I'm a Coles or woolworths girl.
Correction, I used to be. That's your equivalent of Tesco's or Sainsbury (UK) or in USA (Safeway, or Cost-Co without the bulk buy option) and Sobey's or Metro (Canada).
I used to think nothing of stuffing my weekly shop in a large amount of plastic bags. Lugging them home. I thought I was doing a world of good re-using these bags for rubbish.
That's until I saw the whale. The whale who ingested so many plastic bags, he died of severe pain and starvation. He literally couldn't eat. 30 shopping and plastic potato chip bags had twisted in his stomach and formed a mass of plastic. Indigestible. Toxic. Fatal. And decided as part of the BIG MAGICAL HEART ON FIRE project, that I was going to give back. Help out. And that meant starting with me.
Day 3 - I went to Source Bulk Foods to learn about shopping with no plastic at all.
The entire shop is full of everything you could want in deep bulk buy tubs. A lot of health foods can be heavily packaged and it's great to see bulk foods being stored in gravity bins and what a huge difference it makes if unpackaged foods are so readily available!
I trawled the aisles - fresh organic nuts roasted, salted, mixed, home-ground flours, crunchy paleo muesli, choc coated strawberries, protein balls, dark chocolate almonds. My friend raves about the carob-coated sour cherries. There was an olive oil spout, and apple cider vinegar and maple syrup on tap! They even had organic cleaning products that smelt like a lavendar field. Face moisturisers and a body butter that went on lightly and made my skin feel baby smooth. I couldn't go past the Kombucha on tap. And the make-your-own peanut butter or cashew and coconut blend machine. Too good!
Everything you buy in Source Foods is either in recyclable paper bags or glass bottles (buy them or bring your own). Their stores are proudly plastic bag free and customers are encouraged to bring their containers, bags and bottles to refill. This is waste free grocery shopping at its best!
Today, we met Gavin, proud owner of Source Bulk Foods at Rhodes, and he helped us learn the value of plastic-free shopping, and home-grown old school customer service helping us to test out the right products for us.
Plus we scored some extra yummy and good-for-you treats! I'll most definitely be back. Now let's talk about those carob coated sour cherries....
