamburger, puts in in a Styrofoam tray :(, slaps cling wrap on and puts it out. I don’t think the meat comes to the store pre-ground (I could be wrong.) I don’t know if I can get it any other way, but I’ll have to ask. (But it will go into a ziplock bag for freezing when we get home.)

Putting store baked bread in a plastic sleeve before you put it on the shelf could be considered “pre packaged” too.

I mean, if you pick it up and stick it in your cart, and it’s wrapped up, it’s pre packaged. And, in my experience, virtually everything in the store is.

The only thing I think I could control would be be individual onions, potatoes, that kind of thing. They make cloth bags and we could use that.

Problem…my husband does most of the shopping, and I’m not sure he’ll be OK with it. For one thing, he’d have to remember to take the bags….

I just have some rearranging to do…I mean, we don’t want tomatoes and stuff rolling around loose in the fridge.

Dang. I just need to start using those snap lid containers. That will help a lot. Works like plastic, but it’s washable.

Well, that’s what I meant. I bring my own containers, trying not to take new plastic home.
I live in an area of choice, however, it must be difficult in your small town, a lot of stores don’t let customers use their own packaging.

I’‘m just all into recycling now. I’ve always had a twinge throwing plastic away. But I got my recycle dumpster day before yesterday so I’m on a roll. I’m seriously impressed with how much goes in there that would normally go in the trash. But I’m stalled out on the thin plastic stuff. Doing some more research.

This has been an eye opener, really.

Hmm, do stray dogs count?

9½

See, I just don’t that our grocery store would do the “bring your own container” thing (it is part of a large chain…Dillions.) I mean, they don’t know if I’ve thoroughly cleaned it or not. If there is rotting residue it could contaminate all the new meat then I get sick and die and then they get sued! But I will ask.

No, @ragingloli, stray dogs don’t count. Only well cared for and loved dogs count.

I too live in a rural area of the Midwest.

Buy locally, the more local the better:
** We have a regional dairy that offers milk and some other dairy products in glass. I can still buy quarts in cardboard cartons.
** Most of my meat comes from a small (12–15 stores) regional grocery that runs the best meat deals around. David, the butcher at the store I visit, will give me any size package I want (regardless of Family Pack pricing) and package it any way I like. I’m sure the gal at the deli would do the same for cooked meat and cheese.
** Farmer’s Market in season. If you’re really serious about it, you can buy in quantity and can your own. I have a friend that cans all her own vegetables and many meats. I talked to her the other day and they were canning…ham. Bone-in hams were clearanced due to age, so they were cutting the meat from the bone and canning it.
** Bread, rolls and sweets from a bakery are fresher than pre-packaged and are likely packed in paper or a pasteboard box. Buy a new or vintage Bread Box and go retro by wrapping your bread in waxed paper. Once upon a time before the universal plastic wrapper, store bought baked goods came wrapped in waxed paper with a paper label to hold it all together.

* Cereal, dried fruit, gains, nuts, candies, etc. etc are available in the bulk food section, and I don’t see how they could object to you using the waxed paper bags widely available. They’re recyclable and they can easily see the it’s the product say it is.
* Meat and seafood can be wrapped in parchment paper for freezing.
* You can still buy frozen veggies in those little cardboard bricks.

What have I left out?

Oh, and check these out for the fridge.

Well, where ever in the midwest you live, you certainly have more options than I have.
♦ We don’t have a local dairy
♦ we don’t have a local bakery
♦ we don’t have a “bulk” section at all so that rules out cereal, dried fruit, grains ,nuts candies, etc. ect.

Meat and seafood can be wrapped in parchment paper for freezing but what is it wrapped in when it comes from the store?

The grocery store has the same foods as the Farmer’s Market and they are not pre-packaged so that’s a wash, as far as this question is concerned.

I couldn’t handle that. We have a farmer two miles away that markets his own products, yogurt, milk etc in his store, a Byrne Dairy, and amazing bakery nearby, and two amazing bulk food stores within 20 minutes. I love them.

Well, must be nice. Nothing like that here. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a dairy farm around here. I think most of them are in Western Kansas, 4 or 5 hours away.

Well, as I said, the parameters of the question leave me with limited options of whether or not my food is “pre-packaged.” Most of it is, in one way or another. Even the fresh bread the in-store bakery baked is “pre-packaged,” in a way that gives one the impression that it’s paper but it really involves plastic when you look closer. It’s good though. :D

Pretty sure I could have the butcher give me ground beef, freshly ground upon request, but again, probably wrapped in butcher paper, but with a thin bit of plastic between the meat and the paper.
Although “fresh” isn’t part of the question, the beef he may give is no fresher than the beef that’s put out. Just not packaged the same.

Dillon’s is part of Kroger, which is 10 times the size of Hy-Vee, and Hy-Vee has bulk in my area. Kroger closed the area stores because the market was too small and remote.

I live near towns of under 20,000 and over 40,000 and we have at least 3 independent bakeries, 2–3 butcher/delis, 2 cheese shops (where they make or commission the cheese), an organic market, a regional dairy, a shrimp farm, a fresh fish market, and a chocolate/candy company. Another 9 miles adds 2 more butcher/deli. I have people ask me if I want to ‘split a cow’ at a butcher shop quite a bit. Free range 4H eggs are $2.25 a dozen. Raw honey in glass jars is easy to find, but homemade butter (BTW, no plastic @ the store) is elusive. I even know of a Gluten Free bakery that’s in a little hole-in-the-wall town several miles away.

If you feel comfortable, @Dutchess_III, PM me your location some time. I’d like to explore your area.

I have a local market, run by Hutterites, that encourages bringing your own containers for bulk foods. I do buy the plastic reusable ones from the Dollar Store (5/$1) and I use them until they crack or sit in the fridge until the leftovers are unrecognizable as food

This market also lets you “pick a dozen” from a bulk egg crate if you bring your own carton and sells “cream on top” milk in glass bottles – yum! You can grind your own grains for flour, make your own nut butters and create individual coffee blends and get fresh chicken wrapped in waxed paper.

What I really like is that for every container or bag you bring for your groceries, the checker gives you a wooden nickel and you can distribute them as you wish between bins for local charities in the exit foyer.

I’m glad you guys have those options. I don’t. Not unless I’m willing to drive for an hour to spend a day hand picking groceries at 5 different stores….and all that driving kind of negates the “green earth” thing I’m trying to aim for.

I will figure out how to do this myself.

Many of the suggestions I have taken to heart. Having the butcher ground my beef, then wrapping it in butcher paper sounds preferable to plastic and Styrofoam….but I don’t know that I can recycle food contaminated stuff. I just need to call the recycle place tomorrow and get more info.

I don’t buy all thses things, but they are available: beef, pork, fish, shrimp, bread, deli counter meat and deli counter cheese, donuts, bagels, cakes, and some other assorted desserts. Also, prepared uncooked chicken, crab cakes, and probably something else similar to that I don’t remember. Other items I can think of are subs, prepared foods like pork mojo, rice, beans, french fries, chicken in several different flavors, mac and cheese, soup, and a few other hit dishes and sides depending on the day.

When you buy them, @JLeslie, what kind of packaging are they in?

I’ve taken new aluminum (prepackaged) containers from The Dollar Tree to the deli department of my local grocery, and had them filled, @Dutchess_III.

Nice when boneless ham is $1.50 a pound.

What I call “biscuit”, you probably call “cookie”. I’m talking about things like Oreos.

The cheese comes in paper, and it’s waxed to keep it fresh.

The hot prepared food is put in styrofoam or plastic containers and sometimes additionally wrapped in cling wrap.

The deli counter meat and cheese is put on a coated paper and then put in a ziplock type of bag.

The fresh meat and fish is put in a coated deli paper and then wrapped in white butcher paper.

The bread is put in a plastic or paper bag.

The cakes and cookies are put in a paper box or plastic container.

The subs are put in white butcher paper.

Almost all of it is put in plastic @JLeslie. Basically the question is, how do I buy things that aren’t “pre-packaged,” that is, put in plastic in some way, because I can’t recycle that plastic. Heads of lettuce…in plastic. Carrots…in plastic.

@ibstubro Well, the recycle thing says I can’t recycle foil. Now, I do have a trash compactor for cans, and when it’s full I take it to where ever the boyscouts have their can recycle bin set up. Would it be OK for me to throw the used aluminum in there I wonder? Just talking to myself, guys. I’m the one who needs to find out.

Also, can I even recycle butcher paper if it’s food contaminated? I think not, but I’ll check. But at least butcher paper would eventually decompose in the land fill.

I don’t know about the waxed paper.

I guess I could bring my own reusable containers for some of the items if the store allowed. They might not allow it. I once asked a question about that regarding taking leftovers home from restaurants.

…Every restaurant I’ve ever been to allows you to take home leftovers…? They used to take your food back to the kitchen and pack it up themselves, but about 15 years ago they started bringing the take-home containers to the table for you to do yourself. I always figured someone, somewhere, got someone elses food and made a huge stink about it.

No, @Dutchess_III, ask the Boy Scouts about other aluminum, clean or dirty, in with the cans, if that’s where you take it.

Grade of the aluminum and level of contamination count.