Moving from Israel to the Netherlands, it was one of the things I had to get used to. Israeli groceries offer free plastic bags for many things. In the Nether

Moving from Israel to the Netherlands, it was one of the things I had to get used to. Israeli groceries offer free plastic bags for many things. In the Netherlands most supermarket chains have none (only the heavier durable kinds). However: produce (i.e. cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes etc.) in Israel are not individually packaged. Usually, I'd take one bag and stuff it with different vegetables / fruits. It's somewhat messy at the checkout, but if you aren't buying a lot, it's fine. In the Netherlands it's very common to package either individual fruits / vegetables (esp. cucumbers for some reason!) or small multiples (eg. apples are sold in four-packs, as are pears, kiwis etc.) So, in the end of the day, the amount of plastic I bring back home from a grocery store is greater in the Netherlands than what it was in Israel. ---- But, if I go all the way back to my childhood... It's perfectly possible to do grocery shopping without any plastic packaging whatsoever. A lot of things we buy from the grocery today were things that some 30 years ago just were supposed to be made at home. A lot of ready-made food simply didn't exist, but today it could be the number one source of plastic packaging. Things like yogurt cups or various similar snacks, sandwiches, salads, anything packaged for a single serving. I can sort of see how some people simply might not have the time to deal with cooking or even just sorting the groceries. The pace of life definitely changed towards dedicating less time to such boring tasks. But, there are still people like myself who wouldn't mind spending extra half an hour in a grocery store / bring their own containers for various goods. It's just nobody sells food in this fashion anymore.