To market, to market to buy...lots of plastic?
Are you playing along with noticing and reducing plastic in your lives over the next few weeks? If so, next time you are grocery shopping (or perhaps once you come home) take a glance at how much of the food comes in some type of plastic wrapping or container.
(Please note: something I want to repeat over and over again is that if the feeling of guilt starts to rear it's head in anyway, boot it out! Guilt can often just lead to frustration, inaction or even apathy. Or as it is sometimes referred to: well-informed futility - the awareness that a problem has become so severe or complex we are helpless in the face of it. So I urge you to be kind with yourself first. Just begin by noticing.)
Buying food in bulk - food from bins not warehouse stores - is a way to immediately reduce packaging waste. (Farmer's markets and CSAs are too. More on that in another post). Bulk food shopping creates a lot of questions for the consumer.
(Please note: something I want to repeat over and over again is that if the feeling of guilt starts to rear it's head in anyway, boot it out! Guilt can often just lead to frustration, inaction or even apathy. Or as it is sometimes referred to: well-informed futility - the awareness that a problem has become so severe or complex we are helpless in the face of it. So I urge you to be kind with yourself first. Just begin by noticing.)
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| Our local food cooperative: Honest Weight Food Co-op |
Buying food in bulk - food from bins not warehouse stores - is a way to immediately reduce packaging waste. (Farmer's markets and CSAs are too. More on that in another post). Bulk food shopping creates a lot of questions for the consumer.
- What are we are going to put the food in to bring it home? (and then what to put it in when we get it home?).
- What food are we going to buy?
- What will we make with that food? (ie: will I ever eat it and is it worth my time scooping it out when I might never get around to learning a recipe using four ounces of agar agar powder??)
If you have answered these questions for yourself (and found a local place to buy in bulk. I have heard there are even some apps to help locate ones closet to you) and you are ready to start, I have some ideas and tips to share. If you are still on the fence and have more questions, ask in the comments and I can do my best to help clarify.
Bottom line reasons why we do a lot of shopping in bulk: saves money and less waste.
When you buy in bulk you can get containers at the store. Or you can bring your own and have it weighed before you shop. Of course there are those flimsy plastic bags at the ready, and in a pinch they do the job. But since they add yet more plastic to the planet, and well, since we are working to reduce single-use plastic, best to avoid these.
I took some time and made a handful of cloth food sacks. If sewing is not your thing, most bulk places sell these. But really, if you have a sewing machine, an hour and some random scrap fabric (even old pillowcases or sheets works great), these are not hard to make. (And bonus if you have a kid or several around: get out the sewing machine and kids quickly circle you and ask, 'Can I help?' Yes. Yes you can.)
Voila!
I love the cloth food sacks because they don't break, and there are times when I have been hauling a bag of glass jars to refill (with many little ones underfoot) and I have definitely grumbled a bit, But really, a small price to pay. And there are obviously things you need the jars for that cloth sacks just won't cut it for (hello liquidy things like maple syrup and olive oil, or gooey things like nut butters, etc.) Besides, they look so darn lovely!
Happy shopping!
I, too, lug heavy bags of empty jars to the co-op. I've sometimes considered cloth bags for produce etc. but I always hesitate because they seem heavier. Maybe that's silly -- maybe the extra half or tenth of an ounce is well worth the extra cost in terms of what plastic costs the planet? Or do they not actually weigh more? Or do you have them weighed the same way you have your jars weighed? I'm glad to get to ask these questions, as they've been jostling around in my brain for a decade!
ReplyDeleteDorian, the bags get weighed one time at the front desk and the tare is put on them in permanent marker. So the beautiful thing is there is no need to wait in a line at the front desk every time. Just go fill the bags! (But I almost always still have some jars, so there is some waiting). As far as heavier, not at all. They work out great. Easy to fill, easy to pack!
DeleteThat makes sense. So they work fine for a place like bulk purchasing at the co-op. And I guess for produce there, too -- they'll subtract the weight of the bag? But it's a bummer they'd probably add more weight at a regular supermarket -- we buy a lot of our produce at the co-op, but not all. I would love to stop using grocery store plastic bags!
ReplyDelete