Ailish Lalor
In the last blog post we talked about meal planning and how that can help us to reduce food waste, but another important part of eating sustainably is buying locally produced and seasonal food. Because we’re not always organised enough to go to Lekkernassuh— although it is undoubtedly the most sustainable option— we’re going to explore how we can utilise regular supermarkets to achieve the goal of low impact eating. If you haven’t seen our blog post on Lekkernassuh, check it, and the store itself, out as soon as possible.
- Albert Heijn
AH is ubiquitous in the Netherlands, which means that we often come to depend on it solely as our food source. It’s definitely one of the most challenging places to go for food that is package free, or at least plastic free. Most of its vegetables, fruits, snacks, cereals, pre-made food and drinks voluminous sources of plastic packaging, but there are a few things you can do to reduce what you bring home. Create meals centred on the vegetables that are package free— peppers, zucchinis, green beans, cauliflower and fennel bulbs are usually a good bet. The fruits are also fairly easy to figure out: there is usually an option to get bananas without plastic, as well as apples and pears. For some reason, AH refuses to stock mandarins without the net— at least at Dierenselaan. If you’re shopping for grains or flour, the best you can do is buy things packaged in paper and cardboard. Flour, oats, rice, and sugar, for example, are available this way. For pasta, go for the package mostly made from cardboard with the small plastic window. As far as I know, it’s the best you can do. When it comes to bread, try to choose the unpackaged ones and use your own bags. Premade foods and juices are unavailable without plastic, sadly.
2. Ekoplaza
Pretty and pricy, Ekoplaza is always someplace I enter with a mixed bag of emotions: delight, and a sense of impending poverty. But I do it pretty much weekly, because it offers organic food, mainly plastic free. All its fruits and veggies, down to the mushrooms and the cranberries, can be found without any packaging. If you bring your own bags, you won’t need the paper ones they provide— although they’re not a bad option if you forget them or underestimate just how many things you want. I also like that they indicate clearly where each fruit or vegetable comes from: AH also does this, but in really small writing on the bottom of the packaging. You can use this information to go for things grown in the Netherlands, or at least in Europe. They also have a bulk cereals section, where you can get seeds, nuts, dried fruits and cereals in your own bags or, again, their paper ones. Lots of their premade soups and sauces are in glass rather than plastic, and they have recently introduced a compostable plastic alternative, which they use for their breads and some chocolates. You can also go for the cardboard and aluminium foil packaged chocolates (in case you hadn’t noticed, this is a real point of concern for me).
3. De Haagse Markt
Never let it be said that I don’t hit as many price points as possible in a blog post. The Hague Market is cheap and fairly cheerful, so long as you don’t mind crowds. You can get pretty much everything plastic free here as well— just bring your own bags and let the stall owner know. You can also buy nuts without plastic, although sadly not the nut butters. Some salad leaves and greens like boy choi do also tend to come in plastic, but this is a problem common to Ekoplaza and Lekkernassuh as well, so we can’t really blame them. There is also a lady who sells bulk beans in plastic bags, and the olive stall usually insists you at least reuse one of their plastic pots (although it’s definitely great that you can reuse them). One small problem with the market is that you can’t tell what has been grown where, so it’s best to go with what you know will be in season (see next week’s blog post for a run down of that) and hope for the best.
In addition to these three big players, there are other smaller markets, such as the Organic Market on Wednesdays and Lekkernassuh (also on Wednesdays). These have been covered before in our master blog post of sustainable tips and our special Lekkernassuh post. Be sure to check those out if you’re curious!
Act Aware 