Meat, meat, meat. Hummmm. This packing competition is perhaps a toss up if you look at from one point of view.

Meat from the grocery requires:

• plastic wrap,
• a styrofoam dish
• maybe a plastic baggie to keep bacteria from getting all over everything else the package touches
• and that weird suck-up-the-moisture pad thingie I try to avoid touching all together.

Meat from your local farm requires:

• a plastic vacuum freezer pouch (and the one in this picture also has a piece of freezer paper wrapped around the cut bone so it doesn’t puncture the plastic.)

Okay, the plastic freezer pouch weights more than the plastic wrap you get from the store, but my local farmer didn’t give me any styrofoam packaging. In terms of waste weight, I’d say this packaging conundrum is equal. In terms of avoiding styrofoam, the local meat wins out.

There isn’t always going to be a less-packaging winner. Sometimes the product that requires more packaging just fits your lifestyle better. Sometimes, different types of packaging have different trade offs. Just use the brain and think about what you are consuming. Conscious consumption is always best.