I buy bulk

I've got a problem. Every time I use a plastic bag or a wrapper I feel it viscerally, as if my heart is torn out and pulled to the landfill for some kid of a future generation to uncover. I can't seem to untie myself from this wrath. Airplane plastic cups, restaurant straws, oy vey. Eventually I just block it out, but only after I've considered the impact.

Sick, huh? Unsustainable in itself, huh? Time-suck, huh? It's the plastic cross I bear.

Well the one thing that makes me feel better is, this is true, bulk food.

Bulk food is exciting! It's like going back in time, some kind of general store action, big barrels of food with a store owner named Hank who tips his hat, rolls up his sleeves, and measures out five pounds of oats for you to put in your own, smaller barrel.

At our nearby stores, we buy nuts, beans, teas, pasta, almond butter, rice, seeds, dried fruits, cereal, olives, and sometimes cookies in bulk. When we make the trip to Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco I light up the tahini, olive oil, dishwasher soap, maple syrup, even more nuts, and even more dried fruit.

Seriously, this gets me going. We always seem to have food around, and then I get to experiment with sprouting and cooking garbanzo beans like the guy at the outside market in Provence told me (okay I'll write that up.)

But a big part of this game is using no new packaging. Washing all of my plastic or cloth bags, bringing jars (you have to make sure this is okay first, and weigh them in advance) and plastic containers.

I madly aspire to being part of a no-packaging family. It's crazy, I know. It's nuts. But at least for now, it's bulk nuts.