Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 1- The Grocery store

So, Will and I like to menu plan, which means I write a pretty extensive grocery list every week to pick up the essentials and dinner fixings. I was really nervous about shopping, it seems everything at the store has plastic in it somehow. I figured that Whole Foods and Trader Joe's would be a better bet then my local Giant (equivalent to HEB or Vons) in terms of selection. Before I get to telling you about my store debacle,  I would like to confess.

We had a bigwig from work coming today, so we got to go out for lunch! Yay! Free lunch! I was ready, I was prepared. We went to a place that had paper napkins, but glass glasses. I'm scott free right? Wrong. I forgot to say "no straw".  Not only did I get a straw for my soda, but I also got a straw for my water. What an inauspicious start. Oh, and I had to order printer cartridges.  In my defense, I did ask if I could get them in non plastic. The guy laughed at me and then I managed to drop a bunch of metal in my filing drawer, but I'm pretty sure I impressed him.  They do recycle the cartridges, so it's not a total loss right?

Whew, I feel better!

So, here in the Mid-Atlantic, we are having a rather interesting winter. It's not the snowpocalypse of 2010, but it's definitely storm after storm after storm. The point is, we are supposed to have an ice storm tonight, so I could only hit one store tonight. So, this will be two parts. I took the easy part. Will gets to do the hard part. Sorry Will!

I went to Whole Foods with 7 bags, I was a little apprehensive about how one keeps all the produce separate, but I think that's really for the checkers. So I had all my fruit in one smaller bag and all my veggies in a different smaller bag. I felt kinda weird about it until I saw at least 3 other people with loose produce. Vigilante produce shoppers, I am now one. I wasn't able to get the tomatoes that we love for bruschetta or fresh corn. But it is January, I suppose fresh corn doesn't really exist now. Also, I don't think bruschetta is going to happen until I can grow basil. AND now I have egg cartons to start growing it in, score! C'mon warm weather. I did try to find rice, and while they have rice, I didn't have a container. So no rice for me. No milk either. But I could get meat no problem. I just went to the butcher and asked them to wrap it in paper. Done. I am curious if it's plasticised paper, so I will experiment with it later, but we have MEAT!

The lady at the checkout told me that all Whole Foods stuff is or should be compostable. I find this interesting, and am a little dubious. I think that I will have to e-mail corporate to see. Hopefully I'll get something back. I will have the in-law try to compost something in the meantime. They live on 18 acres, and I think it would annoy their neighbors less than mine.

Part 2 tomorrow. I know you wait with bated breath.

1 comment:

  1. Special note about Whole Foods - the bags in the dispensible grain section are made from post consumer plastics and are recyclable from what I understand. If that helps you any in your quest. Its better (and cheaper actually) than buying the prebagged or boxed stuff.

    ReplyDelete