Quick Tip: Time to Bulk Up!

A great way to start saving money and natural resources is to start shopping in the bulk bins of your local grocery. Now, I am not talking about stocking up at Costco, where many things are still individually wrapped but sold in huge quantities, but the actual bulk bins, where you buy exactly how much you need. Food sold in bulk is usually cheaper and there is no packaging that comes along with it. That means if you bring your own home-made bulk bags, you can get food at a much reduced environmental cost: Food packaging is made from natural resources, such as trees or petroleum. And, making all of that packaging takes lots of energy. Eventually, that packaging will be disposed of and will likely sit in a landfill for hundreds or more years. Yikes! It just makes sense to try to avoid any packaging that we don't really need.
I know that individually wrapped 'snack packs' can be a real convenience, especially if you have young ones, but it only takes a few minutes to break up a bag of bulk snacks into individual-size reusable containers. The money saved will make it worth it.