zero-waste grocery shopping kit

i wanted to reduce our waste a few years ago and came across bea johnson, who i have mentioned many times before.  i have no problem saying that she is one of my biggest inspirations!  :)  i would love to say that we are totally zero-waste, but we are not quite there yet. bea is!  we have, however, drastically decreased our waste and recycling!  remember that recycling still takes a lot of water + energy and often involves adding more new plastic to the recycled plastic for new product.  so much of what we consume involves single use plastic and packaging.  reducing the need for packaging is important and can be quite simple, especially if we can access bulk nearby.  bea has explained how she grocery shops, and it was very inspiring to me.  i've adapted it a bit, so i thought i'd share what i do too.  

of course, we start with the reusable bags.  please, please do this…every time!  at times i have left my bags in the trunk of my car, so that i would always have them with me.  now i keep a couple of fold-up ones in my purse.  sometimes we go to the store and carry everything out in our hands, if we don't have bags.  the way to keep it to what you can carry…is to walk through the store without a cart or basket.  we know we can carry everything out to the car, because we carried it to the check out.  :)  it's ok if we look silly- we just saved a plastic bag!! woohoo!

for bulk foods, i use these bins that are available at my whole foods. glass jars would be an even better way to avoid plastic, but here are a few reasons why i like these bins.  
-they are light weight and stack inside each other for compact transport.  i often need more than five bins.
-i don't have to bring them to customer service to get them weighed for tare (so they can subtract the weight of the jar to get an accurate weight of the item you put inside).
-i don't need as many glass jars.  i would need extras to bring to the store.  if, for example, i need more flour for the week ahead, but still have some left in my flour jar.
-i don't have to worry about all the grocery store germs on the outsides of the jars, because I pour the contents into clean jars.  
-i have used these same bins for 3 years now. (still using them almost two years later...that's 5 years so far.) 
-there have been times that i have been able to use one of these to bring a meal to someone with family in the hospital or to gift food from our garden, etc.  they are great to use when i don't want the recipient to have to return my dish.  i hope they reuse them too.

we grocery shop once a week.  it's something our tribe looks forward to now.  we know people who work at our store and like to catch up with them when we can.  we usually eat lunch there as well, so that makes it a special treat.  i make my menu and list ahead of time and then bring what we will need.  this could include:
-bins for bulk, cheese, and occasionally fish
-rubberbands to keep the bins from spilling on the way home...and so that i don't collect more each time we go
-cloth bags for bread + cookies (i have the bread sliced and placed in the cloth bag.  at home i place the whole thing in a reused plastic bag before putting it in the freezer.  we just break off a slice and toast it when we want one.)
-a little jug for honey or syrup
-tiny plastic bags for spices
-a coffee bag or sometimes i just use a bin
-reusable grocery bags

i've collected these from the store and just reuse the same ones over and over. the store knows how to deal with their own items.

i don't use cloth bags for vegetables or fruit. i just place them all in one reusable bag and the cashier weighs them before replacing them in the bag.

everything fits into one bag.  we grab another to carry our empty glass milk jugs and any other glass that needs to be dropped at the glass recycling bin outside the store.  (if you don't home compost or have city compost pickup, whole foods has compost bins inside the store.  take your compost along too!)

when we get our bulk home, i transfer it from these bins to our glass jars.

loveliness on full display.

these supplies have a place to rest between jobs.  one large bin holds all of the bins, bags and extras.  i like that there is a bit of extra room in the top of this bin to put newly dried bins that might need a bit of extra air to completely dry all the nooks and crannies.

the other large bin holds the empty bags.  i add our empty glass milk jugs to the top of this bin, so we can return them to the store with the next trip.

a place for everything, and everything in its place!  

i acknowledge there is plastic involved here.  i consider switching to glass sometimes and then come back to all the reasons i do like my bins.  i don't store food in plastic.  i also know that the bulk items arrive in plastic lined boxes and are stored in plastic bins.  i can change my mind at any time.  i also consider switching my bags to cloth, so that i can wash them.  i just have a hard time getting rid of these now, since they still function.  i do like their size and ease of loading.  they are 100% recycled.  again, i can change my mind.  the large plastic bins are easy to clean and won't rust.  just letting you know what i do, in case it could inspire.  :)

love,
jane

p.s. a little more about the shopping here.  :)