A Guide to Ethical, Sustainable, Money-Saving Food Shopping
When it comes to making sustainable food choices, there's quite a lot to consider: from local, seasonal, organic, plastic-free and plant-based, to fair-trade, bulk quantities, price, access, personal schedules, and so much more.
Likewise, based on recent boycotts, people are increasingly wanting to ensure their grocery dollars stay local and support small businesses and growers rather than billionaire profits and a hateful right-wing agenda.
And even though we don't sell food here at Vintage Green Review, I'm often asked for recommendations on low-waste, bulk, and local food options.
So here's a guide based on both my own experience as a budget-conscious consumer trying to find healthy, organic, plastic-free food, as well as recommendations shared by numerous customers! Even if you're not in NOLA, be sure to read on through because some of these are national options!
Jump to Specific Sections Below:
Dry Goods: Small Quantities
Dry Goods: Large Bulk Quantities
Fresh Produce & Fridge Stuff: Local (incl. CSA)
Fresh Produce & Fridge Stuff: National
Seed & Grow Your Own/ Gardening Resources
Conclusion
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on food security and I know virtually nothing about farming! This is just meant to share available options & give some ideas people may want to look into. Please consult relevant professionals where appropriate for nutritional, health, or other guidance.
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Dry Goods & Pantry Staples: Small-ish Quantities
New Orleans Food Co-Op
For smaller bulk quantities of things like beans, grains, rice, spices, loose leaf tea, flours, candies, nuts, seeds and more, check out the New Orleans Food Co-op. They are located in the back of the Healing Center in the Marigny.
You can bring your own containers to fill directly from their bins. Quantities available are a bit smaller than if you're looking to purchase large sacks at one time. (see below for large bulk quantity ideas).
If you're not in NOLA, look for your local co-op or refill store that offers bulk food!
Maypop Herb Shop
Crescent City Farmers' Markets
With three locations each week, you can find pantry staples like local jams, jellies, pickles, kimchi, fresh bread, honey and more--- with many things available in glass instead of plastic jars. (We'll get to the fresh produce in the section below!)
If you're not in NOLA, find your local farmers' market and get plugged in!
Laughing Buddha Nursery/Local Cooling Farms & Local Neighborhood Drops
Laughing Buddha & Local Cooling Farms is owned by farmers who run a garden-store-turned-local-grocer. You can shop their Metairie location in person, or order online for a mix of pantry and fresh produce to be dropped at your local neighborhood hub for pickup on a specific delivery day.
Local bakeries
And for the freshest of bread, don't neglect your local neighborhood bakeries! When we buy fresh bread I typically freeze half of it to extend its life for a few more days-- that gets a whole loaf through the week for the two of us without the latter half going stale. If it does go stale, turn that bread into croutons! I recently tried this recipe from Minimalist Baker and it was great!
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Dry Goods & Pantry Staples: Large Quantities
Azure Standard
Azure Standard is an independent, family-owned farm and natural foods distributor based in Oregon that delivers high-quality, organic, non-GMO food throughout the country through its community drop network. In short, you order online before the cutoff date and then pick up your items once or twice a month at a specified location when they make their truck stop in your city.
AND THEY ARE MY NEW FAVORITE THING!
Azure has small and LARGE bulk quantities available for those looking to really stock up, such as 5, 10 or even 25 pound bags or bigger of things like organic lentils, rice, beans, organic almond flour that's almost impossible to find locally… And a lot of it comes in paper packaging or glass.
PLUS: much of the paper packaging I've received so far does not have any dubiously 'compostable' lining either. Lentils, beans, spices had no lining but the nuts did, presumably because of oils.
Additionally, when I checked the prices against Amazon/ Whole Foods for comparison's sake, they were almost always cheaper per unit on Azure.
The only catch here is that you need flexibility to pick up your order on whatever day/time it arrives (or partner with someone who can). The delivery date and time is their best estimate as it gets closer. And it could also be running a bit late, so keep that in mind.
You can check the community drop locator on their website and it has info for when the next New Orleans drop is, the community organizer's contact info, etc. There's also a Facebook group for each area's participants.
If you're not in NOLA, use the drop locator to find the closest location to you. Some bigger cities like Denver have multiple drop sites in one metro area, whereas rural locations may still have one within an hour's drive.
What's the difference between Azure & Costco?
From what I see, Azure has significantly more organic, vegan, and non-GMO options, with a much bigger selection overall of pantry staples, canned, and baking goods than what I've seen at our local Costco. And, importantly, many more things in paper bags rather than plastic-- including the large bulk grain bags.
Comparing apples-to-apples products between Costco and Azure, they seem to be close to the same prices per unit or a little less on Azure.
For my first drop I actually participated in an Auburn, AL one because a friend who travels back and forth to NOLA also wanted to try it. So we went in on it together and they picked it up for both of us. As of this writing, I'm putting in my next order with the NOLA group, so stay tuned!
And then there is Costco...
We all pretty much know how Costco works so I won't go into much detail. Suffice to say, I do appreciate their commitment to diversity and that they treat their employees well, though I find the amount of paper products, plastic water bottles, chemical cleaners, and factory farmed meat & dairy to be very upsetting.
Nevertheless, I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and if it could help lower our grocery budget while still being healthy, ethically sourced food-- looking specifically for bulk food in glass instead of plastic.
For us that's things like olive and avocado oils in glass, maple syrup in glass, pasta sauces in glass (though we also make our own), or maybe something we purchase sparingly, like Beyond Burgers that would come in plastic packaging at a regular store anyway.
The amount of produce packaged together is more than we can eat by ourselves though, and unfortunately still in a lot of plastic.
And now that I'm using Azure Standard and they have just about everything I could ever want, there seems to be much less need for Costco other than that it's more convenient than the once-a-month drop. But, with diligence you can make some Costco stuff work for you and still be low waste. Plus, you can skip all the cleaning stuff there and keep getting your refills at Vintage Green Review ;)
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Fresh Produce & Fridge Stuff: Local Options
CSA Boxes & Farmers' Markets
For locally sourced produce, you can sign up for farm share subscription boxes with a handful of local farms, noted below, to receive a pre-selected weekly box of produce based on your household size and needs. If you're not in NOLA, plug into your local farmers' market and ask around about who offers box options!
I'm not sure about each individual case, but it also seems that perhaps you save money by signing up for the boxes instead of purchasing individual items at the market the day of.
Alternatively, as mentioned above, the Crescent City Farmers' Market offers three different markets throughout the week with local produce as well as other refrigerator staples.
River Queen Greens is a Certified Naturally Grown vegetable farm in New Orleans. They grow greens and other produce in Lower Coast Algiers on New Orleans' West Bank. They are proud to grow vegetables primarily for home cooks and are dedicated to sustainable land stewardship and the proliferation of local agriculture.
They offer a weekly subscription farm share box or single boxes you can purchase individually as needed-- these are for pickup on Tuesday evenings at Press Street Gardens. Or you can visit them at the Thursday Mid City Crescent City Farmers' Market. For more info, check out their website.
Recirculating Farms
Recirculating Farms is a 501c3 non-profit collaborative of farmers, educators, and activists committed to building an equitable food system from farm to fork. They run ecologically and socially responsible programs that grow local, affordable food through innovative, eco-efficient methods, based on historic practices.
They offer a weekly Growing Local Box with home delivery on Fridays, packed by Recirculating Farms with all items sourced from Growing Local NOLA farms sites in Central City New Orleans and other local producers around our area.
The New Orleans Food Co-op also sources local produce, in addition to being a full natural foods grocery store for additional needs like milk, yogurts, etc.
Additional resources to check out include Sankofa and Grow Dat Youth Farm.
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Fresh Produce & Fridge Stuff: National Options
As far as regular grocery stores go, most people are doing their own research as to which companies are supporting (or even encouraging) our country's slide toward autocracy…small or large.
As for the big ones, we all pretty much know that Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods/ Amazon are to be avoided if possible because of their low wages, exploitative practices, lack of low-waste options etc. -- in addition to the fact that far fewer of those dollars stay within our local communities.
As someone who has always prioritized organic, non-GMO, plastic-free food (yes, even on an educator's salary that never once surpassed $50k!), my goal with this guide is therefore to highlight options that fit these criteria and might be new to readers looking for alternatives.
That's why you won't see Trader Joe's, Aldi's, or Winn Dixie highlighted here either-- though arguably, just like Costco, they could potentially fit the bill with intentional shopping choices to avoid plastic, factory farmed meat & dairy, etc.
For me personally, Trader Joe's has too much plastic and processed food plus it's far away; we don't have an Aldi's in NOLA so I've never been; and I find the quality of Winn Dixie's produce to be poor, in addition to their lack of more robust organic, vegan and natural foods free from additives in pantry products, plant milks, yogurts and the like.
Imperfect Foods
So that brings me to Imperfect Foods! Imperfect works to reduce food waste and combat climate change by working with farms and suppliers to rescue food from being wasted around the country. This could mean foods with cosmetic imperfections or irregular sizes, or just surpluses of food that could go underutilized.
The way it works: you order online by the cutoff day each week and they coordinate a once-a-week delivery by neighborhood. Prices are comparable to Whole Foods or less (with the Imperfect+ membership that offers free delivery and bonus lower prices).
You can read about their full impact and resources saved here.
They basically function the same way as a natural grocery as to what they offer: pantry, fridge items like milk, cheese, yogurts, and fresh produce.
A potential downside, however, is that you need to be a little more careful when ordering to avoid extra plastic. Order produce items that are listed by count instead of by pound. Example would be lemons-- choosing the option by count they typically arrive loose, whereas by pound they come in one of those mesh plastic bags.
Likewise, most of the greens I've ordered from them come without extra packaging: kale, chard, broccoli, leeks, celery. Whereas the things that came in unexpected bags were potatoes, onions, and garlic (and the citrus before I knew better).
Unfortunately, one glaring drawback is that the ice packs and bubble bags they use to transport fridge and frozen items are not returnable in Louisiana, which we were confused by when we began ordering from them. They do accept them in other places, but for our area their advice is to reuse them, or empty and recycle the flexible plastic at a location listed in the website they provide (all of which are Winn Dixie locations, and IMO likely greenwashing). They said they’re working on it, but in the meantime, it’s something to consider when deciding what you might want to order from them.
Azure Standard
So that also brings me back around to highlighting Azure Standard once again--they also offer a wide selection of natural, high-quality fresh and frozen food in addition to their dry goods.
My understanding is there's no additional packaging for cold things because they have a refrigerated and frozen compartment in their trucks already. Because they grow much of their own food and deliver it directly to your drop site, it should be fresher than what you get trucked into a regular grocery store… but likely not quite as fresh as the farmers' market of course.
That's the potential downside: less-local produce (but still organic), and that their delivery is just once a month.
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Grow Your Own
This blog post is getting very long, so let me wrap this up! There are a number of resources from which you can get native & non-GMO seeds or plant starts to grow as much food as you can for FREE at home!
Here are a bunch of local resources I've compiled to check out for seeds, plants, supplies, and educational info.
Seeds & Plants:
--Baby T Rex Farm: worms, seedlings, free seeds, resources
--Chickadee Natives: delivers native plants & seeds on Fridays
--Hot Plants Nursery: starter plants for purchase, seasonal rotation
--Louisiana Native Plant Society: lists of plants and seed resources
--Pelican Greenhouse & Plant Sale in City Park: next one coming up May 4, 2025
--ReCirc Farms: lots of resources in including classes on vermicomposting, container gardening and soil remediation. (Sometimes class info is easier to find on their social media pages)
--Local farmers selling starter plants at farmers' markets, and potentially any of the other resources listed above
--Local library branch (free seeds up to 3 packs)
--Joyful Butterfy for native milkweed seeds--hard to find!
Additional local nurseries, gardening & compost supplies:
Harolds, Plant Gallery, Laughing Buddha (has worms too), Schmelly's (for compost)
Educational info & regional farming/ gardening advice:
"How NOLA Grows Dat" region-wide Facebook group
LSU Agricultural Extension Office and Vegetable Planting Guide
If you're not in NOLA, check for your local/ state agricultural extension office and local gardening groups for more resources!
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Conclusion
As mentioned above, there are an overwhelming number of things to consider when trying to shop healthfully, ethically, and affordably. What's right for each individual household will be based on any combination of factors that take priority for them.
What we've landed on for our house is the following, and here's why:
Monthly Dry Goods & Bulk Pantry Staples: Everything from Azure Standard because it's mostly cheaper than Whole Foods and a better company. Bulk stuff is close to the same price as Costco but with healthier options and less plastic. I can get pretty much every single thing I need (including items like brown rice flour!) in stock and available. And, I'm wanting to stock up as much as possible in large quantities before prices increase even more with impending inflation and potential recession on the way.
Weekly Fresh Produce & Fridge Stuff: Rotating between Farmers' Markets, Imperfect Foods, and the NOLA Food Co-op based on what's available locally and organic, what rescued food is on sale with Imperfect, money left in the monthly budget, and what my schedule is that week. And of course, using the Co-op if I need small or simple things faster-- like rice paper for impromptu spring rolls!
At Home Herbs & Our Garden Boxes: Our yard is teeny-tiny so we don't have a lot of space or sunlight for much, but we grow as many fresh herbs as we can keep alive: basil, thyme, rosemary, dill, sage, chives, mint, cilantro, parsley, with very small amounts of veggies and some baby citrus trees.
That probably sounds like a lot of running around, but in truth it feels simpler and so much more pleasant!
Once we organized our pantry & storage for Azure (I'll do a separate post on that soon), it's really just about plugging in our fresh stuff once a week.
Relying on one of the three options above (Imperfect, market, or Co-op) gives me more flexibility, not less, and all of them feel more uplifting than the corporate status quo!