The Ultimate Guide for Sustainable Grocery Shopping

When you do things like bring your own bags, buy less single-use plastics, and shop seasonally, you make a small but important dent in the sustainability of your groceries. In addition to these small wins, there are high-impact tips and practices that will greatly lower the emissions of your shopping.

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There’s no perfectly sustainable way to grocery shop, and the options greatly depend on your budget, your diet, and the stores and markets available in your area. But there is some guidance you can consider, no matter where you shop. 

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High-Impact Rules of Thumb

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When it comes to the sustainability of your groceries, how you shop is usually more important than where you shop. The stores and products we have access to vary greatly based on locality, finances, or dietary constraints, so these rules are great guidelines that you can adapt to your region and lifestyle.

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We’ve listed these rules of thumb from highest to lowest sustainability impact, focused predominantly on emissions. Inevitably, you’ll need to make tradeoffs to work with what’s accessible to you, your diet, and the time you have to cook. 

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Remember to give yourself grace, and don’t forget that you’re part of something bigger. Don’t beat yourself up about forgetting your reusable bag, choosing the big box store, or needing to buy the thing wrapped in plastic. It’s our collective, consistent choices that make a difference.  

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By the way, if you want to find out how sustainable your grocery store is, we have ratings further down in this post.

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1. More Plants, Fewer Animals

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Imagine you got an emissions receipt that lets you compare the emissions of the things you bought at the grocery store.

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If you’re an omnivore, like most Americans, meat and dairy products are very likely to be the highest-emission items on the list. In fact, one study in the EU found that dairy, meat, and eggs accounted for 83% of diet emissions.

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Choosing fewer animal products is the highest-impact action you can take when grocery shopping. Studies estimate that food accounts for one-quarter to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that over half of those emissions come from meat and fish production. Meat emissions come from several sources, but the biggest by far are farming and land use. 

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Land-use emissions arise when we chop down trees and other plants to make room for grazing land and buildings required for meat production. Those plants and the surrounding soil were capturing a lot of carbon emissions. When we clear the land, those emissions end up back into the atmosphere. 

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A lot of farming emissions are actually methane from cow burps and the burps of other grazing animals. Agricultural methane can also come from fertilizers, manure, rice production, and farm machinery.

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The fewer animal products like meat and dairy that we buy and eat, the more environmentally friendly our grocery bill will be. 

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2. Avoid Harmful Fertilizers and Pesticides

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The second most emissions-expensive items on most grocery receipts are products grown or raised using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. 

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Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides come with such a high emission cost because they’re made from fossil fuels, and they require a lot of energy to produce. It’s also important to note that fertilizer and pesticide runoff is a huge issue, which leads to eutrophication in oceans and waterways. Eutrophication occurs when excess nutrients essentially choke out the oxygen, killing marine life and degrading water quality. 

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Studies show that farming without nitrogen fertilizers could lower direct global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. So how do you know if your food was grown or raised using fertilizers or pesticides?

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One way is by looking for the USDA Organic label. This label indicates that a product was grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, growth hormones, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetically

modified organisms (GMOs).

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It’s important to note that getting and maintaining a USDA Organic certification costs farms thousands of dollars per year. Smaller farms and producers, like those found at farmers' markets, may not be able to afford the fees and services, but they may still use organic practices. If a farmstand has an “organic” on their signage, but no USDA Organic certification, you can ask them more about their operations to better understand the types of pesticides or fertilizers they use. 

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3. Prevent and Avoid Food Waste

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At a household level, our food waste is hugely important. On one hand, when food ends up in landfills, it rots away, creating methane gas, which is 28 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. On the other hand, when we waste food, all the emissions that went into producing it — from the land use to the transit fuel — go to waste with it. 

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Essentially, there are two places to prevent food waste: at the store and in our fridges. At the store or the farmers market, we can avoid food waste by not buying more than we need. That means making a plan for what you’re buying while not planning so far ahead that items will go bad before you can eat them. 

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In our fridges, occasional food waste is hard to prevent. You eat out more than you planned, forget about a bag of spinach, or suddenly get burnt out on a food you were obsessed with. One thing you can do is try these fridge organization tips so you don’t lose sight of what’s in your fridge. Another thing you can do is be proactive with those wilted greens and even stale bread. If it’s not moldy, it can probably be reinvented into something delicious. Here are some of our go-to tips and recipes: 

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• Skip the Bin: 10 Recipe Ideas for Fruit Scraps‍
• Skip the Bin: 10 Recipe Ideas for Vegetable Scraps
• What Can You Do With Stale Bread? 10 Recipe Ideas
• 5 Simple Methods to Preserve Lemons
• The Ultimate Guide to Preserving Tomatoes
• 4 Easy Ways to Dry Fresh Herbs

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4. Skip Plastic When You Can

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This is a tough one, especially when you’re shopping at big chain grocery stores. Everything from sliced bread to bulk oranges comes wrapped in some kind of plastic. But there are plenty of opportunities to skip plastic when you know where to look: 

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Easy wins:

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• Bring your own bag to the store to avoid plastic bags. You don’t even need fancy fabric totes. You can reuse paper and plastic bags from past grocery trips!
• Skip plastic produce bags. Like plastic grocery bags, these thin plastic bags wreak havoc at recycling centers. Even the compostable bags aren’t accepted in most city compost bins, so it’s best to skip them when you can. Go bagless or opt for reusable cotton bags from stores like Grove Collaborative, Thrive Market, EarthHero, or Zero Waste Store.
• Swap solids for concentrates. Many soaps, lotions, and even cleaners have options on the market that are solid instead of liquid. This makes the product much more sustainable because there’s less (if any) plastic, the transit emissions are lower due to the smaller form factor, and these products typically last longer. Here are some of our favorite solid swaps for products that are typically liquid.
• When you can, choose products packaged in metal, glass, and paper, instead of plastic. Metal and glass are endlessly recyclable, while paper has a recycling rate of over 90%. Meanwhile, the recycling rate of plastic is less than 10%. 

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Systemic swaps to work toward: 

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• Bring your own containers for the butcher or deli if they allow it. 
• Choose bulk and refill. You may have access to entire refill stores, or you can find the bulk section at some grocery stores. These are great for dry goods, spices, snacks, and even liquids like soaps and detergents.
• Choose bulk packs instead of single-serving options if they work for your lifestyle. For example, single-serving bags of crackers accumulate a lot more plastic than buying a bulk box and divvying it up into reusable containers. 

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5. Consolidate Trips When Possible

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Generally, the best place to shop is the place where you can get most of your groceries. This is largely due to transportation emissions. If you’re walking or biking to your grocery store, or even if it’s an in-line pitstop on your way home, that’s great!

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On average, Americans travel just over 3.5 miles to get to their primary grocery store, even if it’s not the closest option. 88% of U.S. households drive to their preferred grocery retailer at least once per week.

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When we consolidate trips and use low-carbon transportation to get to the store, we can drastically reduce the transportation impact of our grocery runs.

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Another thing you can do is cluster your errands. Your trip to the grocery store becomes a bit more emissions-efficient when you also visit a nearby hardware store or tailor.

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6. Shop Locally and Seasonally

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While it’s not the most high-impact strategy, if you’re looking to shop more mindfully, shopping seasonally is worth considering.

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From an emissions perspective, shopping for produce that’s in season often means you’re looking for items that are locally grown and haven’t required long-term or expedited cold storage and shipping.

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Shopping seasonally has health benefits, too. The second a fruit or vegetable is picked, it starts losing nutrients. One study found that vegetables lost 15-55% of their vitamin C when refrigerated for a week. So if an item has traveled from states away or been stored for months, it’s not as nutrient-dense. 

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Another benefit of shopping seasonally is that it encourages us to embrace a slower, more seasonal buying cycle. The patience to wait til next summer for a sweet, juicy tomato, or fall for a crisp, tart apple is well worth the wait and makes us appreciate it even more.

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Where to Shop Sustainably

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With our rules of thumb in mind, there are various locations to buy food. Big grocery chains, farmers markets, co-ops, CSAs. But which is most sustainable? Let’s get into it.

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Farmers Markets and CSAs 

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The U.S. has more than 8,000 farmers markets across 72% of counties. A majority, if not all, of the food sold at farmers markets and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) is locally grown. Often, it’s organic too, sometimes even regeneratively grown. CSAs in particular are a nice way to support farmers because the subscription model gives farms a guaranteed amount of revenue they can count on.

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• Emissions: 
  
  • The good: Farmers markets are a great choice if you’re choosing organic produce, ideally that’s locally grown. It’s even better if you walk, bike, or take public transit to the market. If you have to drive, try to bundle your trip to the market with other nearby errands. 
  • The bad: If your farmers market features produce primarily grown further than what you find at the conventional grocery store, there aren’t many organic options, and/or it’s far away, then it’s likely a higher-emissions option than a nearby grocery store. Also, if you have to supplement your farmers market trip with a trip to a conventional store and they’re far away from each other, it may not be worth the trip.
• Systems change: Zooming out past emissions, supporting local farmers at farmers' markets is a great way to use your money to support a more localized, diversified, resilient food system.
• Conscious shopping: Shopping at farmers markets can help you connect with the people and plants of your community. They’re great reasons to get outside and feel connected to your city.
• Food waste (re: CSAs): With most CSA models, you pick up a box of seasonal produce without knowing exactly what you’ll get. This can be a really exciting way to eat seasonally and try new things. But if you’re not able to get through the food before it goes bad, the environmental cost of the food waste could “outweigh” the good that comes from choosing the CSA in the first place. 

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Good to know: Nearly half of U.S. counties have a farmers market that accepts SNAP benefits.

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Co-ops and Locally Owned Grocery Chains

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A food co-op is a grocery store that’s owned and operated by community members. While they’re rooted in community, which comes with its own benefits, food co-ops aren’t inherently more sustainable. It depends on what they sell and how you shop there.

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• Emissions: 
  
  • The good: If your co-op offers a good amount of organic options, that’s ideal. 
  • The bad: If you have to drive far to get to the co-op, especially if it’s out of your way, it’s likely not the best choice from an emissions perspective. 
• Systems change: Similar to farmers markets, supporting co-ops is a great way to champion a more localized, diversified, resilient food system. Supporting these businesses sends a demand signal to the very consolidated grocery industry and encourages the breakup of monopolies.
• Conscious shopping: Connecting with our communities is important for all kinds of climate action. If your co-op helps you to find community opportunities and meetups, it could be worth the visit in other ways. 

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Large Grocery Chains

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About half of grocery sales are made up of just 5 major grocery chains: Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons, and Publix. 

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Huge companies like these have enough money and resources to run substantially more sustainable operations by doing things like choosing renewable energy for stores, distribution centers, and vehicles. But unfortunately, from our experts’ analysis, most large grocery chains are underperforming in the areas that make the biggest differences. Below, you’ll see these top chains rated. You can view all our grocery and retail ratings here.

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• Emissions: Our expert ratings are heavily based on emissions. If your preferred store has a rating of 1 or 2, search for other local stores to find one with a higher score, especially if there are better options closer to you. If higher-rated stores aren’t accessible to you, you can still apply the rules of thumb above to reduce your impact, no matter where you shop. 
• Systems change: Local options like farmers markets, CSAs, and co-ops break up the majority control that big grocery chains have over our food systems. When you have to shop at these stores, use the rules of thumb above. These shifts show that you want to put your dollars behind more sustainable options.

• Conscious shopping: If you want more feel-good opportunities to support better brands or organic farmers, but they aren’t available at your store, you can try alternate ways to support them. Consider a monthly trip to the farmers' market or co-op. You can also consider getting some of your groceries from sustainable online options like Grove Collaborative or Thrive Market.

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See all of our grocery ratings here → 

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Online grocery options

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Despite the boom of ecommerce in many industries, we still buy over 90% of our groceries in stores. But there are some sustainable online grocers that you can consider as your main or supplemental grocery go-to.

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While Grove Collaborative doesn’t carry food, you can find practically everything else you buy at the grocery store. From toilet paper to dish soap, it’s a great one-stop shop to re-up all your cleaning and household supplies with sustainable options.

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Grove Collaborative has put in a lot of work to minimize emissions and uses its influence to support pro-climate advocacy. 

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At Thrive Market, you can check many items off your list — from snacks and supplements to frozen goods and pantry staples, all online. Thrive’s consolidated distribution model — just three distribution centers in the U.S. — gives them the ability to do things like produce RECs to cover 100% of their energy needs.

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Misfits Market is another interesting grocery alternative. When it launched, it was focused on selling “ugly” produce that couldn’t be sold at conventional stores because it didn’t meet aesthetic standards. We’ve found the “food rescue” framing of this business model is a bit misleading because most of this “ugly” produce wasn’t going to the landfill, but instead to downmarket companies like animal feed. But, there’s more to buy beyond “ugly” produce. Misfits Market also sells items that aren’t being sold elsewhere due to things like packaging changes or items that are made from upcycled food that would have gone to waste.

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Misfits Market is better than choosing conventional produce at a big chain grocery store that’s rated 1 or 2. Misfits Market also does batch deliveries, which is often preferred to making multiple driving trips to separate stores and markets. Misfits is also a good option for higher-carbon foods like meat, especially if you can’t find similar products locally.

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Looking for bigger opportunities for food impact?

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Some of the biggest, most sustainable changes we can make in our food systems are community changes. If you’re looking for more ways to plug into food recovery, food justice, and systemic, sustainable practices, there are plenty of opportunities out there. 

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• Volunteer at food rescue organizations: Look for groups that are working with local grocery stores, farmers markets, and resident gardeners to capture and redistribute unwanted food.
• Participate in or start a community fridge: From cleaning to restocking, there are plenty of ways to support your local community fridges.
• Volunteer at local farms or farmers markets: Farmers markets take a lot of work to organize and facilitate. Ask the folks who organize yours how you can support the market.
• Share food in Buy Nothing groups: While it’s an individual action, the ripple effects can be large. If you need to clear out your fridge before you go out of town, you get a case of sparkling waters in a flavor you don’t like, or your takeout order came with an extra dish, those are great opportunities to share food with your Buy Nothing group. 
• Go to city council meetings: It may be intimidating at first, but city council meetings are where you have the opportunity to learn, listen, and advocate for changes throughout your entire city. It’s a big deal! What if all your city-run events went vegan? What if you could connect local farms directly to local schools? What if you could get more community gardens in your city? Look for opportunities to plug into efforts you’re passionate about, or start your own.