Rant about overpackaged natural foods

**fizzie** · 05-28-2007, 01:50 PM

These natural foods that use up tons of packaging irritate me. I'm glad the ingredients are organic, but wouldn't slicing and cooking real potatoes be much better than organic frozen french fries? It doesn't save that much time, it's not frugal, and it's not really green.

I've been trying to buy really whole foods not Whole Foods in a can, bag, jar, box, or all of the above. However, I discovered last week that the bulk cereal I was planning to buy (and put into the bag I brought with me) was equivalent to over $6 a box! My husband noted that we'd be better off buying the stuff with all the packaging and donating the rest to a green cause.

You could delude yourself about going green by just spending tons of money on unnecessary stuff with unnecessary packaging that is labeled "organic" and "natural." Marketing genius=bad for our bodies, environment, and wallet

**geckoace** · 05-29-2007, 10:02 AM

It is annoying to have to take something labeled green out of the plastic wrappers, but i think we have to look at it as the lesser of evils.

clearly it would be better to take an organic potato and slice it into fries instead of buying a bag of fries but your average person (myself definitely included) is not going to do that and if given a choice between over processed potato product fries and frozen organic potatoes precut for my convenience. i think that it is a better choice to buy the organic.

if "going green" is too hard, people wont do it and every little bit helps. i can use myself for an example each time i try one thing and get used to it i say well maybe we could take this a step farther. so its green-er.

this is new to alot of people and i think you have to cut the world some slack while we go from ultraconvenient prepackaged to a little more effort. packaging is always a problem and strides are being made so keep using your dollars for the causes you believe and support the companies that are trying by using compostable corn plastics and such. and as you find greener alternatives i would encourage you to list them here so others might benefit also.

**frugalandsimple** · 05-29-2007, 01:32 PM

My groceries may include the overpackaged natural foods because it's just me doing the shopping, cooking and eating. I also work full-time and don't want to spend hours in the kitchen cooking either.