Balance

It's a bit tricky in today's culture--balancing what's good for the environment with what's good for our bodies. Convenience, time constraints, finances and product availability all contribute to create confusing and sometimes difficult decisions.

HE went shopping for our groceries today at the Willy Street Co-op in Madison and we discussed ahead of time how to approach this task with our new waste reduction in mind. We've been shopping here for more than 10 years and have always felt that we do a pretty good job re-using containers and buying in bulk. But we realized after review that lately (meaning years) we don't always plan ahead and that means that we are using bags available at the store for veggies and bulk items, not to mention purchasing packaged items that can be bought in bulk, such as oil, pasta, tamari sauce and even apples. Why do we do this? Simple: convenience.

Even butter comes in four individually wrapped sticks, surrounded by a cardboard box--unnecessary extra packaging. Today HE bought this:

thinking it was $4 and change. It turned out to be $8. 45!! Yikes. We do prefer organic dairy products, but I guess if less packaging is almost double the price I won't feel too bad about the cardboard packaging. We burn them in our masonry heater anyway, so it's being recycled.

Maple syrup was purchased in a jar today. The important thing here is to get a "tare" weight, which is the weight of the container empty. You don't want to be paying extra for your product--especially when it's $17.00 worth of maple syrup! Yikes again! But this will last us months...

Veggies and other produce go into cloth bags. The co-op sells them, but you can also make simple ones that tie up at the top (I'll see if I can whip one up soon and post it here). It's a good idea to get a tare weight for these as well. It may be quite small, but all those pennies eventually add up.

Here in Portage we have a grocery store that does sell some items in bulk and I have to confess that I haven't examined their bulk items too carefully. We also have a nice health food store, the Tangerine which also has a selection of bulk items.

Yup, it takes a bit of extra planning, maybe 30 minutes. Once you start collecting containers, keep them with your reusable grocery bags in the trunk of your car and, most importantly, take them with you when you head into the store. Put a sticky note on your steering wheel or purse--or ask your kiddos to be the grocery bag "police".

Remember, vote with your dollars and if your store doesn't carry something you would like to see in bulk, ask the management.  Look for other options. In the meantime, do your best--balance what's best for your family with what you can do comfortably for the environment. Make it feel good.

Balance, not perfection.