Getting ready for Zero Plastic Week: How do I shop for food???

Zero Plastic Week is fast approaching (June 9!), and one of the biggest changes I faced when removing plastic from my life was shopping for food.  So much of what is found in a conventional supermarket is packaged with plastic. So what can you eat??

The first thing you need to do is a find a store near your area that sells food in bulk bins. (Bea Johnson, from Zero Waste Home has a great app that will help you find bulk stores in your area) Whole Foods usually has a good selection, but often times small, local stores will also sell bulk foods.

After you find a store, you will need to put together supplies for your shopping trip.  Some suggestions, depending on what your local store sells and what you like to eat:

• Grocery bags
• Cloth bulk bags (These are the ones I have, but there are a ton on Etsy if you just search "bulk bags." Ecobags also has some)
• Pint sized mason jar for freshly ground peanut butter (or almond/nut butter)
• Bottle for bulk olive oil/vinegar (sadly they got rid of this at our store, but you may have it in yours)
• Pyrex containers for cheese and meat
• Paper and pencil or note application on phone to write down tare numbers and PLU's for food

Once you get to the store, the first thing you should do is go to customer service or the checkout and have them give you the weight for each of your containers and bulk bags so you are not charged extra.  Write this down so you don't have to do it each time you go to the store.

Fill your bulk bags up.  If you are going to the meat or cheese counter, make sure you are confident and straightforward with your request.  Ask for no additional paper if you can, because most of the time it is coated in plastic.

My list of bulk food PLU's on my phone

When you get to the check out, make sure you have your list of PLU numbers and tare weights handy so you are not holding up the line.  I think it's important to show that being plastic free doesn't have to be a hassle to you OR other people around you.  And that means being prepared.  I also try to group all of the things in bulk bags together on the belt so the cashier can do them all at once.

One other plastic free (or less-plastic) thing you may be able to find is milk.  Our Whole Foods sells milk in returnable glass bottles (the lids are plastic, but that's a lot less than a whole plastic gallon).  I bring a cooler with me for the bottles, and as we use them up during the week, I put the empties back in the cooler to go back to the store for next time.

At home, you can empty your bags into glass jars or containers.  Reuse empty jars that food came in, or use mason jars (the le parfait ones work well and are sturdy, if you find them on sale!).

Also, please don't forget about your local farmers market for plastic free produce.  The quality is usually better, there aren't any pesky produce stickers, and you'll get to know your local farmers.

Sign up for Zero Plastic Week here.

Zero Plastic Week: June 9th - 15th (Get a jumpstart on Plastic Free July?)

I just heard about some awesome people in the Netherlands who are hosting a Plastic-Free Week in June. The premise?  Use no new disposable plastic for an entire week. (No plastic shopping bags, produce bags, throw away coffee cups, etc.)  If you are up for the challenge, here is their website and you can join the event on Facebook.

Not sure where to start?

• Bring your own bags to the supermarket
• Shop your farmers market for produce that has less packaging (I've found this especially helpful for finding spinach and cherry tomatoes)
• Bring your own water bottle and coffee mug
• Say no to straws, or bring your own glass or stainless steel one
• Bring your own lunch to work or school
• Make your own yogurt and beans (dried beans are cheaper anyway!)
• Buy your bread from a bakery or make your own
• Shop the bulk bins and use your own bags
• Say no to disposable coffee pods!
• Make your own cleaning supplies (and how to do laundry without plastic)
• Use bar soap instead of liquid

(Martha's directions on making yogurt, which are super easy; a great recipe for homemade bread, I make this all the time; how to cook dried beans in the crockpot)


For more ideas, visit Zero Plastic Week's website, or Beth Terry's, or Plastic Free July's

Happy Spring!

Hope everyone enjoys this first weekend in spring!  Here are some interesting articles/links:

A wonderful study by Mother Jones on the toxicity of BPA-free plastic.

More reasons to avoid Keurig and single-brew coffee pods.

How to green your spring cleaning.

5 spring gardening tips. 

Green your laundry routine

What is clean supposed to smell like?

For most of my life, clean meant synthetic fragrances like "Mountain Fresh" or "Spring Rain."  Fragrances that lasted a long, long time and were pretty strong.  I became sensitized to them.  Two dryer sheets must be better than one!

Now, clean just smells like clean.

Instead of dryer sheets...

The synthetic fragrances in dryer sheets are overwhelming.  And potentially toxic.  A University of Washington study found that a total of 25 volatile organic compounds, two of which are highly carcinogenic, were released from a dryer vent in which synthetic dryer sheets were used.  And what else are most dryer sheets coated in?  Tallow, or animal fat.  Why don't these ingredients have to be listed on the label? Because they are protected as "trade secrets" of the companies that make them.

...try dryer balls

So how can you make your clothes less static-y?  Personally, I use wool dryer balls, and they're great!  Not only do they cut down on static, they cut down on drying time.  Etsy has many good options, but my favorite are the ones from Bog Berry.  If you still miss the fragrance from the dryer sheets (but not the toxicity), then you can put a few drops of essential oil on your dryer balls before you thrown them in the dryer.

Another benefit to not using dryer sheets is less waste.  Most dryer sheets are not biodegradable, and contribute to landfill waste and pollution in our environment.

Instead of detergent in a plastic bottle...

Detergents also have a slew of synthetic fragrances, and even the "fragrance free" versions aren't innocent.  See articles here, here and here.   

(Personal sidenote about fragrances: While going through old clothes, I found some that I haven't worn in over a year, and I wanted to wash them before donating.  When they were in the wash, the whole laundry room stunk from the detergent I had washed them with MORE THAN A YEAR AND A HALF AGO).

...try soap nuts

My favorite detergent is not a detergent, it's a berry!  Soap nuts (which are berries, not nuts) contain natural saponin, which works to break the surface tension of water and clean your clothes. (Here's where I get mine) There is no plastic packaging, which is another benefit.

How do you use them?

1. Throw 4-5 soap nuts in the little cloth bag that comes with your box of soap nuts.

2. Put it in with your laundry.

3. When you take your laundry out of the wash, take out the little bag (don't worry if you accidentally throw it in the dryer, it won't hurt anything!), and reuse the soap nuts up to 10 times.  It's pretty easy to tell when the soap nuts are used up, they are dry looking, and shriveled, and no longer have the faint "fruity" smell that they do in the beginning.

4. When the soap nuts are used up, throw them in the compost.

Instead of chlorine bleach...

This is more about the plastic for me.  At household concentrations, bleach is generally considered safe. (Though you should make sure never to mix it with ammonia or vinegar!)  But in an effort to create less waste, I have found another solution to keeping our whites white.

...try lemons

I squeeze one lemon into a load of whites, and let it soak in the washing machine on hot or warm water for 30 minutes to an hour.  Afterwards, I wash normally.  This has worked well for us, and keeps all of our whites looking how they should.

have a fabulous fall friday!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Hopefully, you will be out enjoying the fall weather :)

Photo courtesy of my loving husband

Here are some interesting links:

It's hard to feel lonely when you have a herd of goats: Adorable pictures of Big Picture Farm's dairy goats in the fall

Plastic-free Halloween ideas

How fracking is driving the plastics industry

11 fun pumpkin facts & a homemade pumpkin spice latte recipe

16 awesome coconut oil beauty care recipes

Why home-ec should be mandatory  
(There are a lot of kids out there, who will soon be adults, both girls and boys, who have no idea how to cook, or run a kitchen or a household.  I think this kind of education can play a big part in a move away from overly processed "foods.")

I know this has nothing to do with being "green," but...musical notation, as described by cats