I haven't quite gotten the energy to ask if I can bring my own containers and have them weigh them to subtract the tare. However, I did realize that I tend to buy the same things over and over. So there's another way!
Instead, today I went to Sprouts. One of the things I regularly buy there is bulk oats (on sale 0.69/lb, regular price 1.29/lb). The last time I bought the oats, I simply saved the plastic bag and the twist tie with the number on it. I put this bag inside a container in my cupboard. Today, I reused the bag and the twist tie. I am hoping to do that with, well, everything. At least until I figure out if I can bring my own containers. I bought a large amount of 4-cup soup containers from Amazon a year ago, and they really would be perfect for bulk bins.
I also bought quinoa and pinto beans (in new bags that I will reuse). I may or may not have saved the chocolate peanut cluster bag too...you know, for future needs.
The final "reuse" of the day was the olive bar - I saved the plastic container from last week, washed and dried it, and reused it. Of course I carried the groceries out in my reusable grocery bag.
As far as "refuse" goes, I refused to buy strawberries in a plastic container. Instead I bought a cantaloupe. I also didn't get a bag for the red bell pepper.
I'm eventually going to let the cantaloupe rind rot...aka, I'm going to start composting again.
This weekend I bought eggs at the farmer's market - I can return the egg container to the vendor and they will reuse it.
On the negative side, the baby cucumbers came in a bag. They didn't have any loose ones. My weekly veggie delivery was accidentally short this week, and we are running out. Next week will be HUGE, which I was excited about. Until I just found out hubby will be gone all week. Oh well, lots more for me and the boys.
Finally, the bread came in a bag. I really need to figure out if I can regularly make a sandwich bread at home that my husband likes. We get so many damn bread bags.
After dinner I made another batch of salad dressing. Making your own dressing is easy, healthy, and generates less waste. While I haven't quite figured out how to get vinegar or olive oil in bulk (as in, bring your own container), I do buy 2L bottles of olive oil at Costco and buy vinegar in glass jars.
This salad dressing is my favorite. It's so tasty, and this time of year, I get parsley and garlic and lemons every week. Instead of buying bottled salad dressing and "recycling" (downcycling), I just reuse the same glass bottle every week.
The dressing started from this recipe from Beachbody. I've altered it. Because I get a lot of parsley.
Lemon-Parsley-Garlic Vinaigrette.
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3-4 large cloves garlic, pressed
1 bunch parsley, washed and de-stemmed (a pain, but worth it)
1 tsp or so of honey or sugar. I use local honey. And I just scoop out some with a regular spoon.
1 tsp of mustard (you know I eyeballed this). I use brown mustard, but dijon works too
pinch himalayan salt
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend! It comes out creamy and delicious and very very green. The vibrant green goes away over a week or two, but it still tastes great. I don't skimp on this either. I eat a large bowl of salad for lunch every day, and believe me, I'm not measuring out 1 TBSP of dressing. I think my dressing container holds at least 2 TBSP.
Sometimes I use the immersion blender to make the dressing. It's not as smooth.
This dressing will harden up in the fridge because of the olive oil. Let it sit at room temp to thaw before you use it.
1 comment:
That dressing looks amazing!
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