Reusing jars for wet bulk foods

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Jun 16th 2008 @ 5:30PM

wet bulk section at the Good Food Store in Missoula, Montana

Back in January, I determined that I wanted to try and reduce my consumption of single-use containers. I have stopped by buying bottled water and carry my coffee to work with me each day in a reusable mug or canning jar (I like the canning jar better, because it means I can seal up my coffee and toss it in my bag until I get to work. I realize a thermos would also work, but I get a crazy sense of satisfaction out of drinking from a glass jar).

I've also tried to find places that sell in bulk and where I can bring my own containers and thus reduce my consumption even further. Whole Foods doesn't mind if I bring my own plastic bags for goods from the bulk section, but when I tried to bring a jar for peanut butter, I got some strange looks and was eventually told I couldn't do it that way. What I really want to find is a place like the Good Food Store that the No Impact Man wrote about today. This is a grocery store in Missoula, Montana that encourages its patrons to bring back clean jars. The store then sterilizes the jars and puts them on a shelf near their bulk section so that other shoppers can use them for a variety of bulk wet products. It seems to me like an excellent way to get your food shopping done and consume less packaging in one neat step.

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Filed Under: Trends, Food Politics
Tags: Good Food Store, GoodFoodStore, No Impact Man, NoImpactMan, reusable jars, ReusableJars, single use containers, SingleUseContainers

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-16-2008 @6:36PM Michael Schmitt said... About the only thing that I'd have problems with using a glass jar for foods is making sure that when screwing on the lid, one doesn't accidentally chip an edge of the lip of the jar and have it fall into the food and eat it. The chances of that is pretty slim, but it is the reason why producers of shelf stable foods in glass jars have x-ray machines to detect any glass in the food just in case if the automatic closing machine has a misstep and chips a bit of glass into the product.
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6-16-2008 @6:37PM Lear said... Our local Co-op in Bozeman, MT does that as well. Wonder if they are part of the same Co-op.
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6-17-2008 @6:28AM Rapunzel said... I love the idea of re-using glass jars, abhor plastic so am open to any possible way to get that garbage out of my house!
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6-17-2008 @9:41AM Greg said... To be clear, they bill the jars as "sanitized", which is technically quite different from sterilized. I'd also be concerned about the closures on commercial jars - many are not designed to take a second round of sterilization, and may warp in such a way as to prevent sealing.

Not that it's not a fantastic idea, but it would probably be best and most safely achieved with a stock of glass mason jars and a deposit/return program for the jars.
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6-18-2008 @2:55AM jocelyn said... There are a few stores in this area where you can bring your own containers to reuse for some bulk items. (I remember my grandma doing this with peanut butter, from those fresh grinder things when I was a kid) I don't know of any that offer jars to reuse.
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