Plastic Rant: Benefits of buying fresh and dirty

Plastic food packaging is so hard to avoid

Even if you change your water bottles, your containers at home, and prepare your food in a healthier way; You’re sold broccoli encased in plastic wrap, sliced apples in a plastic container, and prepackaged cheeses at the grocery store.

This is not the way our relationship to food is suppose to look. Plastic leeches, and prepared fruits and vegetables start to diminish in nutritional value at first cut.

If there is still dirt on the carrots, one would think, it would make some people more comfortable in buying them. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.


Plastic waste

The amount of waste that is being produced to package food has grown astronomically. What is even in that plastic that surrounds our food?

Polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonates, and polyvinyl chlorides are the most commonly used food packaging materials, however over 30 types of plastics have been reportedly used over the years.

Next time you pick up broccoli that is wrapped in plastic wrap, ask yourself how old you think that broccoli is, and whether any chemicals have leeched into it during it’s plastic-wrapped commute.

Keep in mind that there is a lifespan for vegetables and fruit. Most lose their nutritional value after a week of being put in your fridge because that is only a portion of the time it has been out of the garden, put into boxes, shipped around, stored in a warehouse, then placed on shelves in the grocery stores.

Fresh, with benefits

Buying fresh groceries can be fun, it can create relationships with local farmers, teach your children how to grow their own food, and buy local. Why give those companies more power then they already have? Let them know who’s boss when it comes to buying those cheap seasonal vegetables without the layer of plastic around them, and become more critical of which food you put in your cart —and your body.

One good way to expand the lifespan of your vegetables is to store them properly. A great line of products from Chicobag who’s products are recycled and reusable, and don’t contain harmful plastics.