Staying Sustainable at the C-Store

            With the end of the spring semester quickly approaching, many of us will be purging our left over dining dollars at the convenience store in the effort to use them all before summer. Ursinus loads the C-store with everything a college student could crave—from soda to Reese’s candy to Doritos—but they also stock it up with options that are much more environmentally sustainable and healthy in comparison. Today we will help you navigate the C-Store and identify the goodies available for an environmentally-conscious bear like you!

Tips:

Certifications

Look for certifications on packages that indicate products meet various sustainability-related standards such as organic, non-GMO, fair trade, rain forest friendly, etc. Here are some examples:

Less is more!

                Check out the ingredients on the back of product packaging. Generally, fewer ingredients means less processing. The planet takes a toll for the processing of food products as it usually requires more transportation and fuel and consequently emits more greenhouse gasses and creates more waste. When considering the environment within our C-Store purchases, aim to buy foods with four ingredients or less. Also, the more natural the ingredients are, the better. Not being able to pronounce a certain ingredient or not knowing what one is can serve as red flags indicating highly processed foods as well. However, these could also be vitamins and other micro ingredients. Use your cell phone to quickly look up questionable ingredients to figure out how much processing goes into it!

Eat plants for your planet

                As we have stressed many a times on this blog, a diet of plant-based foods is an ideal way to eat for the well-being of the environment. Meat, animal products, and their production processes, provide us with inefficient sources of food in regards to our plant, water, and land resources (to name a few). In addition, animal agriculture is a huge greenhouse gas emitter and cause of other types of pollution. When buying snacks, try to stick to plant-based options. This is typically very easy to do, and you most likely have some vegan favorites already, but sometimes animal products can make an appearance without us noticing it. This applies especially to dairy products. Dairy can be present in several forms besides the obvious of milk and cheese. These include lactose and whey, a sugar and protein derived from milk, respectively. Look for these while you are checking out the ingredients in your snacks before you buy them. If you are still not sure, the allergy information provides a great short cut, since it will identify if the product contains milk.

Look for brands you can identify as local!

Some Suggestions!

Hungry?

Annie’s Mac n’ Cheese

Right Foods Dr. McDougall’s Vegan Pad Thai Noodle Soup and Vegan Tortilla Soup

Macro a Vegetarian: Thai dumplings, pad Thai, sushi, sesame noodles, etc.: Locally sourced, made in Monroe Township, NJ.

Channa Masala: No certifications, but it is vegan and made with some non-GMO ingredients.

Amy’s meals and burritos – non dairy, non-GMO, mostly organic ingredients

Garden Salad

Snacks

Mary’s Gone Crackers crackers and pretzels: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, what and gluten-free, nut-free, whole grain

Cliff Bars: Rain forest alliance certification, 70% organic ingredients, vegan

Tostito’s organic blue corn tortilla chips: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, three ingredients

Late July Organic tortilla chips: USDA certified organic, non-GMO verified, 100% whole grain, zero trans-fats, lower sodium. Be on the lookout for some flavors that have seasoning contain whey though.

Drinks

Naked Juice (various flavors): Non-GMO verified, 100% juice

Aloegloe (lemonade, crisp aloe, white grape, coconut): USDA certified organic, sourced in North America and produced in California

Honest Tea (Half tea/half lemonade, honey green, and pomegranate blue): USDA certified organic, fair trade certified hibiscus and sugar, non-GMO

Rosenberger’s Dairies milk: If you choose milk, Ursinus provides us with a pretty good choice as the brand carried in the C-Store is local, from Hatfield, PA.

Sweets

Newman-O’s: A great substitute for Oreo’s because they are made with organic flour and organic sugar. They are also vegan, believe it or not!

Lucy’s Cookies (ginger snap and chocolate chip): Many organic ingredients, non-GMO verified, vegan certified, kosher certified, nut-free, gluten-free

Bark thins snacking chocolate (pretzel, almond, mint): fair trade certified, non-GMO verified, vegan