Not-so-awesome: the collection and storing of bulk food. Most supermarkets provide plastic bags, which are not only bad for the environment, but are messy to store, can break or leak easily, and typically result in a pile of unusable crumbs.
But a friend of mine has come up with an easy solution that I'm jealous I didn't think of first: she bought a few of these Droppar storage jars (at left) from IKEA (although any small metal or glass jar with a lid would do), and brought them to her local Whole Foods store. The cashier first weighed the jar itself, which she wrote on a piece of tape and placed on the jar lid.
Each time my friend buys in bulk, she simply brings her jar with her, writes the checkout code on a sticker which she keeps on the jar, and brings it to the cashier, who subtracts the weight of the jar and charges her for just the food. Easy, environmentally-friendly, and easy to store when she gets home. (Another idea? Just wash out peanut butter or pasta sauce jars, place stickers on the sides, and reuse those).
Warning: this should work at Whole Foods and Wild Oats, or other similarly-minded food stores, but I don't know if other stores would agree - you'd have to call your local supermarket out find out.
4-06-2008 @8:44AM platytune said... It's amazing how much cheaper it is to buy in bulk. I buy oatmeal, flour, lentils, beans, etc etc. Oh, and the herbs! 15 cents for what would normally cost $3! I've been using cardboard oatmeal cylinders to store my purchases.
Reply
4-05-2008 @9:15PM rainey said... I do that too. Only I've labeled my containers with the name of the contents, the bulk ID# and the tare weight. Then I keep them for the same item.
I also use Snapware rectangular containers because they have a "unit" approach that means they will always stack compactly whether I'm storing the same size containers or smaller ones that are 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8th that size.
The very secure top means that my grains are sealed away from the "beasties" that are their nemesis. And the generous openings make them super easy to measure from.
Reply
4-05-2008 @9:42PM olaamigoquepasa said... Good ideas! I have this problem too, it just never occurred to me that there was a better way to store the stuff. I think I'll save my jars now. Thanks.
Reply
4-05-2008 @9:15PM Max said... I use pasta bottles for sugar and others
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:31PM Kitt said... Good idea! I buy a lot of stuff in bulk (grains, pasta, flour, herbs) but it never occurred to me to take my container in.
I recycle regular grocery sacks on my dog walks, but the ones in the bulk section are too flimsy for that.
Kitt
http://www.kittalog.com
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:33PM Goro said... Even when i don't buy things in bulk, i often use jars/containers. Who wants to keep flour in the bag? I normally use airtight (or as close as possible) for my storage needs b/c otherwise i sometimes get bug infestations.
If i'm making some pancake mix, i'll mix it up and store it in a container, also.
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:32PM doodoolemonque said... What's a "pasta bottle?"
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:32PM ABT said... I like this idea. I usually transfer the contents from bags into containers afterwards but always have the challenge of finding the right sized container and sometimes have leftovers in the bag. By taking the jar in I'd always have the right sized jar.
Also, if I'm buying an item for a recipe - say, a quarter cup of a particular type of dried fruit - I could measure something similar in the jar at home so I'd have an idea of what that quantity looks like in the jar and not buy too much.
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:32PM Branwine said... Why not use Ball Jars as well. I always use my jars for this and that. They are not huge by any means but useful none the less.
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:32PM Branwine said... I think they mean Pasta sauce bottle. Like Prego.
Reply
4-06-2008 @12:31PM Christine Borne said... Not sure if they still do this, but when I lived in Missoula, Montana (2000-2001), you could donate your empty pickle jars, etc., at the Good Food Store and they would run them through one of those industrial dish sanitizers (the mouth of the jar had to be 2 inches wide, I think, for the process to work) and set them out near the bulk foods for people to use. (They also wrote the weight on the container lid).
This was great - no messy bulk bags, and you didn't have to remember to bring your own containers. Every week I filled up an old Cool-whip container with bulk cereal, and used an old artichoke-heart jar for bulk baking powder and stuff.
The Good Food Store was the best natural food store I ever went to! They had nearly everything you could want in bulk including liquids like olive oil, salt, and tamari. With the reused containers, this was the closest I ever got to zero-waste living.
Reply
4-06-2008 @9:08PM Wendy said... I was going to mention The Good Food Store in Missoula,MT and see someone else already did :-) I started bringing in jars to be weighed in 1974. When I moved to the Montpelier, VT area, all the food co-ops do that, too. I LOVED going to the Amish bulk food stores in MO. I need to find a good, cheap bulk store near Lakeland, FL, now! Old stuff becomes new again...
Reply
5-30-2008 @1:20PM boss sauce said... I've been doing this for a while with Mason jars-- it's encouraged at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco. Not only is it convenient that they have all the tares in their registers, but nothing seals better than a good old fashioned mason jar. I get them home and hit them all with the vacuum sealer-- amazing how long things stay fresh.
Reply
4-07-2008 @1:25PM Mary Sue said... I used to work at IKEA, and I just wrote a huge review of all of their jars based on this article. Because that's how I roll.
Mary Sue
http://fangirlingmyfinances.wordpress.com
Reply
4-07-2008 @1:31PM Ellen Slattery said... Right on, Mary Sue - and all of the other readers - you guys rock! Thanks for reading and sharing your tips; I'm psyched that this post elicited such a positive response. And props to the readers who were already utilizing this technique!
peace,
Ellen
Reply