When I can, I love to buy food items loose in zero waste shops or from a local greengrocers. I save money (especially if buying spices from a zero waste shop rather than a supermarket), reduce my packaging and I know that I'm supporting a small, local business. But if supermarket / online shopping is how you need to shop right now, then there are still choices we can make to help the planet. Some of these are bulk buys, some are palm-oil free, some are plastic free. I can't buy all of these all of the time. I do what I can, when I can...
5 litre huge plastic bottles of rapeseed oil called 'vegetable oil' - instead of olive oil in small quantities (Tesco)
5kg rice (Tesco)
250g butter in a paper wrapper (Sainsbury's)
Cooking chocolate in paper / foil (Sainsbury's own brand)
Herbs / spices in glass jars with metal lids (Sainsbury's)
9 pack of recycled loo roll, now wrapped in paper (Sainsbury's)
500g blocks of butter (Asda sells these, but they are in a mixed foil/plastic wrapper)
3 litre big plastic bottles of rapeseed oil, instead of olive oil in small quantities (Asda)
Palm-oil free oat cakes (Asda own brand)
Living herbs in brown paper 'pots' (Asda)
750g (large) packets of cheddar cheese (Asda)
Arborio rice in paper/card (Asda) - suitable for making risotto AND rice pudding (I like this very simple Good Food recipe, but I swap 200ml of the milk for tap water)
Cocoa powder in card / greaseproof paper (Asda own brand)
Palm-oil-free chocolate in foil / paper (Green and Black's brand - most bars are palm oil free)
500g 'Brown and Polson' cornflour (cardboard and paper packaging)
Bisto 'Original Gravy Powder' (cardboard and paper packaging)
'Barilla' pasta is phasing out the plastic window, some of their range is already plastic-free.
1kg tubs of spreadable butter / margarine
1 kg tubs of Pip and Nut peanut butter (palm oil free and it tastes like 'normal' peanut butter according to my kids)
1kg tubs of yoghurt (Onken and Yeo Valley for example)
McVities Digestive's 'Light' biscuits are palm-oil free
McVities Rich Tea biscuits are palm-oil free
Gu chocolate and hazelnut spread is palm-oil free
Lindt chocolate and hazelnut spread is palm-oil free
Smarties chocolate sharing bars are wrapped in paper!!!
Yes! snack bars in paper (*sadly hard to find now*)
1kg tubs of Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder ( available online from thevegankindsupermarket.com)
5kg ground flaxseed / linseed (available from forestwholefoods.co.uk)
5kg cacao powder (available from forestwholefoods.co.uk)
Final top tip on this subject... if I decant the bulky packs into more manageable containers, I always label them clearly and I always include WHERE to buy the best refills from (see the photo at the top of the page as an example).