The joy of bulk foods
I was excited to see that the local supermarket here (here being Corvalis, Oregon) has a huge bulk foods section. There were literally hundreds of items in bulk bins: grains, cereals, flours, beans, cake mixes, pastas, nuts, candies, dried fruit, and so on and so on.
The big slogan on the wall above the bulk bins was “A natural way to buy food”. I’m not so sure that buying Tootsie Rolls out of bulk bins makes them any more ‘natural’, but I do miss having access to a good bulk food section where I live. First of all, there are usually some great natural, whole foods available, such as a variety of dried beans, lentils, and grains that you don’t usually find in a conventional supermarket. Also, buying foods in bulk saves on excess packaging. If you have a chance, go browse through some bulk foods bins in your local store and pick out a new, healthy food to try.
Do you ever buy bulk foods?
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POSTED IN: Environmental Issues, Food, Products
4 opinions for The joy of bulk foods
kathryn
Dec 7, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Close to where I live in Sydney there’s an organic food co-op. Everything is sold from bulk containers and you have to take your own bags, jars and bottles to fill. It keeps the price low and is also a good way of re-using old packaging.
Plus their food is really good quality.
Jul
Dec 8, 2007 at 7:29 am
That sounds fabulous, Kathryn. I’ve very jealous. :)
Céline
Dec 10, 2007 at 10:04 am
I’d love to see that in the UK or France but unfortunately, everything is overpackaged. A piece of broccoli comes into a plastic wrapping which, of course, isn’t recyclable. Sometimes I wonder what the logic behind that is. But, I see more an more compostable packaging, especially that used for organic food, so things are changing slowly.
monica
Dec 10, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Sigh, this post makes me miss Austin, Texas, where every major grocery store (HEB, Whole Foods, Central Market) and even some smaller stores (Wheatsville Co-op) had a massive section devoted to bulk foods (everything really is bigger in Texas!). I used to buy oats, rice, lentils, raisins, prunes, tea, granola, TVP… all sorts of stuff in bulk. We are not so lucky in London.
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