Grocery Store Trips- Save Energy and Gas

I play Tripoli on Tuesday nites with some of the ladies in my complex. They were talking about the price of food. We got to comparing milk prices. One lady (who shall not be named) thought she one-upped me on the price of milk. She paid  $.50 less than me from Stater Bros, while I paid more from Trader Joes. 

The reality is she actually paid more- She drives to the store (6 miles), while I walk up to the store (1 Mile), get my exercise, and don’t drive! 

There is nothing worse, when you open the refrig and no milk! or worse yet- you get the late nite Jonsies for cookies! That fast trip to the store costs money! and increases our dependance on oil! What can you do to eliminate that late nite trips to the store? 

First- think about your waistline and then think about the environment. The Key is to cut your Grocery Trips in half, and you will save money and the environment 

I just gotta tell ya: 

• Supermarkets are places of high impulse buying for both sexes — fully 60 to 70 percent of purchases there were unplanned, grocery industry studies have shown us.
• If 10,000 people cut their number of grocery shopping trips in half, we would save enought gas to drive or about 1,422,330 miles- 
• It is estimated that the USA wastes 48 Billion dollars worth of food. 
• Livestock is one of the most carbon-dioxide intensive foods you can eat because the amount of gas and energy expended (and carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere) is very high in order to truck livestock from farm, to slaughterhouse, to package house, to middle man, to supermarket (and wherever else
• Food Waste-Throwing food away not only wastes you money, but it also wastes energy. Most people don’t think about where their food comes from or how far it has traveled just to reach their plate. Growing and transporting food is a very energy intensive process. On a farm, energy is put into your food in the form of pesticides, sunlight, water, and the fossil fuels that run farm equipment. Once the food is harvested, it then must be packaged and sent to a processing plant where it will be made into what you see at the grocery store. In order to reach the store, first the food must be transported, sometimes thousands of miles. After the food is placed into your shopping basket even more energy is used in order to transported the food to your home, where yet more energy will be put into the process of cooking the food.
• Having a full refrigertor will save you money on electricity. 

Save Money and the Environment at the Grocery Store 

• Make a list and stick to it 
• Shop only 1x per week 
• Stock up on non-perishable items 
• Buy in Bulk 
• Buy locally and in season 
• Keep a price record 
• Consider getting a backpack and make your daily trip to the store by walking or riding your bike 
• Remember to take your reusable bags