Throughout the next couple of months, I will be working on the Zero Waste Grocery Store Challenge. I'm repping the Pacific US: "Hella, Dude, Cowabunga." ...although most of my grocery stores are national.

The zero waste grocery store challenge goes to target! Join me on my low waste trip to target and see what options are out there from www.goingzerowaste.com

breakdown of who's who and where:

-East: Meredith from Meredith Tested: Trader Joe's, Costco, Hannaford Supermarket, and Wal-Mart.
-South: Manuela from The Girl Gone Green: will be going to Aldi, Publix, Thrive, and Wal-Mart.
-Midwest: Celia from Litterless: will be taking you to Kroger, Jewel-Osco, and Wal-Mart.
-West: Andrea of Be Zero: will be featuring Lucky’s, Safeway, and Wal-Mart.
-Pacific: Kathryn of Going Zero Waste will be visiting Target, Grocery Outlet, and Wal-Mart.
Follow the #ZWGroceryChallenge on social media and join in! Share your triumphs, challenges, questions, and requests!

a note on sustainability at chain stores:

Here's the deal. Yes, it is absolutely ideal to buy all of your food from bulk with as little packaging as possible. It's ideal to buy from a local shop in your community that obtains all of its goods from local, sustainable organic farms. But, I'm going to say this again for the people in the back, NOT EVERYONE LIVES IN AN IDEAL WORLD.

I have received several not so nice emails from several readers explaining how awful all of these grocery stores are and how this destroys any goodwill I've put out in the world for the store's lack of ethical, social, and eco ethos.

Instead of focusing on being perfect, I want to focus on making sure low waste options are accessible to everyone. Not everyone has a health food store in their town.

This blog is NOT about being perfect. This is NOT a place for judgment. As Meredith says, I am not trying to win zero waste. This is NOT a competition.

This is about doing the best you can, where you are and sometimes that's Walmart or Target.

I want the zero waste movement to grow far and wide. I want everyone in the world involved, and it's important we don't limit zero waste to only those who have access. We shouldn't limit it to only those who are perfect. Everyone can make a difference.

Everyone can make better choices. So, I want to show you some of the better choices when it comes to Target.

**steps off soap box**

my grocery store is closing:

I started this challenge when I realized my local grocery store is closing. The only grocery stores I have in town are bargain markets like Smart and Final, Grocery Outlet, Food Maxx and big box stores like Super Target and Walmart.

A lot of these stores lack a large selection of healthy food.

The local grocery store I was going to, Raley's, had a small bulk section. I now have no local offering in bulk, and I officially live in a food swamp.

"A food swamp is an area where there's an overabundance of high-energy, low-nutrient foods (read: fast food) compared to healthy food options. Low-income communities are usually the swampiest, with nearly twice the number of fast food restaurants and convenience stores as wealthier neighborhoods."

I am so grateful for our farmers market where I buy the large selection of fresh produce that is year round. I completely realize how fortunate I am.

A lot of folks don't have it as good as I do, so for that, I feel very fortunate and blessed. Our community is also working on opening up a co-op which will fill a huge void in our city.

If your city is also missing wholesome, good food, you might be the solution. Maybe it's your job to fill the void. Don't be afraid of starting a co-op! A lot of co-ops start out of people's garages. Go in with some neighbors to get large quantities of good whole food delivered to your door.

what I bought at target:

Please check out what I bought and why I bought it. I did supplement with my farmers market haul this week because the produce section was severely lacking!!

At target I spent $80. Which is WAY more than I normally spend at the bulk store when I stock up on dry goods, but I did buy a lot of specialty items I don't normally buy.

With all of these groceries I plan on making nachos, hummus, veggie burgers. PB&J, grilled cheese, chocolate chip cookies, veggie lasagna, pancakes, summer salads, and oatmeal.

other things I found at target:

Instead of getting small individual bags of popcorn go for a large container of kernels. It was plastic number one so it has a really good chance of being downcycled.

This almond butter is from California and it comes in a glass jar that can easily be reused.

Egg free mayo! It does come in a plastic jar, but I'm glad it's carried at target. I do still eat eggs, but I only eat them when I know the chickens.

Flour and sugar still comes in paper. Overall making your food is one of the easiest ways to reduce your waste. Eat whole, real food.

I was surprised to see loose leaf tea tins. The tea most likely is wrapped in plastic on the inside. But, it's way less plastic than individually wrapped tea bags. Most of which have plastic in the tea bag itself making them unable to compost.

Pasta sauce comes in glass jars which are great for reusing. Even if you don't need the jars list them on a sharing site online. I'm sure someone will gladly take them off your hands to reuse!

Target has a safety razor for sale!!

Safety razor blades. I really can't tell what the packaging looks like on the inside.

The Tom's brand beauty products can be sent back to terracycle to be recycled and reused.

I love my waterpik.

Certified humane eggs that come in a carton that can be composted. You will have to remove the sticker which is trash.

Justin always buys me this soup when I'm sick. It's great to know that Target carries it and a large selection of Amy's.

Target had a decent selection of apples.

And, they had a basket of lonley bananas.

The rest of the produce cart was severely lacking.

Organic spices that come in glass jars.

Salad dressings that come in glass jars, but honestly if you can make your own salad dressings (especially a vinagrate!) I would reccomend it.

I think it's great that these bags let you know you CANNOT recycle them. All packaging should be clearly labeled what it's made of.

I chose this over the TetraPak carton because the TetraPak's are not recyclable curbside in my town. The best option would be to buy the almonds and then make my own milk.

The giant jug of almonds I found. They come in plastic number one, but it would be a great jar to reuse especially in the jar for holding all sorts of nuts and bolts.

The cheese selection was slim. I talk about it in the video more. It would be best to buy a block, but they didn't have any cheese in blocks I wanted to support.

These mushrooms, although wrapped in plastic, come in a cardboard box instead of stryfoam!

Oils and Vinegars all came in glass.

I would definitely opt for dry pasta instead of fresh. The dry pasta comes in a cardboard box that can mostly be composted. There's more detail on that in the video.

I hope you enjoyed this zero waste challenge.

I will be keeping track of ALL the recycling, trash, and dry compostables (paper, not food scraps) throughout this challenge.

Next month I'll be taking you to Grocery Outlet. Let know if you have any tips!

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