guidelines

It is now time to set the guidelines and parameters for this adventure. It should be simple.... no packaged food or beverages, but how does that look? If I am buying things in bulk, do I know how it got to the store? What will I put it in to get it home? What about when I go out to eat? How do I know how it got to my plate? Does this mean no more food carts until next year? ohhh noooooo!

Luckily I work at the food co-op that I would shop in even if I didn't work there, so it will be easy for me know how things are received there. People's has one of the most expansive bulk food, herb, and kombucha section I have ever had the pleasure of playing in. And since I work there, I will be able to find out if we are just opening a bunch of packages to fill a bin. So my guideline here is going to be, (at least for now; it could get tougher or lighten up) the in the store bag has to be bigger than our bulk container. I would also like to see that the containers that the co-op receives the goods in has a deposit, and/or the sources use the packaging again. However, if the food comes in bags, hummmm, what to do about that? Well, this is where I will start from: if it come in paper-ish type bags that can be recycled, fantastic! If they come in large plastic bags that can be recycled, ok. But if they come in small bags of any kind, nope. I think the only thing I will really have to watch on this is some of the dried fruit. There are some special treats we get in bulk that come this way, but I don't really eat them anyway, so that isn't a big deal for me.

Alright, so now I have picked out my purchases, what do I put them into. Well, I am going to have to bring my own. What will I be bringing? I can only bring/use plastic bags that I already have been using; like the ones I reuse over and over again for my bulk herbs/teas/spices. When those bags die, and they will, I will have to bring the glass container I store them in. If I don't already have a container for an item, I'll have to dig in the cabinets and pick one out... most likely a mason jar of some kind. In other words, nothing new! Fortunately the co-op has a re-usable section in the bulk area where people can bring in used containers that we screen to be clean/dry/not smelly. I can already see that my bike bag might get a little heavy on big shopping days.

Some friends have brought up really good questions, like does size matter? I think what they were going for is serving size. So if I get something that is in a container, but has like 20 or 30 servings in it, would that be ok? My initial reaction is no, but maybe. It will depend on what I can then DO with the container. Can I reuse it for something? Can it be returned for a deposit and reused by the company? But maybe the first question should be, "do I really need this item?" The first item that was brought up was bottles of alcohol. Its a good question. I like hot toddies. Hell, I like to sip on whiskey in general. Is this out for a year? This is a tough one. I don't think I will have it out anymore because they most likely don't do anything with the container. At home, I will have a choice on what kind I keep at the house, and pick one with a bottle I can and will reuse.... most likely when I am making tinctures or syrups or something like that. I will have to buy bottles of 100% grain alcohol and maybe brandy to make tinctures and such, but I will buy the biggest bottles possible, and I am making different diluted bottles out of the old ones for ease of future medicine making.

As for beverages.... same guidelines apply. Again, at the co-op we have bulk kombucha. We also carry Captured by Porches beer, and they have built these nice little wooden crates for their flip top bottles to be put in for reuse at the brewery. They also do the same for their kombucha. Beer at home or to take to parties will have to come from a brewery. Lucky for me some of the breweries will actually use mason jars, so i won't have to have 6 different growlers to keep sorted out. But I will probably just choose not to have much at the house anymore.

I will save my guidelines for eating at restaurants for latter, but for now know that its only black coffee for me.

cheers!