Winding your way through the grocery store can be a stressful process. You need to locate the items on your shopping list (a task made harder in a pandemic where youre constantly leaping out of the way of other shoppers), take any dietary constraints into account, and calculate prices to make sure you can afford everything you need. But for those who are trying to make climate-responsible purchases, theres a whole other level of choices to consider. And it can be confusing and overwhelming.

Which broccoli do you get the cheaper, bigger bunch, or the pricier organic one? Whats the difference between this fair trade, sustainable chocolate bar and that fair trade, deforestation-free chocolate bar? Should I buy fish for dinner instead of beef? And what about these individually wrapped bags of chips bundled up inside this non-recyclable packaging?

For years, weve been told about the environmental impact of our eating habits, from meat , with its heavy carbon footprint, to the palm oil in our snacks , which is a huge driver of deforestation.

Labels and certifications declaring a product to be sustainable or all natural are supposed to help us make informed choices, but its difficult to know what they all mean. There are some resources out there to help guide you, from universities , nonprofits and apps . But just when you think youve figured it out, a slew of new classifications are added to the mix like carbon positive gin and certified transitional foods .