A Guide to Climate-Conscious Grocery Shopping

A version of this article originally appeared in the “Revitalizing Home Cooking” issue of The Deep Dish, our members-only newsletter. Become a member today and get the next issue directly in your inbox.

Between considering the impact of your food choices on your health and on the well-being of the planet—and accounting for the very real constraints of time, money, and accessibility—shopping for groceries can often feel daunting.

Purchasing food exclusively at farmers’ markets or local co-ops and buying 100-percent organic, animal- and earth-friendly products is not a realistic option for most people. So what do you prioritize? And when values conflict—like when a product is nutritious but hard on the environment (in the case of almonds) or produced humanely but packaged poorly (like Animal Welfare Approved milk in a plastic carton)—what do you do?

Sophie Egan, author of How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices that Are Good For You, Others, and the Planet and former director of the Health and Sustainability Leadership at The Culinary Institute of America, offers advice for how to shop for the benefit of yourself, others, and the environment—without feeling guilt for the compromises you have to make.

While Egan lays out numerous, specific guidelines in her book, she provides here some key, big-picture concepts to keep in mind as you strive to align your food shopping choices with your values.

Your shopping choices CAN make a difference in planetary health.

Embrace the incredible power of food choices as a daily climate solution. There’s an incredible call to action from leading global scientists, Project Drawdown in particular, which tells us that of all the climate solutions, the number one is reducing food waste. Number two is eating a plant-rich diet. And what I find so exciting about that is it’s something that every individual can contribute to on a daily basis.

Eat more fruits and vegetables, but drop the binary, all-or-nothing mindset, and don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

There’s too much black-and-white messaging and all-or-nothing mindsets. You do not have to go vegan to eat sustainably. As an individual or household, the more you’re generally aiming for plant-positive, plant-centric, flexitarian—basically just general emphasis on the delicious, abundant diverse foods from the plant kingdom—that’s great.

It’s a win-win that’s good for the planet and good for your health. It’s far more impactful to be a flexitarian for life than vegan for one summer.

One in 10 Americans eat the recommended value of fruits and vegetables. I often hear, “I don’t buy organic blueberries because they’re too expensive. So therefore, I just don’t buy blueberries.” The perceived hierarchy of produce just gets in the way of people eating more of it, in any form.

I think whatever way you can enjoy access to fruits and vegetables—frozen, canned, if you grow them yourself—great. If they’re organic or regenerative—great. Truly, just eating more—some, any—is better than none. Applaud yourself for eating foods that are supportive of your health and planetary health in whatever ways you have access to, and in whatever frequency is viable for your budget. The goal is not 100 percent perfection.

From my perspective, conscious eating—trying to eat healthy, sustainably, equitably—is not about a diet. It’s not about hard-and-fast rules. It’s not about a no-no list or self-righteous over-emphasis on only a few foods. It’s not about giving up the foods you love. Food is also joy and deliciousness and heritage and family and connection and community. And don’t have blinders on in the pursuit of more sustainable eating to the crowd out those things that that are equally important.

Make small, strategic changes in your shopping habits that add up to the biggest cumulative impact.