There are loads of online businesses which specialise in providing ethical alternatives to ‘traditional’ food products.
Follow the same method which you would for conventional products, when shopping online – i.e. use a comparison website. Try the regular sites or make use of an ethical comparison site such as gooshing.co.uk which compares different ethical brands firstly, and the companies behind the products and their ethical corporate responsibility secondly. The site rates companies on a range of different attributes including animal testing, genetic modifications and fair-trade recognition.
The alternative is to use farmers markets – check out farmersmarkets.net, bigbarn.co.uk, localfood.org.uk or scottishfarmersmarkets.co.uk for information of farmers markets located near to you. To be able to sell at a farmers market, the seller must be have been involved in the production of the product or have made the food themselves – it may not be organic but the sellers will know everything about their products, more than you could find out from reading supermarket labels. This is a good alternative for students to try especially when the price of organic produce remains high. If you do want to eat organic on a budget then only switch to organic for the products you eat frequently – bread, fruit and veg.
If you simply want to choose ethical products alongside their conventional counterparts the supermarkets now have good organic ranges. Some of them even have organic clothing and toiletries available under their own brand.
Supermarkets are becoming more ethical and eco-friendly and this has been confirmed with the Prime Minister backing a campaign to eradicate the overuse of plastic bags in the UK. The first supermarket to sign up and join the PM's pledge was Marks and Spencer’s who have introduced a five pence levy on all plastic bagsin 2008.
Organic Food
Organic food is food which is produced without the use chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers. So by choosing to buy organic, you are reducing the amount of chemicals which are entering the soil and water. Organic food is considered to be a healthier alternative to conventional products.
Be careful when buying organic food in a supermarket, organic doesn’t necessarily mean local. Some organic food is brought in from the other side of the world. So what you are doing right in buying organic is cancelled out by the food miles it has racked up.
Some people recommend buying ethical rather than organic. They claim it is better to use local and low packaging products with minimal chemical and additives.
Becoming a greener consumer is estimated to cost, on average, an additional £2, 500 so there is a real trade-off between being more ethically sound and the cost.
more
top^
Reducing the Amount of Food Wasted
- Plan and Prepare:
- Before going shopping, take five minutes to consider the coming week’s meals.
Have a look in your cupboards, fridge and freezer to find out what you already have
- If you buy a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, consider buying smaller quantities in order to reduce the amount you have to throw out
- If you plan to make something that freezes well, make lots so you can freeze some for another day
- Oversized or three-for-two offers are only a bargain if you are going to eat the extra food.
- Store your food properly
- Rather than waste excess meat and bread, place it in the freezer before it passes its “use by” or “best before” date. Big packs can be separated into smaller ones for the freezer
- Make sure containers in the fridge are well sealed
- Avoid leaving food out when it should be put back in the fridge. If it is hot, cool it down as quickly as possible (ideally within one or two hours) and put it in the fridge.
- If you are storing meal leftovers in the fridge, eat within two days
- Check regularly to see what food you have at the back of your freezer and rotate your older items to the front
- Store fruit and vegetables in a cool dark place. Ripe fruit and veg can also be refrigerated (except bananas)
- Keep your raw meat and fish in a suitable container on the bottom shelf of your fridge
- Eggs should be stored in a cool, dry place, ideally in the fridge, away from other foods
- Consult wasteawarelovefood.org~ and lovefoodhatewaste.com~ for more information
- Use lovefoodhatewaste.com~ for their readymade meal plans and shopping guides
- What the labels mean?
- “Use By”: This is the key date in terms of food safety. Foods should be used by this date. Only use food after the “use by” date if it has been frozen.
- “Best Before”: This appears on a wide range of foods that last longer, such as frozen, dried and tinned food. It should be safe to eat food after this date, but it may begin to lose flavour and texture after an extended period of time.
- “Sell By” or “Display Until”: Provides information for shop staff
more
top^
The Impact of Packaging
The packaging industry is worth a huge amount in Britain today and its value is increasing as the use of packaging has increased. Increased disposable incomes have increased consumer demand for exotic food often coming packaged from the other side of the world. Food miles (the distance which each product will travel before getting to its end destination) have become increasingly higher for some products and this requires packaging to ensure everything is visually attractive on arrival. Most packaging can be recycled, but try and buy products with the least amount of packaging possible.
Packaging Facts:
- The energy from recycling one glass bottle can be used to power:
- A Light bulb for an hour
- Or a computer for 25 minutes
- Or a colour television for 20 minutes
- Or a washing machine for 10 minutes
- It takes the same amount of energy to produce one aluminium can as it does to recycle 20
- On average, someone in the UK throws away their own bodyweight in rubbish every seven weeks
- The majority of the worlds waste is produced by the Western world
- Mixed packaging which is hard to separate into different materials for recycling can be used to make floor coverings, shoe soles and car mats
- Wasteonline.org.uk~ has more information and astonishing facts on this topic
Consider going to markets for fruit and vegetables they may not be packaged but they will be fresh, and often from local sources. Recyclenow.com~, an English website and Sort-it.org.uk~, the Scottish equivalent, are two websites showing how waste can be reduced and recycling increased for your everyday purchases. Planetark.com~ is an Australian website offering advice on how consumers can reduce day to day impact on the environment not just from recycling initiatives.
Recyclethis.co.uk~ and recycling-guide.org.uk~ are websites offering advice on how to recycle everything and anything – for example pistachio nut shells and computer joysticks.
more
top^
