October 2013: Green Tips

Green Tip: Greening Your Grocery Shopping

With the school year starting up, the need to stock up our kitchens and dorm rooms with all the essential foods for late night talks with roomies, study dates, and those rushed morning breakfasts is becoming more prevalent. Before you buy those Poptarts or those single serving oatmeals stop and think about all the packaging wasted on these products. One way you can green up your kitchen and grocery shopping is by buying in bulk. By investing in reusable jars and containers that can be filled up in the store you will be able to save all sorts of needless waste. Many grocery stores today have a bulk aisle that provide a variety of foods like granola, rice, dried fruit, and the always important peanut butter malt balls. Bring your own container, fill them up, and skip the plastic waste that normally come with prepackaged food.

If you're new to the buying in bulk experience here are a few tips to help make your shopping experience easier:

1. Make sure you know what products you will need and how much of them before you arrive at the store.
• The bulk aisle can be overwhelming if you're not sure what products you need. Make a list of everything you could be buying in bulk before hand. For example: Whole Wheat Flour, Almonds, Oats, Sesame Seeds, and Brown Rice
2. Check the weight of your jars and containers and write it down before you fill them up. You don't want to have to overpay just because you didn't subtract the weight of the actual container.
3. Once in the aisle, don't forget to write down the number for each product. Every specific product typically has its own number so that when you take it up to the check out stand the cashier can input the number into the system and calculate the price. If they don't have the numbers provided to them the whole process will take much longer.

Now that you have that down you can go tackle your grocery shopping in a new sustainable way. Buying in bulk is efficient, green, fun, and can also be cheaper!