Zero waste shopping guide
Gram will have FSC certified paper bags to put your food in, but our dream is for you to have no packaging to throw away when you leave the shop. So how does that work? What do you need with you when coming to Gram, and how do you store the food at home? Here’s our ultimate guide to shopping zero waste style.
Get kitted out
The perfect shopping kit really depends on what you’ll be buying. Lots of cloth bags are ideal as they are light, but you might want a few glasses or plastic containers for the more sticky stuff. Here’s our ultimate kit:
10 cloth drawstring bags in different sizes (for rice, pasta, nuts, etc)
5 glass jars or plastic pots in various sizes (for flour, coffee, etc)
3 bottles (for oil, vinegar, liquid soap, etc)
1-2 tins (for washing powder, tea, etc)
1-2 large cloth shopping bags or a big basket to put it all in
Use what you’ve got
You don’t have to buy loads of reusable containers to shop zero waste. Just open your kitchen cupboards and see what you have. Plastic lunch boxes, old ice cream tubs, water bottles, yogurt pots and glass jars and bottles. Just make sure you give them a good wash in hot water or in a dishwasher.
Get crafty
Drawstring cloth bags are great for filling with dry food. If you’re good with a needle and thread you can make your own. Make different sizes, smaller ones for a few nuts, larger for a kilo of rice, and long ones for bread or spaghetti.
The Gram selection
If you do need new containers we’ll sell everything for the perfect zero waste shopping kit. Glass jars and bottles in all shapes and sizes and cloth bags (a small drawstring type and a large shopper).
Weigh then fill
When you get to the store you’ll need to weigh your containers on our scales and put a sticker on them before you fill. That way you won’t pay for the weight of the container when you get to the till.
When you get home
If you’ve shopped in cloth bags, just decant into airtight glass jars or plastic pots. Again, you can use and repurpose what you already have. There are lots of lovely ways to organise and label your jars to remember what’s what. Throw the cloth bags in with your normal laundry to keep them fresh.
Take them everywhere
Once you have your zero waste shopping kit, why not use it everywhere you go? Use your cloth bags in the supermarket, bakery or veg market instead of plastic ones, and ask the deli counter to put your cheese, meat, fish, etc in your own box.
\Rowan
