How do you avoid plastics/plastic packaging as options dwindle?

You're doing great already. At a macro level, the battle is all but lost. A third of a billion tons of plastic is produced every year. Almost nobody cares outside a smallish fringe of society in very developed countries (i.e. us). And the hydrocarbons industry needs new things to do with the oil it can't burn. Also, plastic recycling is a red herring: it takes less energy to use virgin petroleum.

The two priorities IMO should be:

• Keep it out of waterways as much as possible. Above all this will mean education and resources in the developing world. In rich countries with waste management, the hard-to-fix issue is microplastics from synthetic clothes
• Minimize the health risks

For the second one, my basic principles are:

• Never eat or drink from plastic receptacles to which heat has been applied
• Avoid the rest where possible but don't stress about it

Microplastics are going to be a major environmental and health challenge because the problem is just so intractable. But there's only so much an individual can do. Be a good consumer, be a good citizen and at the very least never forget to vote, and then just relax. It's bad enough as it is without adding pointless anxiety to it.

I have a garden and i buy from local grocer and put produce in my own mesh bags instead of plastic. Buy meat from the butcher part of the grocer and its wrapped in paper. You should stop going to supers if they only give produce already wrapped in plastic

We're not eco-warrior or anything like that but we

• Buy in bulk and buy fresh.
  We buy all we can in bulk, including rice and noodles, meat and fish and, obviously, fresh fruits and vegetables. I can't recall the last time we purchased wrapped vegetables or fruits. Coffee, tea, spices, herbs,... all purchased in bulk and put in paper wrapping before being stored long term in metal or glass ones.
• We also favor shops that are eco-friendly that

1. will sell as much locally produced food (less shipping);
2. won't overwrap stuff and
3. that are not afraid to sell fruits that don't look perfect (they taste as good) and are not drowned into pesticides.

• As much as possible, we shop local (walking distance or using public transportation) and bring our own bag(s).
• We do as little delivery as we can, that includes not using Uber much—we have used it a single time since it has been available and I doubt we will ever use it again.
• We never buy ready-made/industrially processed food, nor pre-packaged sweets. We cook ourselves. Any pastry/sweet we eat will be fresh from our local artisan baker, his the bread (he make them all by hand). Or we prepare them ourselves (my spouse does the pastries, as if I like cooking a lot I have zero patience for pastries).
• My spouse is also kinda nerdy, she has calculated that we could save a little plastic (really not much but still) by purchasing 5L bottles instead of the standard 1L5 ones. And other little changes like that.
• We quit drinking soda. That was a lot of plastic less in our life, and a lot less of shit in our body too.
• We buy our better in semi-paper wrapper (pretty sure those are not eco-friendly) and we store it longer-term in one of those china/porcelain butter cup holder thingy.

The only thing we have yet to find alternatives to are yogurts and, how do you call that in English: fresh cheese? Fromage blanc, in French. Those are almost always sold in plastic containers.