Tools of the Trade

Many of you are probably quite familiar with the amazing bulk food section that we have at the Bellingham Food Co-op. We feel pretty lucky to live in a community with such a great resource, and purchasing bulk foods seemed like a logical way to begin a plastic free grocery shopping trip. In the past we've tried to use and re-use the plastic bags provided in the bulk section. This works okay for awhile, but after a time the bags get kind of grungy, or get holes in them and ultimately they end up in the trash/landfill. So we decided to make our own bulk food bags out of muslin (a huge thanks to Mom for this great idea!).

I have pretty minimal sewing skills, but this is a great project for beginners and requires very little measuring or anything like that (honestly no one will judge you if your bags are a little funny shaped). I made bags that were three different sizes. Large ones for things like veggies and cereal, medium ones for our regular bulk items like rice, dried fruit, nuts etc., and a couple of small ones for tea and spices. The muslin is sturdy, but very light weight so we didn't worry too much about it adding to the overall cost at the checkout counter and the great thing is these bags can be thrown in the wash if they get dirty, and can be easily repaired if they get a hole in them. Pretty great huh?

Here is a picture of our haul from our first grocery shopping trip. I have to tell you it felt awesome going through that checkout line completely plastic free. I was a little curious to see if the checker would mind that our bulk foods and veggies weren't in see-through bags, but it was actually quite the opposite. She loved them!

In addition to the regular bulk foods you might think of our community food co-op also carries in bulk things like shampoo and conditioner, lotion, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent and dish soap. If you forget your own container there are usually spares available that people have brought in. If you have extras containers in good condition taking them in for other people to use is a great way to recycle. We were happy to discover that you can purchase soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and parmesan cheese in bulk. I'm sure these things have always been available, but it's surprising sometimes what you don't see until you are motivated to take a closer look.

On a side note I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your overwhelming support. We are only on day four of this experiment, and already we've had an incredible amount of positive feedback and encouragement, plus lots of great ideas to include on the blog. Thanks to you our New Year's resolution is not only good for the planet, it's lots of fun to boot. More to come soon.