More about grocery shopping

After shopping and writing last week I went trawling through some more websites and found the following: http://www.onlyoz.com.au/index.php It's an on-line grocery shopping business. I doubt I'd actually use it for shopping because of the environmental impact of sending an order from Queensland to South Australia. However, I will certainly be using it as a resource. They have a grading system that works like this:

AAAA = Australian owned, Australian made from Australian materials or ingredients.
AAA = Australian owned, Australian made from local and imported ingredients.
AA = Australian owned, imported product, packaged in Australia.
A = Australian owned, imported product.

I'd add an ethical, fair trade tier to that but I'm not entirely sure where I'd put it yet.

So, I'm quite optimistic about the groceries for now. Other shopping may be more of a hardship.It became evident when we realized that my husband needs a new suitcase that there are going to be some items that just may not fit into any of those tiers. We're wondering, in those cases, if it might be preferable to buy very good quality items so we would be buying them as infrequently as possible thus using fewer resources and exploiting fewer people. Furthermore, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, secondhand is an option which also reduces both use of resources and exploitation of people. It also often raises money for worthwhile causes.

The weather may be changing now but it's been so temperate that I've not had to use the heater, the clothes dryer or the car much at all in the past week.


FA = Foreign owned Australian made.