Many of us want to buy food that's better for the planet, but working out which ingredients are actually sustainable can feel confusing.
This guide looks at sustainable food and grocery shopping across the main food groups and provides a practical, simple category review for fruit and veg, meat, fish and pantry staples as well as a clear explanation of Fairtrade and organic. It also looks at UPFs (Ultra-Processed Foods) and their environmental impact.
Jump to:
- What are Sustainable Ingredients?
- How to Eat and Cook Sustainably
- Quick Checklist: How to Shop Sustainably for Food and Groceries
- Are Sustainable Ingredients More Expensive?
- How can I shop for sustainable food on a budget?
- Quick Tips to Reduce Food Waste
- How to Shop Sustainable Fruit and Vegetables
- Dive Deeper into Eating in Season
- How to buy Meat Sustainably
- Tips To Reduce Meat
- How to buy Fish Sustainably
- How to Shop Sustainable Ingredients for your Pantry
- Fairtrade. What is it and when it matters most
- Top Fairtrade Recipes
- Organic Produce & Sustainability
- Are Ultra Processed Foods Sustainable?
- How to maximise a sustainable approach
- How Sustainable Ingredients can improve everyday cooking
- Sustainable Food Shopping: A Simple Summary
- FAQ's
- 💬 Reviews
What are Sustainable Ingredients?
There isn't a single legal definition of sustainable food or ingredients, but it is generally understood to mean foods produced in ways that reduce environmental impact, protect natural resources and support fair supply chains. These typically include seasonal fruit and vegetables, plant-based staples such as beans and lentils, sustainably sourced fish, higher-welfare meat, and certified products such as organic or Fairtrade foods.
How to Eat and Cook Sustainably
For more information on How to Eat and Cook Sustainably, check out this free guide.
Quick Checklist: How to Shop Sustainably for Food and Groceries
When you're out shopping, thinking about these six sustainable food shopping tips to help you make the best sustainable food shopping decisions.
- Choose seasonal fruit and vegetables.
- Eat more plant-based meals with beans, lentils, wholegrains.
- Buy less but higher-welfare meat.
- Look for trusted labels such as Organic, Fairtrade and MSC.
- Choose sustainably sourced fish.
- Plan meals and reduce food waste.
Are Sustainable Ingredients More Expensive?
Sustainable ingredients are often a bit more expensive, but for many people, it's still possible to eat a sustainable diet and shop sustainably on a budget.
A sustainable diet focuses on some of the cheapest foods you can buy such as seasonal vegetables, beans, lentils, legumes and grains. Reducing the amount of meat and dairy you eat can lead to significant savings on the weekly shop. Add these savings to the substantial savings from reducing food waste and for many people, it becomes possible to spend a little more on high-quality sustainable ingredients, without increasing your weekly food budget.
However, this isn't about judgement. If sustainable ingredients are not within your budget right now, you can still make a real difference to the environment and your weekly budget by eating a sustainable diet.
How can I shop for sustainable food on a budget?
If you're on a budget, I recommend prioritising in the following order to eat a more sustainable diet.
- Reduce Food Waste.
- Eat less meat and dairy.
- Buy seasonal produce, which can be up to one third cheaper.
- Switch your highest-frequency global staples such as tea, coffee and sugar to Fairtrade
Focus on basing meals around affordable staples like beans, lentils and grains and reduce food waste by planning meals and using up leftovers.
Quick Tips to Reduce Food Waste
Here's a quick list of 15 easy ways to reduce food waste at home, focused on habits that fit around busy family life.
How to Shop Sustainable Fruit and Vegetables
A sustainable diet includes lots of fruit and vegetables. As a general rule, they should make up about half of your plate. You can find lots of seasonal vegetarian and vegan recipes here.
- Buy Seasonal. Seasonal produce can be up to one third cheaper and often comes with a lower foodprint than out-of-season produce grown in heated conditions or transported long distances. Most food is not air-freighted, but delicate foods such as berries, asparagus, green beans, babycorn, mangetout and exotic fruits like mangoes and papaya often are. Eating seasonally can taste better, help reduce waste and has more flavour.
- Embrace "wonky" and frozen produce. Wonky vegetables still taste the same and buying them helps reduce farm-level waste. Frozen fruit and vegetables reduce spoilage at home.
- Check the origin. The key thing to remember here is that how food is grown is more important than the distance it has travelled.
- Choose organic strategically. If you are able to buy organic produce, choose those where you eat the skin (berries, apples, leafy greens). See below for more information on why organic produce is sustainable.
- Shop Fairtrade. Fruits such as bananas, lemons, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, citrus fruits, papayas, coconut and most dried fruits can be bought as Fairtrade.
Dive Deeper into Eating in Season
Find seasonal calendars, plus what eating seasonally really means, why it matters, and how to make it work in everyday life.
How to buy Meat Sustainably
Meat can still be part of a sustainable diet. Ideally choose meat just once or twice a week and look for higher-welfare and better-farmed options if you do. Check out these sustainable meat recipes.
- Labels. Look for credible labels such as RSPCA Assured, Soil Association, Organic, Pasture for Life. For poultry, look for Free-Range, Pasture-Fed and Better Chicken Commitment . Steer clear of claims with no criteria such as 'farm assured', 'locally sourced', 'farm fresh'. Compassion in World Farming has more information on labelling of farm produce.
- Buy cuts that reduce waste. Buy a wider range of cuts of meat to support whole-animal use and reduce waste. This can often be cheaper too.
How to Buy Meat Sustainably in the US
In the US, look for the following credible certifications to ensure higher animal welfare and environmental stewardship.
- Animal Welfare Approved (A Greener World). Considered a high standard for high-welfare, sustainable, pasture-based farming.
- Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC). Covers soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness. It requires USDA Organic as a baseline.
- Certified Humane Raised and Handled. Ensures animals can behave naturally and are not confined to cages or crates.
- American Grassfed Association (AGA). Ensures cattle and lambs are 100% grass-fed, pasture-raised, and not confined or given antibiotics.
- USDA Certified Organic. Guarantees no synthetic pesticides/fertilizers, no GMOs, and some outdoor access.
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Tips To Reduce Meat
How to eat less meat and more plant-based foods. A simple guide for everyday life.
How to buy Fish Sustainably
Sustainable fish depends on three things. Species plus method plus location. Two labels can help identify the most sustainable choices. One relates to wild-caught fish, the other to farmed fish.
- Look out for the blue MSC label for sustainable wild-caught fish. This covers most countries.
- The ASC label is the sister scheme and is for responsible fish farming.
You can also check out the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good Fish Guide which rates fish as either green, amber or red. It's updated regularly.
Many people stick to five main sources of fish and seafood. Cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns. Being open to less popular species can help relieve pressure on fish stocks as well as often being cheaper.
Check out these sustainable fish recipes for help incorporating more fish into your weekly meal plan.
How to Shop Sustainable Ingredients for your Pantry
Pantry ingredients are your staples and the ones you shop most often, so making good choices here can really help.
- Beans, lentils, legumes, grains. These are cheap, versatile, low-waste and support a more plant-forward or 'planetary-diet' way of eating.
- Buy larger or refill packets. Where possible, bulk buying common ingredients reduces the packaging per kg and usually works out cheaper.
- Dried herbs. A zero waste alternative to fresh. Just make sure to only select ones you actually use.
- Coffee, tea, sugar and cocoa. Look for Fairtrade labelled items if possible. This is the gold standard. After that, certifications such as Rainforest Alliance.
- Palm Oil. Palm oil is an ingredient in around 50% of packaged products in supermarkets. The most recognized sustainable certification to look for is the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) . Eating a sustainable diet will naturally help you reduce the number of products you eat that contain palm oil as it focuses on fresh ingredients.
- Tinned or canned tomatoes. A convenient option and great alternative to using out of season fresh tomatoes.
Fairtrade. What is it and when it matters most
Fairtrade is an internationally recognised label for ingredients that are typically grown in lower-income producing countries and traded globally (think tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, bananas). It's the most recognised ethical label globally and considered the gold standard. The objectives are:
- To ensure farmers and workers are paid a fair price for their produce. This guarantees a minimum price to ensure at least a basic standard of living.
- No forced or child labour and safe working conditions.
- Promote environmentally sustainable farming practices. To protect the land and workers, Fairtrade products minimise the use of chemicals, harmful pesticides and help communities adapt to climate change.
- Pay a Fairtrade premium. This is paid to farming communities to help fund schools, healthcare and business improvements.
- Traceable. Fairtrade products must be traceable from farm to shelf to ensure standards are met.
Top Fairtrade Recipes
For ideas on how to incorporate Fairtrade products into everyday recipes, check out this collection of Top Fairtrade Recipes.
Organic Produce & Sustainability
Organic labelled produce is strictly regulated by law in the UK, EU and US. They must be certified by an approved control body, ensuring they meet specific standards regarding production, processing, and inspection. In general, organic produce means
- No routine synthetic pesticides and fertilisers.
- Fewer and in most cases zero antibiotics in livestock.
- A whole farm approach designed to protect soil and biodiversity.
Whilst organic produce doesn't necessarily have the lowest carbon footprint, it is produced in the best environmentally friendly way.
Are Ultra Processed Foods Sustainable?
In the UK, over half our calories come from Ultra Processed Foods or UPFs. In the US, it's around 55%. UPFs are often linked with higher environmental impact because they rely heavily on industrial processing, packaging and global supply chains. They can have a significant impact on land degradation, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions.
A sustainable diet minimises UPFs and focuses on natural produce.
How to maximise a sustainable approach
Once you've bought your sustainable ingredients, you can help maximise your impact with the following.
- Cook sustainable and seasonal recipes.
- Reduce your food waste.
- Reduce energy consumption in the kitchen.
Small changes all add up over time and eating sustainably is good for us and the planet.
How Sustainable Ingredients can improve everyday cooking
- Seasonal fruit and vegetables often taste better and contain more nutrients.
- Cooking with simple ingredients that are easy to reuse helps reduce waste.
- Pantry staples like beans, pulses, legumes and grains are healthy, budget-friendly and will help stretch meals over more portions.
- Cooking with natural ingredients reduces our reliance on UPF's.
Sustainable Food Shopping: A Simple Summary
Sustainable food shopping doesn't have to be complicated. Focus on seasonal produce, eat more plant-based meals, buy less but better meat, choose sustainably sourced fish and look for trusted labels such as Organic, Fairtrade and MSC. Small changes in how we shop can add up to a much more sustainable diet.
FAQ's
Locally produced food can reduce transport, but production methods matter more. For example locally produced fruit or vegetables grown in heated greenhouses will have a higher carbon footprint than produce grown naturally and shipped.
Organic produce doesn't always have the lowest carbon footprint, but is generally produced in a way that does least harm to the environment.
Generally, plant-based foods such as vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils and grains tend to have the lowest environmental impact. Foods that are in season, minimally processed and produced using sustainable farming methods are usually the most environmentally friendly or sustainable choices.
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