Today I was determined to get to the grocery store and try out my new Zero-Waste shopping method!! The only place that I knew of at the moment that sold things in bulk was Whole Foods. If I was going to buy in bulk, however, I would need to have on hand cloth bags to fill bulk products up with, instead of the plastic bags they offer at the store. As some of you know, I consider myself a fairly crafty person because of my sewing skills. It is something I am incredibly grateful for learning about in college, because it has come in handy so often...Just like today!
So down to the basement I went, and grabbing some cute scraps leftover from way back in my College days when I was learning how to quilt. (They finally came in handy today!!).
Using a serger and a sewing machine, I whipped them together. Then I used a safety pin to feed my string through the tunnels I created, to make drawstring bags. Eureka!! Cute and useful bulk bags, TOTALLY FREE! YAY!!
If you know how to sew, here is a quick tutorial of how to make your own mesh OR cloth produce and/or bulk food bag. It's the same method with any fabric you use. I had made mesh fabric bags a few years back, and I STILL am using mine today! they are amazingly handy at the store, and keep all my produce dry and fresher for longer. I used this same method on my cloth bags:
After I assembled a grocery list and meal planned for the week, the thing that I was most concerned about was how I would be able to obtain cheese and meat that is plastic-free. A few websites suggested to bring containers of some sort to the customer service counter when you walk in. Have them get the "Tare Weight" (A new word I had never heard before) of the empty jar, so that it can be deducted from the total weight with the food inside it. Next go to the meat and deli counter, and ask them to put the cheese/meat inside the container to reduce waste. It sounded daunting, but not too difficult. I was up for trying it!
Bea Johnson is an incredible woman who created her whole life around living zero waste. She has a wonderful video that I'd like to share, and in it we get to shadow her shopping at Whole Foods. This is extremely helpful for me, because I am am an intense visual learner. I could see how it was done by her, and could imitate what she does and how she does it in the grocery store:
I threw together some food for the kids when they got home, so I could begin my shopping adventure with them. The fastest thing I could find were raviolis....Oohhhh Raviolis, how we love thee....As I threw away the plastic packaging, I knew that the only way we could have raviolis again would be that I learn how to make them, and make a ton, and then freeze them. As I was putting the raviolis into a container to take with us, I was thinking to myself that going Zero Waste has been changing me a lot already. I have been eating a lot healthier, and it is, hopefully, changing the weakness I have of eating out with my kids all the time by grabbing fast food. I am not sure how going zero waste has made me change this terrible habit, but I am so grateful that it is and that I am finally beginning to think a little more in advance with food, since I refuse to create more trash.
Off to Whole Foods we go! The first thing I see as I walk in is LOOSE SOAP BARS!! And they smell HEAVENLY! AND THEY WERE $1 EACH!! I grabbed four. Walking in I told my kids that we are here to buy only things that do not have plastic on them, and if they can find something without plastic that they want for their lunch, they can have it! We went to the customer service counter, where they each got a banana from the kids club (nice choice, kids!). The clerk named Bob was so friendly, and knew exactly how to weigh my jars and bags - He did this before! It makes me so happy to know that I'm not alone!
Next we went to the bulk food section, and was amazed at how much I could purchase in bulk! Raisins, granola, Quinoa, wild rice, Goji Berries (A serious superfood!) Also things I had never even heard of before! It was so satisfying to me to fill my cloth bags that I created myself out of scraps. I weighed each one and took a picture of the code number and how many pounds and how much the total cost. This way I didn't have to print any stickers. the kids pointed out the bulk candy, but thankfully they understood they were stretching the meaning of being in the store (for health and for the environment!).
I was a little sad that I couldn't seem to find shampoo, flour or sugar in bulk. I decided that I would just have to mill my own flour, and use honey for sugar until I could perhaps purchase it in bulk from another store. Not sure what to do with the shampoo and conditioner yet. It would have been so nice to dispense some into one of my jars.
My kids were dancing all over the produce aisles as I were wrangling them together to help me obtain certain items. I was specific in asking them to find produce without stickers. It became like a game, but we quickly found out that it was a game we were going to lose, because practically everything had stickers on them. I took most of the stickers off and put them on other produce, and took a picture of each one for the cash register....But inside my head I was thinking that in order to avoid these stickers and the rubber bands around them, I would need to go to a farmer's market. I should plan that soon.
At the meat counter, I failed in trying to get the man to put the meat inside my container, as he said it is store policy that he cannot do that...Ok...Well...Strike one. My meat was wrapped in paper, though, so I suppose that helps a little. At the Deli counter I had some more success. They were able to put the mozzarella cheese chunk inside my glass container, with a sticker...Darn you, stickers! Are stickers biodegradable?
I bought Mozzarella because I know my kids LOVE the cheese sticks, and when I got home I had cut them into sticks to save on wrappers. It actually tasted WAY better than the icky Kraft kind! what had we been eating??
I was sad to miss out on the yogurt too, but I am determined to figure that out soon. We can't live without yogurt. My hope is to set something up with a local farm, where they might be able to refill my containers of milk and yogurt, but I still have to summon my courage to do it. In the name of probiotics, I will do it!
The bread was a yummy splurge. I got a roll of sourdough and as I'm sitting here typing this, 3/4s of it is already in my belly! That was such a great buy, I love fresh bread.
I found this one post about how to keep my bread fresh (Other than freezing it or putting it in a plastic bag), and I like this method! Now where can I find a tin?
Something interesting I discovered was 95% of what I bought was all on the outer perimeter of the store. And another interesting thing was that this was probably one of the healthiest grocery visits I had ever had in my whole life. No chips, no chocolate, no candy.
Checking out was tediously slow, and I think the person behind me was annoyed at my methods, but I tried not to look at them for fear of embarrassment. I had a really nice talk with the cashier as she checked me out. My kids were squealing and running up and down each end of the store, and I looked at the cashier and said to her "Who's kids are those??" She laughed. "Wow, that parent really needs to control her children!" (I probably do, but they were having such a fun time filling their mouths up with water from the water fountain on one end, and running to the other end of the store with their mouths full, I didn't want to spoil their fun.) Thankfully nobody complained to me....Thankfully....
The totals always frighten me at Whole Foods because of their nickname "Whole Paycheck," which I did once or twice there and decided I never wanted to shop there again. This was the first time I entered the store in years. The total bill came up to $153. WHAT?? That was like the cheapest price I ever paid at Whole Foods! I was so happy, and I purchased 100% healthy things!
When I got home, I saw a big white bucket at my front door...FROM THE LOCAL RESCUE PIGGIE FARM! I finally get to throw my table scraps into this bucket, so it can go to the hungry piggies at Sleepy Pig Farm in Redding! That takes care of my compost dilemma for the short term.
Lastly, I was trying to figure out a wasteless way to label my jars with the bulk foods that I was putting in them. I remembered I had a bunch of dry erase crayola crayons, and I used that to write on the tops of my jars to know what they are. That worked out perfectly!!
What a successful day! I DID IT!! I know that sounds so silly, but I am so proud of myself for figuring out how to shop zero-waste! This is the beginning of something big, I can feel it!
Cheers!
Laura
Hi Laura - I'm loving stalking your adventure here. A p.s. about composting...we compost all of our vegetable and plant waste, and my little dog got in and stole a corn cob, bit off an end, had it lodge in his intestine and he's really sick - maybe the piggies are a better way to go.
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