1. Tea: no. I don't drink iced tea at home, and the idea of a carton seems weird to me. Besides, I want teabags for the compost pile.
2. Don't drink soda anyway, so neither case would apply. Besides, I want to minimise packaging, for environmental reasons.
3. You can still get the frozen stuff? For me, way better to get the carton. I can recycle the carton in my town. And it uses way less resources to manufacture than an aluminium tin.
4. I don't buy canned fruit, and I'm not sure what pudding is (token foreigner again!). But I do buy individual sizes of yoghurt.

Sustainability and packaging is a major consideration in my purchasing decisions.

It's a better choice for me to buy milk in cardboard half gallon cartons (which the town will take for recycling, and if in a landfill will at least be crushed flat) than milk in gallon plastic containers.

1. No to tea for me, too. We rarely drink iced tea, even in the summer, so it wouldn't be a smart purchase.

2. Don't drink sodas, but if company is coming, I will buy individual six-packs for variety.

3. I do buy orange juice in the carton --the kind with "most pulp". It seems to taste more like fresh squeezed to me.

4. I've recently started buying the individual containers of apple sauce (three in a package), as DH isn't crazy about it. This way, I can have some when I want it and it doens't get moldy in the fridge before I've eaten it. Better yet, however, is cooking one or two sliced apples in the microwave, then mashing them. "Instant" apple sauce and much better tasting--IMO.

Usually, I try to buy larger sizes, if they're a better buy. But sometimes, convenience or usability is factored in to the purchase.

1. Make iced tea as I want it, generally make 2 or 3
servings, using regular and/or green tea bags, sometimes
add some herb-tea
2. Don't drink soda
3. Buy "Most Pulp" OJ in cartons, recycle cartons
4. Rarely use canned fruit, but keep frozen on hand
Buy plain, fat free yogurt in Quart containers and add
some frozen fruit when I dish out individual portion.
Containers are saved, they make good food-storage
utensils, when they get too gross, the recycle bin.

I can't possibly generalize that one. It depends entirely on the circumstances.Time is just as valuable as money to me and even more so sometimes. I make my tea,I buy my tea,I make my own soup,I buy soup,I bake my bread,I buy my bread....and each is worthwhile to me when I'm doing it.

I think there are good reasons to have even the most over-packaged and ecologically incorrect foods on a market shelf. The one cup pudding, and the frozen dinner were Godsends to our family for my elderly mother when I couldn't get over there to leave a home-cooked meal she could eat and really preferred. It's the price one pays for an important reason, like her nutrition and independence.

Contrary to what some might believe, I do not dress in sackcloth, nor routinely churn my own butter (though I will churn it if cream is a cheaper way to go than prepackaged). I will buy a bottle of fresh squeezed OJ for a special treat, because the reconstituted tastes nasty to me and hurts my stomach. However, I do this as a special treat, and usually used home canned juices. I'll also buy a pound of commercial noodles to put in a certain casserole, even though I may have twenty pounds of my home made ones in the freezer, because commercial noodles don't go mushy when baked. I think nothing of buying a can of soda from a vending machine, as long as I recycle the can.

It's too dicey a territory to pass "this is good" / "this is a bad thing" straight across the board where consumer choices are concerned. But, there is a very fine and grey line somewhere between minding one's own business and total laissez faire. Sometimes people need their consciousness raised and challenged just to overcome inertia. And I figure malnutrition and finite resources are as good a cause as any voice an opinion even if it means being labeled a busybody.

Yes, I watch grocery carts, just like some people like to people watch. It makes a very legitimate statement on society, as opposed to individuals when you take into account what kinds of foods pass through the scanner over the half hour wait to be checked out. It's just as good an indicator as looking at what people throw away. On some occasions I get a slow burn, like seeing a poor family with a cart of really no-nutrition but easy to fix foods check out when I know there are alternatives on the shelf to fill their kid's stomach as cheap or sometimes cheaper. That's why our state specifies what WIC dollars can be spent for. If they didn't it would go to kool-aid and sugar coated cereal, instead of milk and oatmeal. It's not my responsibility to choose for them, but their own because the education is there if they want to learn how to better shop and cook. I get discouraged to see the empty classrooms in those programs or the county having to require attendance because it's too much "touble", but not discouraged enough that I won't sign my checks to the food pantry to cover their bases when their money runs out mid-month. I don't wish hunger on anyone when I have food in my own gut. But, I still see the bottled tea go in the carts, and the single serving puddings, and the frozen entrees with two ounces of protein and two pounds of filler.

As to all the purchases of stuff prepackaged and over packaged we could make ourselves? I would be simply satisfied to think somebody put some thought into why they need it like that and proceed according to their own conscience. To put it as succinctly as I can, if we all sacrificed even a small amount to limit those types of purchases to what we really want/need for our own conveniences and chose accordingly, then we postpone the time down the road when somebody feels it has to be legislated for our own good and bans it across the board as wasteful or ecologically unsound. A little from everybody can work better than a lot from a few.

I too grocery cart watch Suzy. It's amazing to me to see way overweight families, with the cart filled to the top with chips, cokes, cookies, prepackaged meals (read hamburger helper here) along with the hamburger, but nothing else. I see it time and time again.

I find limiting portions incredibly important. If I have 16 ounces of milk in front of me, I'll drink 16 ounces of milk. If I have 8, then I drink 8. I like the single portions for that purpose. I don't drink tea, I don't drink cokes (soft drinks), but if I do have a coke (rarely!) I really love the little 8 ounce ones. I despise the 12 ounces cans because they're so wasteful for me (I won't drink the whole thing), my husband (he WILL drink the whole thing) and my son (he'll spill the whole thing). Canned fruit is wonderful for sending to school. He gets fresh in the morning, evening and weekends. Like other kids, he won't eat the banana that got beat up in his lunch bag. Talk about grab and go when packing his lunch too. If it wasn't for that, he'd get a sandwich and some $ for milk. Ed does the packing, so at least I can sneak something healthy in with its ease.

I make so much from scratch, but sometimes I just run out of time. Pasta, pie crusts and gravy to name a few, are those that I buy for pure convenience. That's not necessarily a packaging issue, but I could make more of each for the price I pay for one.

I use to freak out when the kids ate the expensive little packages of fruit and applesauce and whatever I bought for the sack lunches at home. What a waste. But they would eat fruit in those little containers when they would not bother to open up a large container and when they weren't into fresh fruit. They are now, but those little packages seem to fascinate little kids. I like to have the little applesauces and yogurts to have snacks at work. Don't drink pop, can't stand the taste of premade ice tea. Do buy 1/2 gallons of oj.

What about those little containers of chips and cookies that have only 100 calories? Seems a shame we can't have control not to eat the whole bag. It would just mean that I would be opening 6 little bags and devouring them at one time instead of one big bag.

Oh gosh, my fridge just got refilled with 10 halfgallons of whole milk but my wrists won't give way while wrestling with gallon jugs. (On a side note, a "cartwatcher" at checkout invariably points out that the gallon size is cheaper which I think is nice of them). Yogurt by the quart as I use in cooking (try it in biscuits and pancakes!) as well as snacking. Same with things like laundry and dishwashing detergents...have to have the smaller sizes. And DH has to have the small bags of sunflower seed which are very costly.

This practice crept in gradually as we've become creakier the past couple of years...in fact I have given to my DIL most of my large stockpots, etc. Too dangerous to use so I now use two smaller pots/pans instead. I like to make large batches of soups and meat sauces for freezing, but you just have to adapt. A good byproduct of using 2 pots is that I can vary each pot with different seasonings plus pots fit in DW easier...

I don't care for canned soups and frozen entrees but my DH loves Stauffers and Progresso...and it's awfully nice when he fixes his own lunch...lol (But we don't buy the microwave-package of soup...it's too skimpy a serving and expensive). I'd rather grill a cheese sandwich or root thru freezer for a cup of homemade soup. We do both lke Dole's peaches in the jar...and DH loves apple sauce and finishes off a big jar in 3 days adding to his oatmeal. So it varies here. Fresh citrus is a must regardless of cost...I just love the smell and look and often use the whole fruit..the peel is added to sweetpotatoes with sugar and baked, then frozen, and makes a good healthy side dish or snack (I love it still frosty!).

In season I buy blueberries to freeze...I've also got about 4 cups of pomegranate seeds, Sheila) and it's easy to spoon out a portion for our cereal. Bananas and grapes usually on hand, and whatever fresh fruit in season. I don't make pies or cakes or puddings and don't buy them...do keep Oreos and chocolate-chip cookies and mini candy bars on hand mostly for DH and GD when she visits. I'd rather have cheese and fruit for a snack. I too prefer the small Cokes or Root Beer on the infrequent occasions I want a softdrink but a 6-pack of each lasts 2 months here. I use the large cans of Lipton Instant tea with lemon and sugar and make up a quart at a time...I know that's sacriligious for a Southerner but so be it...LOL My housekeeper introduced me to it and I love it.

I do buy the little sixpacks of tomato, V8, and grapefruit juice since I found less waste that way...occasionally I'll have prune juice and apple juice in the small cans too. My GD loves the little cans, as Meldy mentioned, but mainly no leftover sitting in fridge until thrown away. Don't know why but on the day I want grapefruit DH wants apple...LOL

One thing which really shocks is the amount of excess packaging in mailorder items...recently ordered large coffee mugs and soupbowls and I swear the packaging was 4 times what was necessary from both Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn. And it wasn't recycled shredded newsprint for instance but new stuffing. Big retailers like that should be chastened and I intend to write them asking "why".

Anyway, it's uneven here at best but we do try and be mindful...it's not time so much as strength and energy which is in short supply here. For awhile we used the 20 pound (or maybe they were 40 pound bags?) of birdseed and DH would ladle it out into a gallon bucket to carry outside. I slipped on spilled seed in laundryroom once too often...LOL josh

1. I buy my tea loose.
2. I don't drink any kind of soda.
3. I don't drink juice - I usually have an orange or some kind of fruit with breakfast.
4. The only things I buy in cans are tomatoes and beans.

I buy my meat from a butcher and my fish from a fishmonger.
I don't buy much packaged stuff at all, I guess.

Josh, I laughed out loud about the "cartwatchers" who tell you the larger jug of milk is cheaper. Nice? Maybe, but nosy definitely. I had one tell me once that I shouldn't buy yogurt because it contained no protein (huh? what about calcium?) and several have sneered at my cat food and litter while making nasty remarks about how horrible cats are. I "kindly" made no comment about his halo!

People are just unreal sometimes. and obviously need a life when they think it's their innate duty to invade your personal space and "educate" you. I think one of the funniest things I ever heard happened in a grocery store in the aisle next to mine. I overheard a husband and wife talking about marshmallows. She told him not to get a certain kind because they weren't "natural." He said " What do you mean by natural? Do you think they grow on f***** g trees? I laughed out loud and still do every time I think of those two.

I think Suzi stated most of my feelings on the subject -- although I am still dumbfounded about the commercial ice tea! I always keep clean empty milk jugs on hand, and can make several gallons of tea in less time than it takes to run to the store, so I can't justify paying a several dollars for the commercial stuff.

I also think the individual sizes are a nice idea for packed lunches or when one is aware that a opening a larger size would be wasteful. However, I won't buy the tiny sizes simply because I think there is too much waste to the production as well as to vastly increasing the amount of trash to be disposed of after eating a single serving. I keep a large number of one-serving-size plastic containers on hand, and know which foods [practically all] can be kept in the fridge for several days or even frozen for later use; so I open a standard size can or jar, and re-pack into my own containers. I also buy tiny zip-bags, and re-pack the humongeous bags of raisins, craisins, and other dried fruit into snack sizes as well as into pre-measured sizes for use in baking.

This re-packing habit started as a matter of budget -- it doesn't make sense to pay $2 for a dozen =ounce boxes of raisins when the same $2 will buy a 16-oz box. The last time I looked at mini-packs of fruits, I saw that a 6-carton [3 oz ea] pack of applesauce was $2.69 and a 32 oz jar -that's a large jar- was $2.89 which is a rather stunning difference in cost. I should say "have bought tiny zip-bags" since my last purchase about 8 years ago and they are still doing fine.

I guess that basically I like and will use, do use individually packed containers, but I'd rather spend a little time after each shopping trip to re-pack large sizes into my own small containers and thus avoid contributing to trash-waste as well as enjoying a substantial savings in money spent.

BTW, when taking any sort of food to someone, I make sure a "use-by" date is always clearly marked. This is also convenient when re-packing -- DH doesn't ask if the sliced peaches are "still good" if he sees "use by 0217" written on the lid.

I too repack for price savings and to calorie count. First, I divide it into the piles. Let's say it has 160 calories per serving, but there 5 in the package. I'll divide the big heap into 100 calories servings of 8 piles). Last, I put each pile into the small bags, then all of the little bags back into the big bag (to keep track of them and to know all the rest such as ingredients and use by date). I know there has to be a better way! I like the 100 calorie size servings and came up with that long before the "new" small servings in individual packagaing, because... it's easier to calorie count that way ;)

Buy a gallon of ready-made tea rather than make your own? - Make my own for personal consumption. However, when it's tea for 400 people at a big gardening conference, it's run to Sam's for the pre-made stuff.

Buy individual-sized soft drinks rather than re-filling the small bottles from a big one? - Individual. We don't drink enough of that stuff to justify the big containers. The soda would just go flat

Buy a gallon of lemonade or orange juice rather than thawing and diluting the frozen condensed tube? -In the carton in the summertime when oranges aren't in season. Right now we squeeze our own.

Buy those tiny individual servings of pudding or canned fruit? - Nope. Those are good for kid's lunches, but we don't have any need of them

And speaking of cart-watchers, I got an interesting email a few weeks ago with a series of pictures showing a family in various countries surrounded by a week's worth of food. Of course, I know that all these kinds of things are very subjective, but even so, I found it very instructive to compare the American picture with those in the other Western countries.

Laughing at the last statement. Isn't it the truth? When we lived in France, my mother had a little motorcycle. I'd hop on the back behind her, and we did our marketing at a nearby village and our last stop was always the bakery. The loaf of hard, unwrapped bread sticking out of the net bag as we putt-putted home. The ice box was tiny compared to those here, and food was picked up on a more continual basis instead of in bulk.

The one thing I was impressed about with England was on-line grocery shopping. I walked into town with yet another of those net bags almost daily to the meat market, and God, I loved the green grocers. But my kids would order food online and Tesco delivered it for their large order. What amazed me, was the fresh produce and meats were picked out very nicely, like somebody actually cared!

Wouldn't home delivery of market goods be a God send here? Perhaps some of you have it, but certainly not in our community. Think of coming home after a hard day's work and having your shopping already done, or how convenient it would be to the eldery, always an issue where errands are concerned.

In my area, there is home delivery for groceries. I mean picked, packed and delivered by the grocery, not my DH. And when I looked on-line, I see that it's available in several other states.

Keep in mind, that 85% of the local residents have 2 adults working full-time, and that the average family income in my county is over $100,000 per year which is almost double the state average and considerably more than double the national average income. I mention this because using a grocery delivery is --on the face of it-- not cheap. The hidden savings is a reduction in impulse buying, and quite literally, the time saved. If one is in a family with the adults at work 9 hours with another 2 hours to commute, it would be tempting indeed to spend the service charge in order to have an additional hour or two at home. OTOH, grocery stores -large and small- can be found within a mile or two of each other throughout most of the county. For an example - and not counting at least 6 ethnic grocers- I pass 7 big-name supermarkets in my 5-mile commute. Using the grocery delivery service doesn't interest me, although I understand that they are making a tidy profit for the parent companies. It's all a matter of what is worthwhile for you.

Linked is an article regarding the service. I can only tell you that as time goes by, I see more and more of the delivery trucks making their rounds.

Well, the service charge was not bad on their grocery orders. I am not sure but it struck me at that time as five pounds. They lived in a farming county of small villages, and with the price of fuel there, it would have cost them at least five pounds to have gotten in a car and driven to a larger town who had one of these supermarkets. Both worked until five o'clock at night, and stores there didn't have night hours like they do in America, and by the time five o'clock hit there, it was pitch black in wintertime and they were just beginning their commutes home from work.

My SILs parents owned a Spar Shop franchise, so oftentimes odds and ends were purchased there, and most of the fresh items were purchased in the village, but for imported foods (like pumpkin or Mexican) Tesco was where one had to go.

I would definately consider using a grocery delivery(the more things change, the more they stay the same, Mom and Pop groceries often had delivery boys), if it proved to be cost efficient or bought me time when I needed to apply it for something important. Likewise, I am a firm believer in hiring in household help where time is an issue. I wouldn't think twice about it, if I needed the time for my business. I would not to gain leisure time, most likely as I like to do physical work....but wouldn't fault somebody else who values their time vs. dollar and just didn't want to do the boring, routine household drudge.

Since I too am a "cartwatcher" just wanted to say that unkind remarks would surely be uncalled for, but I've warned about leaving purses in unattended carts...In fact one of my proud moments was when my 10 year old son sheepishly brought a lady up to me in grocery...she wanted to give him a dollar for calling her attention to her half-open purse, and when he wouldn't accept asked him to find me. She promised him she would sit her purse in bottom of cart (under childseat) and stack groceries around it, which was my method.

Grocery delivery is available here but I haven't used it. I wish they still delivered milk and the vegetable/fruit truck still came around.
Suzy's right about the elderly often needing help. DH and I no longer drive and while my son and family would help if necessary, we want to care for our needs ourselves as possible. It's been a godsend that my longtime parttime household helper "retired" from another job and has extra days for us when needed. She not only goes to grocery but takes us to appointments, etc. I do try to limit shopping trips (thus the ten 1/2 gallons of milk...LOL)...and have always kept a wellstocked pantry since I hated frequent trips myself. It's an expense we know we're fortunate to be able to meet. She's luckily a good cook too and a gardener and while I still do my cooking...she does help with my container garden. The tradeoff is not as much dusting gets done but I can live with that...LOL

Actually she is my "recycler" too, everything from clothes to household stuff. Items of food she takes right before expiration for her large family or if past date,to her chickens...lol She ALWAYS knows someone in her community or church who can use things and I'm glad to know it goes direct to that need. (It's nice to find a home for 4 jars of salsa that I have no idea how I ended up with such a supply! Or Jim's old copy/fax/answering machine which sat unused).

I read an article somewhere that home delivery services for dairy products was on the rise. I know that several of the grocery stores in Dallas tried on-line ordering & home delivery in the late 1990's & eventually disbanded the service for either lack of interest or inability to make it pay. i would think it would be hard to have such a service be profitably in a less-than-densely populated area given the cost of fuel & the distances that would have to be traveled to make individual deliveries.

Can you imagine what the inside of one of those trucks would look like today? When we used to have our milk delivered we got milk. Today you have 1%,2%,skim,whole,soy,and who knows what else. We are very lucky in that we live close to a dairy farm which not only supplies all the stores in the area but also has its own small store. You initially pay a small deposit for your bottles,then when you are through with the milk,return them and get more. No plastic,no cartons. It's nice having actual milk bottles in the fridge.

I remember those dairy stores from when I was a kid. I'd love to have one around here & would love to have my milk in a glass bottle too.

I remember having home delivery of milk,in glass bottles. I no longer remember everything that was offered, but I do know I got skim and whole milks, cottage cheese, orange juice, and half & half as a regular delivery twice a week and quite often put in an extra order, just checked off items on a preprinted slip to be picked up when he made the rounds and delivered the next day. The cost of most items was comparable to or less expensive than the local grocery.