Zero Waste Shopping Guide to Paris UPDATED 2018

 

Health/Beauty

Atelier Souris Verte: DIY makeup, hair, and body product workshops, bring your own containers (online classes available).  Bio'c'Bon: Unpackaged savon de marseille, best price on baking soda. Biocoop: Carries the Mooncup in size B and unpackaged savon de marseille. Beauté au Naturel: Bamboo toothbrushes, menstrual cup, reusable beauty products. Buly 1803 or Grand Cafe Tortoni: Vegetable oils- apricot kernel, sweet almond, aloe vera macerate, açai, andiroba, tamanu, brazil nut, camellia, daisy, evening primrose, pracaxi, raspberry seed, grapeseed, rosehip, castor, tucum, tea tree, coconut pulp, prickly pear, pomegranate, and gettou. Loose poudres- rose petal, lavender, olive pit, iris root, azuki, walnut shell, rice bran, amla, and yunohana. Clays-green desert, pascalite, white, yellow, blue, pink, rhassoul, red, and illite green. Unpackaged Mount Athos and Palosanto incense sticks, silk Greek and honeycomb sponges, volcanic pumice, wool pumice, alum stone, bukkake powder, siwak (miswak) root, mimi senketsu, and emu oil. Note: Stock subject to availability. Day by Day: Zao makeup in refillable bamboo compacts, soaps, brushes, scrubs, washcloths, tooth tabs, toothbrushes, menstrual cups (Maison Zero Dechet also has toothbrushes)

Le Comptoir des Savonniers: Unpackaged handmade soaps including apricot, aloe, almond, amaranth, amber, argan, bamboo, salted butter / honey, wood, dead sea mud, calendula, cedar, hemp, honeysuckle, coconut, coral, eucalyptus, orange blossom, gardenia, geranium/rosewood, ginger, olive oil, jojoba / shea, jasmine, fig, iris, lavender, ivy, mentholated marjoram, mango, melon, mint, bee hive honey, musk, black hammam, patchouli, pine, peony, rosemary, petal of provence, sandalwood, anti-acne sulphur, tobacco, tea tree oil, green tea, verbena, vetiver / bergamot, royal jelly, violet. Le Labo: Cruelty free, vegan; refills perfume and fragrance. La Maison du Savon de Marseille: Bulk soap. Grande Mosquée de Paris: Bulk kohl, I read this could contain lead though and get mine at the organic market. Herboristeries: Pigault-Aublanc for bulk siwak, Hippocrate, Pharmacie des Deux Lions Le Retour à la Terre: Mooncup, reusable menstrual pads. Mon Charbon: Activated carbon. Naturalia: Mooncup size A. Oh My Cream: Plastic-free makeup by RMS Beauty packaged in metal and glass. VeganMania: Brush with Bamboo toothbrushes, menstrual cup, unpackaged soap.

 

 

Food

Au bout du Champ: Fresh produce and eggs. Auchan: Bulk selection including biscuits, pastas, grains, cereals, candies. Bio'c'Bon: Bulk gluten-free cookies, grated coconut, olives, chia seeds, pastas, grains, sables, red lentils, sugar, etc. Biocoop: Biscuits, sunflower seeds, pasta, muesli, rice, quinoa, green lentils, granola, courgette seeds, flax seeds, oatmeal, sugar. Bio Shop: Organic produce and bulk. Bien: Beautiful organic epicerie in the Marais. Canal Bio: Organic products. Carrefour: Limited bulk grains at Gare de Lyon location. Causses: Olives, olive oil, herbs de provence, orange juice, and various spices and cheeses in bulk. Cinemas Gaumont Pathé: Bulk candy, including M&Ms in every color. Day by Day Batignolles: Paris' first true dedicated zero waste shop (now there are locations in the 15eme, 7eme, and at Charenton!!!) Epicerie Fine Rive Gauche: Unpackaged spices, salts, herbs, and teas. Epicerie Generale: Take-away juice bar, gluten-free foods, and organic produce. L'Epicerie Végétale: Wildflower florist and organic epicerie, such a beautiful spot! Épicerie Kilogramme: Dedicated zéro waste grocery / health and beauty shop in the 19eme En Vrac: Wine, vinegar, spirits (rum, cognac, whiskey, etc.), mustard, and olive oil. Offers make-your-own-wine workshops in French and English. Heratchian Frères: Spices, dry goods, feta, halloumi. Holy Planet: Organic produce, salad bar.

Famille Mary: Three types of honey in bulk. La Louve: Co-op. La Pistacherie: Bulk açai, Goji berries, dried fruits, sesame, nuts, wasabi peas, tea. La Récolte: Fresh, organic food straight from the producer. La Recyclerie: Bulk wine. La Tête dans les olives: Bulk pasta, olive oil, almonds, citrus fruits, cinnamon, herbs, takeaway lemonade, Italian specialty items. Le Baron Rouge: Bulk wine. Le Garde-Manger des Dames: Lovely cantine and epicerie specializing in local producers (within Ile-de-France). Le Retour à la Terre: Wide bulk selection, including chocolate chips. Maille: Mustard flavors on tap include vin blanc, chablis, ancienne chardonnay, and truffle. Marché President Wilson: Olives, bulk prepared foods, cheese, milk in returnable glass bottles, nuts, aperitif snacks. Marché Raspail Bio: Milk in returnable glass bottles, bulk chocolate, nuts, olives, fresh pasta, lentils, quinoa, grains. Mille et Zim: Whiskey. Naturalia: Limited bulk selection in select stores, generally quinoa, rice, and one or two other grains. Puerto Cacao: Bulk fair-trade chocolates and Nutella-type hazelnut paste in parfait jars. Quatre Saisons Cler: Limited bulk legumes and grains. Sur les Quais: Salt, herbs, spices and spice blends. Tortilleria Mil Amores: Fresh gluten-free tortillas made every Saturday Outside Paris: Jean Bouteille, Day by Day.

Bulk tea is available from many places in Paris, the best of which is Mariage Frères. Mariage Frères is to tea what Dreiser was to race relations or Mahler to romantic Austro-German symphonic works. Remember when Eleanor Waldorf brought Blair the most amazing Lapsang Souchong from Mariage Frères? 

 

 

Clothing Graine de Coton: Consignment shop dedicated to wedding attire. Guerrisol: Secondhand chain with shops all over Paris. La Compagnie des hommes: Men's luxury secondhand. Le Depot Bobo: Designer and gently used baby and children's clothing, accessories, furnishings and toys. Les Recuperables: Upcycled fashion brand. Madre & Figlia: Well-priced, edited depot-vente with friendly owners. Boutique Comete: Charming owner stocking pristine designer items; prices negotiable but they're already good. Violette & Leonie: No receipts, no price tags. Secondhand and designer labels at reasonable prices. Vintage Bar: No receipts or price tags. Prices negotiable. Designer and runway items. To borrow clothes: L'Habibliothèque (clothes library) and C'est Ma Robe (vintage / designer dress rental)

Household Au Grand Magasin: Vintage papers, pens, notebooks, folders, and art supplies. Carton Plein: Moving materials. Emmaus: The Rue Riquet outpost is the best. Famille Mary: Unpackaged blocks of beeswax. Hamon: Mercerie for unpackaged sewing materials. La Droguerie: Ribbons, buttons, sewing notions, yarn, zippers, trims, fabric, leather elbow patches, embellishments, knitting needles, and more. La Petite Rockette: Upcycled household items and clothing. La Trésorerie: Utensils, cookware, bakeware, sheets, napkins, reusable shopping bags, utility items. Marché Saint-Pierre: Fabrics and sewing notions.

I'm sorry to say I've seen nails, screws, pet toys and treats, even fishing hooks and wire unpackaged at lots of places in Paris, without noting names or streets. I'll update this post as I find things. Most markets and fromageries let you put produce, cheese, meat, and fish in your own containers (I like a stainless tiffin for meat and fish, cloth bags for bulk grains/nuts/etc., swing-top glass for juice, wine, and zero-waste sparkling water). Just hand them reusable bags and say, "J'ai un objectif zéro déchet."  As Allegra says, you kind of can't take no for an answer! Am I missing any of your favorite sources?

Eat in Paris for €50 A Week: 10 Ways to save money on Groceries

When I was single, I spent $25 a week on groceries. Mostly vegetables, my diet included steel cut oats and beans supplemented by locally grown seasonal fruit. Growing up, I'm sure my mom spent less than that to feed four of us, before celiac-friendly products became widely available. I didn't eat a lot of carbs and stuck to things that were inherently gluten-free, which left plenty of money over for secondhand designer clothes and solo travel.

Paris is expensive, though, and it took me a while to get past my shock at local food prices- the average couple in our neighborhood spends €220 a week on groceries. I needed a way to feed our family of two- and my own personal appetite of four- without coupons. Here's my situation: I don't have kids. Most days, I leave home before 9, walk to St. Germain-des-Près or Iéna, and come back at 6:00. Since this is France, I get an hour-long lunch. French people eat later than regular people, eliminating the pressure to put dinner on the table right away. Everybody's situation is different, and this coupon-free plan is location-specific. If we lived somewhere else- even within Paris- we'd probably spend less, but I'd be lost without all the fresh spices and purple vegetables I find in the environs. People who can't cook every day can prepare meals one day a week and pre-package them in portable containers, like my beautiful, busy, and capable friend Melanie does.

10 Ways to Save Money on Groceries

1. Hit the marchés. 

Cash-only limits unnecessary purchases, and eating in season yields immediate savings. Look for stalls that let you fill your own paniers; otherwise, you pay extra for packaging weight. I like Serge Baudry at Bastille for rainbow root vegetables and golden raspberries. Don't bother with Marché Belleville- it isn't worth the long and arduous trip nor the pushing, shoving, and screaming that follows. If I wanted to be yelled at by Asian people, I'd gain weight and visit my family.

2. Skip the bulk bin. 

Bulk bins in Paris carry "trendy" grains and foodstuffs like quinoa and pre-made granola. But paying a hefty premium for eating bird seed makes no sense when you can eat whole foods like a human being. Instead of having carb-heavy bulk cereal for breakfast, enjoy the micronutrients in baked sweet potato or roasted beets (they taste so good here, neither need salt, oil, or butter). The money I save by skipping inexplicably popular, expensive fads- e.g., kale- is better spent on nutrient-dense, satisfying foods that fill me up and actually grow here.

3. Lay off the meat. 

The single biggest change you can make to lower your grocery bill is lower your meat consumption (giving up meat altogether reduces your carbon footprint 25%). Whole chickens are cheaper and more versatile than chicken breasts, and you save more money buying salmon with skin than without. Buy meat on sale and use vegetables to stretch it out, adding steak haché to ratatouille or poaching fish with squash and fennel. Buying fresh tuna at the market, then boiling and shredding it saves money and spares you the additives and preservatives of BPA-laden canned tuna.

4. Avoid canned/packaged foods. 

Why buy canned beans when all you have to do is soak dried beans overnight? Why buy dried when you can buy fresh beans and fry the pods? Here are things you can make at home to save money: Tomato sauce, mustard, jams, harissa, ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressing, yogurt, nut milks, pickles, chips, pesto, vegetable broth, creme de marron, hot sauce, bread, cakes and cookies, even fresh gluten-free pasta. For mayonnaise, mix mustard with egg yolks until combined. Whisk in oil and water, a few drops at a time, incorporating fully before moving on. For vinaigrette, combine herbs, mustard, and pepper; use a fork to mix in oil and balsamic vinegar. Try greek yogurt, anchovies, lemon juice, parmesan, and pepper instead of salad dressing. Remember: Filling your own container at Mariage Frères is more economical than buying less prestigious packaged brands at the grocery store. Note: Some people only have access to canned foods, and shouldn't feel guilty about buying them. If I can't find gluten free beans, for instance, I buy them canned. For those concerned about BPA, Eden Organics and Native Forest are BPA non intent, BPS, BPF, and BADGE free, with oleoresin linings.

5. Shop a few times a week, carrying reusable bags for spontaneous purchases. 

This flies in the face of everything you've ever heard about saving money, but in Paris, you need to be flexible, ready to stock up on deals wherever they're found. Trying to buy everything in one place raises your grocery bill because different neighborhoods offer better prices on certain items, while inflating prices for others. For instance, pineapples at Bastille are €1, but the same vendor at Raspail charges €4.80. I shop twice a week for produce and meat and once a month or less for spices, staples, and household goods (which amount only to baking soda, vinegar, unpackaged soap, cat stuff, and toilet paper).

6. Grow your own herbs / tea and mix your own spice blends. 

Rue Keller, Sur les Quais, L'Epicerie Fine, and countless other spots in Paris offer spices en vrac. Instead of paying per botte, grow your own mint, basil, thyme, and ginger at home (I confess, I don't do this anymore, because my cats are the only ones who get to eat it!). Finishing salt lasts a long time and elevates the humblest meals, making inexpensive ingredients taste fancier than they are. Invest in a good grinder (peppercorns are cheaper than ground pepper) and make your own chili powder, tandoori spice, garam masala, even green and red curry pastes.

7. Eat internationally. 

Kimchi, curries, miyeokguk, plantains, Bo Bun, and Chinese eggplant in garlic and bean paste are cheap to make, nutritious, and somehow very impressive to serve. One of my all-time favorite snacks- that only costs $0.88 per kilo- are bitter gourd chips. Blanch, slice thinly, roll in flour, tandoori spice, salt, chili flakes, minced garlic and ginger; drizzle with olive oil, and bake 30 minutes at 220 ° C. While living in Paris, take advantage of French bread and chèvre- for tartines and to accompany beans, salad, or pasta. Try toasted bread with goat cheese and blackberries or figs, thyme, and homemade pesto and olive oil.

8. Use every part of the food. 

Fennel pollen and carrot, radish, and beet greens are some of my favorite ingredients, along with various valuable peels and skins. These oft-untapped sources of nutrients and insoluble fibers lend themselves nicely to sauces, pesto, hummus, and soups; candy fruit peels and skins or use them for tea (leaves and stems work too). I love raw or roasted root vegetable greens- I never buy lettuce. For tips on using and re-growing food scraps to save money, click here and here.

9. Know what you have before going shopping. 

Communicate what's at home to other family members, so nobody wastes money on surplus ingredients. With organic food, it's especially important not to overbuy, because everything spoils quicker. Shop your pantry first: Try using cookie crumbs for pie crusts, or pour in milk like cereal. Turn old chips into nachos, and scraps of bread into croutons or meatloaf / meatballs. Make new meals from leftovers, e.g. mashed potatoes into gratins, soups or gnocchi; pot roast into shepherd's pie, pasta into casserole, etc. My mom adds leftover vegetables to pancake batter for easy pajeon.

10. Forget meal planning. 

You never know what's going to be at the market from one week to the next, so making a menu in advance is a big waste of time. It helps to familiarize yourself with the growing season and how ingredients you already have work with what you might find shopping. Take stock of what's available, and plan recipes accordingly.

These photos represent €20 organic produce, enough to last a week or more.

Pantry Staples

I don't have a pantry- I have a cabinet. A cabinet in which I stock flour (paper wrapper), sugar, honey, olive oil, balsamic vinegar (glass bottle, no plastic topper), white vinegar (recyclable plastic), black pepper, Persian blue or Himalayan salt, whole ginger, my own tandoori blend, mustard seeds, fresh herbs, whole garlic, onions, and fresh chili peppers. Purchased every two months, staples total €20.

I buy dairy occasionally, using my own container and consigned milk bottle. I don't buy all of the following at once: butter, faisselle de chèvre, yogurt, fromage blanc (delicious with berries and fennel), or milk, around €2 each.

Zero-Waste Shopping Kit

Wicker cart, similar here

Remember in high school when everyone had to have Ugg boots and Coach bags- Chevignon backpacks and Bensimon shoes, for the French- and if you didn't have those things, no one would talk to you and you couldn't sit at the cool table during lunch? Wicker shopping trolleys are the Coach bag of the 7ème (except only Americans wear Coach here because Parisians think they're fake Chanel). Any dame âgée worth her weight in fromage blanc uses one, for rolling milk and the day's baguette down Rue de Sèvres, up Rue de Babylone, past Le Bon Marché to Nespresso, Dior heels click-clacking on the pavement. Week after week, I sweatily hauled reusable totes everywhere, looking like a hunchback hobo with a bindle, while those women flitted about, all perfect hair and perfectly creased skin and fresh lipstick and husky voices, chariots à courses en osier zipping behind them. Organic hemp rarely plays when it comes to Parisian social mores, and I wanted those chic old ladies to like me.

There's something about those wicker chariots, some mysterious sheen that comes from marrying bygone beauty with utility, the promise of durability, and cultural traction. An exhaustive search led to Droguerie Thanner on Rue de Buci, which stocks one wicker shopping cart with ugly white plastic wheels. The manufacturers' tag read 120 EUR; they crossed it out to write 190 EUR, and when I asked the shopgirl the price, she told me deux cent. I eventually started stopping every person I saw on the street, asking where they got their enviable trolleys. "Champs-Élysées, thirty years ago, but the shop is gone." "It was my grandmother's." "My husband bought this for me, I don't know where." "Can't you ask him?" I cried. "Il est mort," she replied, waving her hand.

My friend Françoise- the epitome of the elegant, cultured Frenchwoman- came to the rescue. She bought her handsome chariot 25 years ago at Cherche-Midi Couleurs, a venerable vannerie slash droguerie just a block from La Grande Epicerie. A quick phone call confirmed they had the same model in stock. I walked over hurriedly, forgetting this was France, the country where verifier disponibilité sur magasin says yes, Sephora Beaugrenelle does have plastic-free recourbe-cils in stock, when actually they have none; the country in which the man on the line from Le retour à la terre says yes, we have Mooncups in every size but when you walk all the way there, the same guy says, oh, I was sure we had them so when I put you on hold for half an hour to check, I was actually outside having a smoke and no, we won't be getting any for months; the country where all the schedules say the Gare du Nord-Creil train arrives at 8:45 so you rush over twenty minutes early to make it but there are no trains until two hours later, and it isn't a bank holiday and there's no good reason for the train not to arrive, yet it never does, and everybody expects you to accept it anyway. Suffice to say, Cherche-Midi Couleurs didn't have my shopping trolley, either.

I almost gave in and bought a Tyvek Perigot, thinking my search for a plastic-free, biodegradable shopping cart was fruitless. Suddenly, all my Leboncoin wishes materialized in the form of a dozen Weck jars and a vintage wicker trolley in perfect condition, avec lifetime guarantee. I kept the reusable totes, but for hauling heavy groceries, bulk goods, and glass containers, this thing is a game-changer (the cats love it, too). I can't believe I thought I could do without this wheeled city-dwelling miracle! It makes me feel like Jenni Kayne, pretending to be domestic for a Martha Stewart editorial.

I wash and re-used Aesop bags (purchased last year) for shopping; the largest bag is for bread and the three smaller ones for produce. The little wooden basket is from some cherries my grandmother bought- I put a clean washcloth at the bottom and use it for berries, eggs, or to carry old limonade bottles refilled at En Vrac. In the trolley, glass jars stay put, but I saved a few cardboard rectangles and folded them in thirds to divide and protect breakable items when shopping (carrying cloth towels helps too). The organic "filet" bags No Impact Man lauds are actually pretty perfect for produce- you can crochet them yourself or buy them anywhere in France for less than 2 EUR.

Below are tare weights for reference. Weck jars are sturdy- I've dropped them a bunch of times with no cracks or chips to speak of. Unlike parfait jars, they're also stackable and oven, dishwasher, and microwave safe. I don't own a microwave or dishwasher, but I appreciate having the option. I use a 1L jar for Famille Mary honey (not pictured); they weigh it each time, so I don't have the tare.

Mold Jars 80ml: 140g 160ml: 170g 165ml :230g 1/4 L: 420g 1/2 L: 490g 3/4 L: 590g

Cylindrical 340ml: 208g 600ml: 340g 1062ml: 700g

Limonade bottles  0.75L: 385g

Tip: Save an egg carton for safe transport of fresh, unwashed eggs. This post contains Shopstyle affiliate links. If you click on them, I make a commission. Thanks for your continuing support!

L'Officine Universelle Buly 1803, Rue Bonaparte, Paris

 

 

Trés discret, with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it entrance and pretty green awning, Buly is a restoration of famed parfumeur Jean-Vincent Bully's historic maison. Readers of César Birotteau (which should be taught at every business school) are already familiar with Bully's life, the inspiration behind Balzac's titular character. Somehow the story of a peasant whose meteoric rise ends in misfortune resonates with me even more now that I face the vicissitudes of bourgeois life every day.

For plastic-free toiletries and bulk oils, look no further- all production methods and packaging are straight out of a 19th-century apothecary. Think glass amber bottles with rubber droppers, unwrapped natural sponges from Greece, olive pits, crushed walnut hulls, Azuki powder and Yunohana hot spring crystals. The selection includes pascalite, argile, and Amazonian white clay; bulk dried flowers alongside iris root, bukkake powder (from the droppings of the Japanese bush warbler), and mimi senketsu (for flawlessly clean ears).

Bespoke soaps come with a beautiful paper holder you'll reuse over and over, and receipts so gorgeous, even hard-core minimalists won't send them to a landfill- of course, you have the option not to print them at all. Prices belie the lush marble and wood interior: expect to pay 7 euro for 50 ml of avocado pulp, 12 euro for scented matches, and 20 euro for eau de la belle haleine or a silk toothbrush. Ask to try the water-based, alcohol-free perfumes- they're very special. They look pink when sprayed on skin!

I'm on my third pépin de raisin now- it smells nice, but since I've switched to the oil cleansing method, I'll get some ricin or neem oil next time. Buly is a lovely piece of Paris' heritage and less-impact resource for quality cosmetics with a nascent capitalist twist.

A Year of Local Produce

My mom remembers when food started tasting different: beef went from grass-fed to corn-fed, apples lost their flavor, everything became waxier and bigger and more uniform. Not surprisingly, I never enjoyed produce like pears or grapes in the States. Coming here was a revelation. It took me awhile to get used to dirt-covered, blemished produce, but now I love finding slugs in my cauliflower. It means my food is wholesome, the flavor uncorrupted; everything's going to taste the way it's supposed to. Waiting months for my favorites to come back in season makes me appreciate them that much more! 

Anyway, I've gotten a few questions asking where I buy the purple potatoes. They're called vitelotte and I get them at Joël Thiébault's market stand. He's at Rue Gros on Thursdays from 7-2 and Avenue President Wilson on Saturdays. Real French people usually only eat them once a year or so, but we have them once a week because they're closer to ancient tubers, domesticated by the Incas on an Andean altiplano. The first cultivar was blue, and Incas grew a whole rainbow from pink to yellow and orange in all shapes and sizes. Faced with the challenge of farming a vertical surface, they bred different strains so plants grown next to each other wouldn't have to compete the way they do in a monoculture. Different, complementary neighbors thrive in different planes of sunshine, soak up water from different root levels, and overall capture more resources than would be possible under same-species competition. The resulting yields were impressive and resistant to disease or weather changes- an increasingly rare feat in our polyculture-deprived world.

Click here for a Paris market guide.

Paris Market Guide: A Market a Day

Click a day to get started, scroll down for a complete map of Paris markets with addresses and hours

Marché d'Aligre

Marché Président Wilson

Bastille

Belleville

Marché des Enfants Rouges

Raspail Bio Market

I started shopping at the marché out of desperation. The prices and selection of Parisian supermarkets (no peanut butter!) frustrated me, and long lines snaked the aisles so I couldn't browse. Rue Cler is around the corner, but I thought, "Why wasn't I born during an outbreak of influenza, or at the base of a volcano? Why did I survive and grow to squander my potential by shopping on Rue Cler?"

When I stopped going to grocery stores, I fell in love with the brown radishes and golden raspberries at Serge Baudry, the vitelotte potatoes and tiny parsnips of Joel Thiebault, the fractal Provibio romanesco, purple carrots, green oranges I thought were Dioscoridian myths. Because the market is exclusively seasonal produce, every harvest cycle I learn to cook new ingredients- I once served a dinner that may or may not have had broken glass in it, so I need all the learning I can get! There's something so satisfying about preparing food that was in the ground yesterday, straight from the people who grew it.

You can read Emile Zola's Le Ventre de Paris here or in English here.

You can now buy gluten-free crepes at Marché President Wilson and gluten-free cakes at Marché Raspail, made completely without animal products :). Click on each address to see hours.