The cost of ethical living

Is living plastic-free cheaper? Last week I reviewed our progress with the #plasticfree mission. It’s something we’ve carried on since the initial summer campaign and something we will continue. We’ve now become much more aware of packaging and we’re always on the lookout for alternatives to plastic wrapped goods, though sometimes it seems unavoidable. Interesting though, that whilst we may be trying  to do our bit to save the planet we’re certainly not saving any money, quite the contrary. So, I decided to take a closer look at the price differential between ‘en vrac’ (loose) and off-the-shelf.

The Day-by-Day store Limoges

One aspect of our plastic free process was to buy some reusable cotton bags for buying loose fruit and vegetables, and also dry ingredients. It’s become second nature now to whip out our own bags in the fruit and veg aisle, and I keep a couple in my bag, just in case we make an unscheduled store visit. I’ve also been trying to buy dry ingredients in the same way, using a smaller set of bags handily marked up with weights. Most of the larger supermarkets have a range of at least twelve ingredients that can be bought loose, using your own bags or the paper bags supplied. The drawback is that all the products are bio, and hence more expensive. In many cases the supplier is the well-known brand Jardin Bio.

The range of en vrac goods offered by the supermarkets is usually restricted to breakfast cereals, nuts, lentils and beans, plus snacky items like chocolate covered raisins. The bio shops generally offer a much wider range, including several varieties of rice (complet – brown rice – can be difficult to track down), lots of fruit, nuts and seeds, cereals, grains and sugars. However, I still have that irritating issue that brown rice is only available at one bio shop and whole wheat pasts at another, both being 30km away in opposite directions.

Wouldn’t it be great if everything was available – en vrac – in one place? Well, it is. As I discovered when I visited the Day-by-Day store in Limoges. This is part of a franchise group, with stores generally found in towns with a population over 40k, so a bit limited for us rural dwellers. However, if I were properly organised a one-a-month or once-a-fortnight trip into Limoges to stock up would be worthwhile. It’s no further than going to Grand Frais or one of the big supermarkets. Day-by-Day in Limoges sits in a small side street in the heart of the city centre, just a few minutes’ walk from the magnificent market hall. The shop sells over 700 items, all loose, with no packaging and no restriction on quantity. You can buy as little or as much as you need. The range covers virtually everything you could possibly want. From dried pulses, nuts, dried fruit and seeds to sugar, flour, herbs and spices, tea and coffee. The ingredients are not restricted to dry goods, there’s a choice of oils and vinegars, plus wine, gin and vodka. Move deeper into the store and you’ll find every cleaning product you need, all ready to fill up your own containers or buy a reusable bottle. Personal care is not forgotten either, there’s soap, toothpaste, refillable facial products, plus a large selection of washable face wipes, sponges and wooden brushes and combs. Near the till is a small display of lovely fruit and veg (they offer a veg box service, too) and some fabulous hand-made chocolates. Must try those next time. The chain’s philosophy is to offer bio where possible and 70% made-in-France. It’s a fantastic concept and one we’ll revisit again, just wish it was a bit closer.

Logically, you’d think that buying products loose with no packaging should be cheaper. But I suppose the problem is that there is limited demand for this type of shopping. It is more time-consuming to have to fill up a bag, and remember to bring your bags and containers with you. It’s easier to simply chuck a plastic-wrapped package in your shopping trolley. Limited demand means that these shops cannot obtain the economies of scale of the large retailers, and this is reflected in the price. (That’s a generous explanation, as we’ve all read about the pressure the large buying groups put on producers.) The price difference is quite substantial, ranging in my limited research from 7% to a massive 32%. Here’s my records, I’ve tried to compare products pretty much like-for-like where possible, so bio ranges in supermarkets.

Item	En vrac	Packaged	%
Whole wheat pasta spirals	€1.94/kg Bio Coop	€1.68/kg Leclerc	+14%
Brown basmati rice	€4.65/kg Bio Coop	€3.98/kg Aldi Bon et Bio	+14%
Whole flaxseeds	€5.70/kg Day-by-Day	€3.90/kg Action	+32%
Extra fruity olive oil	€8.95/litre Bio Coop	€7.06/litre Leclerc	+22%
Balsamic vinegar	€4.25/litre Day-by-Day	€3.92/litre Leclerc	+7%

Buying fresh fruit and vegetables is more difficult to assess, although the packaging issue is easier to avoid. We just simply don’t buy anything wrapped in plastic these days, even if that means doing without. This also means that we don’t buy bio produce from the supermarkets as it is always wrapped in plastic. Apparently this is because people will try to put bio produce through the tills as ‘normal’ to save money. Who would have thought it? 😊 If we happen to visit the Bio Coop then I do tend to buy fresh produce there. It’s all organic and the shop has a good turnover so there’s no risk of stuff rotting before you get home, unlike some smaller supermarkets. They also sell the very best brown mushrooms!

Before we began to think about our plastic footprint we used to buy cherry tomatoes in small 250g plastic punnets; double wrapped, plastic tray and plastic outer. They were only 99c a box though. I suppose we were buying on price. Well, we certainly weren’t buying on quality. It was wintertime when any tomatoes are really out of season anyway. At this time of year, loose tomatoes were available but the kilo price in Grand Frais was €6.99. Hence, a 250g punnet for 99c seemed good value. Now, in late summer, the price of loose tomatoes is down to €1.49/kg. But, of course, our own tomatoes and those of our neighbour are plentiful. There’s a lesson here –  seasonal eating. That must be our next step; not sure about the avocados though!