Sea salt
Can be bought from the Weigh & Save in Penzance and possibly at the other branches of this strange store
Normal Salt
What do you call this – cooking salt?
Budget and in a box from Lidles
Whole Food Market U.K. Chain
Rushing through the Cheltenham suburbs, had to buy wine so lurched into the huge carpark of an out of town shopping experience. By which I mean a cluster of huge supermarkets snarling at each other across an enormous expanse of tarmac dotted with a huddle of tiny trees at least one of which was sporting a plastic bag. Village Boy leapt out of the van and bounded off shouting, white hare like, about time. I was following rather more sedately when Whole Foods Market caught my eye. I had never seen one before and I admit I snorted at the messages plastered on the windows…. but I went to have a look anyway.
I have numerous issues with supermarkets which I won’t go into here. Suffice to say I use them when I have to but they deeply irritate, even anger me. The packaging, the waste, the plastic are just a few of the niggles.
And yet, I was about to have a supermarket epiphany. Yes Whole Foods Market are my idea of supermarket heaven. If there have to be supermarkets, then let them be like this.
They have
- Unwrapped lettuce and unpackaged olives…
- Loose grains, rice beans and pulses
- Loose tea & coffee beans.
- Loose spices, herbs, dried fruits and nuts
- A peanut butter making machine
- oil on tap so you can refill your bottle
All of the above you can buy by weight in your own containers. This is common in the U.S. and Australia. They have bulk stores or bulk foods aisle in a grocery store. In this case it doesn’t necessarily mean buying huge amounts but buying loose and unpackaged.
BYO Bags
While the carrier bags at the check-out are paper, the rest of the packaging, the produce bags and bottles they provide, are all plastic so you would have to take your own compostable pots and reusable bags. Easily done – find out how here.
Tare
The weight of the bag will make a difference at checkout in the price per weight. The tare weight is the weight of the empty container. Whole Food Markets have weighing machines that allow you to do this yourself. It is very easy.
Lush
Whole Foods Market as it name suggests also has a organic eco criteria. This isn’t some giant Weigh & Save shop but a plush, lush shopping experience
Stores 
Since then I have taken the opportunity to visits as many Whole Food Markets as I can.
Find A Store
They have stores in London, Cheltenham and Glasgow
I have taken photo journals which I have posted up on Facebook. Follow the links for
Please check that stock is available before you visit – the photos are quite old now and NOT ALL STORES ARE THE SAME. For instance Glasgow does Ecover refills Cheltenham doesn’t.
About
This American company have recently opened some flagship stores in the UK It is funky, good looking and challenging. It boasts impressive eco credentials. I wanted to know more so I emailed ahead asking if it would be OK for me to take photos next time I visited. Not only did they say yes, but Renata Rees, Marketing Team Leader, offered to meet me. An offer I eagerly accepted. You can read about it here
More
Find more loose food shops here
Huddersfield, Khadims
Here in lovely Huddersfield, we buy much of our stuff from Khadims, the Asian Supermarket on Blacker Road, including;
Loose unwrapped foods
- Pistacheos and walnuts
- Ginger, garlic and chiles
- Basmati rice loose
- They do a wide range of unwrapped fruit and veg including
- Small UNWRAPPED cucumbers,
- They also do halal meat unwrapped. Take a bio bag.
- Metal pan scrubs.
- The ever useful coconut oil and some weird vaseline rip off in tins.
Take
You have to take your own cotton produce bags, scoop up as much as you need and they weigh it at the counter at the counter. Smashing.
The Nut Shop
Strolling round the delightful Gotham City like splendour that is Leeds Market I came across the NUT SHOP the most fantastic stall where all manner of cake related stuff from hundreds and thousands to candied peel and silvered almonds are all sold LOOOSE.
AND cocoa!!!!
You can see a photo record of some of their loose products here
Packaging
If you want to buy loose, you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.
Leeds Market
You can find stalls selling loose
Read more about it here….
Don’t live in Leeds?
Loose Food
As the plastic movement grows more shops are selling naked food; stuff that that normally comes plastic packaged ie rice, Some sell pasta. Heres a list of towns with shops selling loose food.
Buy Online
But loose food shops are still few and far between, Don’t despair. It is possible to buy food online loose and plasticfree. You can even use your own cotton produce bags for some things. READ MORE HERE.
Packaging
If you want to buy loose, you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.
More
Supermarkets & Chainstores
Because sometimes we have to shop there and yes you can get plastic free and zero waste stuff. Read our supermarket reviews here.
Better Plastic
Many products like dried fruit come packaged in lovely looking, printed, laminated plastic film. Or to put it more simply several layers of plastic each with different properties stuck together. Because they consist of different plastics bonded together it is difficult to know what they are and how to treat them and separating the films is tricky and so very expensive. Films therefore often don’t get recycled but burnt or landfilled.
Simple polythene bags are easy to recycle. You can read more about that here.
Check the recycling info on the package to find out more.
Feel guilty buying plastic packed food? So do we but sometimes you have to so we apply the special treats rule. read more about the three levels of plastic free food
See all our food posts via the food index
N.B.
lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x
And before you go…
If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project.
