So many things would be better suited to the grocery store having large hoppers of the item that you fill your own containers with. Either the hopper counts out how much is fed through, or you sit the empty container beneath the hopper on a scale, zero it, and then fill and get the weight printed on a little sticker. We have this technology for jelly beans and coffee grounds, but apparently it’s far too advanced for anything else
They allow certain containers. But mostly people use single use plastic bags and create far more plastic film garbage than they would by buying regular packages. One thing you are not allowed to do is to reuse your prior bags - food cleanliness regulations because leftover almonds dust from one week might contaminate this week’s almonds.
It’s definitely still way less packaging. Those flimsy bags have way less plastic than the thick ass packages from the grocery store, and that’s not even counting all the things that are individually wrapped or have extra packaging like those plastic clamshell containers.
Here in the Germanies, we have these Unverpackt (“non-packaged”) shops which do this: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unverpacktladen
Unfortunately, these are also mainly just a thing in larger cities.
Although, here in town, we have like a weekly farmer’s market where a guy shows up with a truck that has a shopfront in the side, and you just hand him your containers, then he fills them up with what you want and weighs them. Always feels a bit like buying sweets at a fair, and not just because the guy also has sweets. 😅
One time, a family was ahead of me and the mum had brought a glass jar for each child. And then the kids got to pick what sweets they wanted, like one scoop of jelly worms and one scoop of sour things and one scoop of …I don’t what sweets are called. That was also really fun. 🙃
I’ve seen one of these stores flounder and fail in a matter of a few years. I passed it by many times and I never saw anyone buy anything, or even enter there.
Although I felt sorry for the people running it, I would have never bought any of the sort of stuff they had on display anyway, whether packaged or not. Except for chocolate, and I really prefer mine bar-shaped.
I once bought something at one of these stores. Was in need for a specific kind of sugar for a recipe and they had it. Honestly it’s probably mostly failing on price point and convenience, because a) most of the products they sell are organic and high quality; so more expensive and b) you have to know what you want to buy beforehand so you can bring your own containers… Also the store was in an awkward location and not well advertised.
Yeah, we don’t make companies recycle/reuse the trash that they wrap around food and it’s dirt-cheap to produce more plastic trash, so somewhat unintuitively, it’s not really cheaper to buy food without packaging.
And at that point, you need to have customers that are willing to bring their own containers, just because they themselves want to reduce trash. Those kind of customers will also want organic, so now you’re more expensive. 🫠
Welp, if you’re willing to buy organic anyways, it’s kind of cool, because it’s a selection of food worth buying.
One time, the guy also let me try unroasted peanuts, which I probably would not have bought otherwise. Like, that’s also kind of cool, that they can have more exotic foods, because you can just try a nibble of it, or buy like a single portion, if it needs to be cooked/prepared…
So many things would be better suited to the grocery store having large hoppers of the item that you fill your own containers with. Either the hopper counts out how much is fed through, or you sit the empty container beneath the hopper on a scale, zero it, and then fill and get the weight printed on a little sticker. We have this technology for jelly beans and coffee grounds, but apparently it’s far too advanced for anything else
Find a co-op grocery store, everyone I’ve been to has had a bulk section
THE place to buy spices
In canada we have a chain called bulk barn that does this. Grains, nuts, candy, dog food and spices.
I don’t think bulk barn allows you to bring your own container, you have to use their plastic bags
The Bulk Barn near me has “Sustainable Sundays” where you get a 10% discount for bringing your own containers.
They allow certain containers. But mostly people use single use plastic bags and create far more plastic film garbage than they would by buying regular packages. One thing you are not allowed to do is to reuse your prior bags - food cleanliness regulations because leftover almonds dust from one week might contaminate this week’s almonds.
Or you use last week’s peanuts bag and contaminate the “not peanuts” hopper that the folks allergic to them use.
It’s definitely still way less packaging. Those flimsy bags have way less plastic than the thick ass packages from the grocery store, and that’s not even counting all the things that are individually wrapped or have extra packaging like those plastic clamshell containers.
Here in the Germanies, we have these Unverpackt (“non-packaged”) shops which do this: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unverpacktladen
Unfortunately, these are also mainly just a thing in larger cities.
Although, here in town, we have like a weekly farmer’s market where a guy shows up with a truck that has a shopfront in the side, and you just hand him your containers, then he fills them up with what you want and weighs them. Always feels a bit like buying sweets at a fair, and not just because the guy also has sweets. 😅
One time, a family was ahead of me and the mum had brought a glass jar for each child. And then the kids got to pick what sweets they wanted, like one scoop of jelly worms and one scoop of sour things and one scoop of …I don’t what sweets are called. That was also really fun. 🙃
I’ve seen one of these stores flounder and fail in a matter of a few years. I passed it by many times and I never saw anyone buy anything, or even enter there.
Although I felt sorry for the people running it, I would have never bought any of the sort of stuff they had on display anyway, whether packaged or not. Except for chocolate, and I really prefer mine bar-shaped.
What sort of stuff did they have? You wouldn’t buy flour and other bulk dry goods?
I once bought something at one of these stores. Was in need for a specific kind of sugar for a recipe and they had it. Honestly it’s probably mostly failing on price point and convenience, because a) most of the products they sell are organic and high quality; so more expensive and b) you have to know what you want to buy beforehand so you can bring your own containers… Also the store was in an awkward location and not well advertised.
Yeah, we don’t make companies recycle/reuse the trash that they wrap around food and it’s dirt-cheap to produce more plastic trash, so somewhat unintuitively, it’s not really cheaper to buy food without packaging.
And at that point, you need to have customers that are willing to bring their own containers, just because they themselves want to reduce trash. Those kind of customers will also want organic, so now you’re more expensive. 🫠
Welp, if you’re willing to buy organic anyways, it’s kind of cool, because it’s a selection of food worth buying.
One time, the guy also let me try unroasted peanuts, which I probably would not have bought otherwise. Like, that’s also kind of cool, that they can have more exotic foods, because you can just try a nibble of it, or buy like a single portion, if it needs to be cooked/prepared…