Real Plastic Free - because good food shouldn't cost the earth

Natural, healthy wholefoods, with all the plastic left out

Our mission is to enable our customers to buy the food they need, without the plastic they don't, to help reduce the environmental impact of food shopping for us all, and enable us and our larders to be more earth-friendly. Good food shouldn't cost the earth.

Who are we?

We are a group of people working in Real Foods who care passionately about our world and the damage that can be done, particularly to our oceans, by the mountains of plastic waste generated by industries around the world.

We also care passionately about food and want to be able to provide natural, nutritious foods for everyone to enjoy.

These twin passions have resulted in us expanding the long-established and experienced team at Real Foods Ltd and setting up a new initiative to provide high quality, nutritious wholefoods packaged in recyclable, reusable or home compostable, bio-film packaging.

What do we do?

We sell dry ingredients, everything from herbs, spices, rice, and lentils to tea, coffee and snacks, in biodegradable (bio-film) cellulose bags that can be added to your household compost bins. These packs will break down in a matter of months and then the compost can be used safely in your garden to help grow more food!

We are delighted that we are also able to offer a range of organic fruits and vegetables which are not wrapped in plastic but will be sent in brown paper bags.

We also sell a number of other plastic free food and non-food items.

The team here at Real Plastic Free are adding to thier catalogue all the time as we find new and exciting plastic free, environmentally friendly products that we think our customers might be interested in.

We sell Real Foods own label organic and non-organic ingredients. Real Foods is a certified, Soil Association licensed organic supplier and re-packer (you can see details of their license here), we can sell our organic goods with confidence, knowing that they have been produced in a way that cares for the environment.

Real Foods buys in bulk and packs on their own premises. They have for many years been environmentally aware and have been using cellulose bags for their dry ingredients.

You can buy your dry ingredients in many different sizes and the price per 100gm gets less as you buy more. The range is extensive and you will find many things that you can’t get elsewhere. Why not try something new in a small size and then come back and buy the larger sizes!

You can also buy many of these dry goods in their original bulk sizes. It should be noted though that we cannot guarantee that these bulk packs will be plastic free - we have to accept the packaging that our suppliers send us. Dried fruits come in boxes that will include a plastic lining and sacks may be hessian or they may be thick, reusable plastic. 

Buying in bulk will not necessarily be completely plastic free, but it is a great form of pre-cycling and so reduces plastic waste.

How plastic free are we?

Your ingredients are packed using biodegradable cellulose bags and sent to you in recyclable cardboard boxes with shredded recycled paper packaging, all neatly closed using paper parcel tape.

Bulk purchases may include plastic as they are sent in their original packaging.

Organic fruits and vegetables will be in brown paper bags, not in plastic.

For the other things we offer on our website we rely on the manufacturers to provided us with accurate information with regards to the plastic free nature of their packaging. 

Is it possible to be totally plastic free?  We are certainly working on it and already have it down to a minimum.