I have exciting news! This past week I found a bulk store within 30min drive time of my home! Its called Ada’s and its lovely. Think of Whole Foods but smaller and somehow with a bigger bulk selection! They have grains, pastas, coffee, nuts, nut butters, granola AS WELL AS herbs and tea in their bulk section! How thrilling! Just pop to the cashiers to get your jars tared (with lids on), get your bulk, (remember the PLU,) and they calculate at the checkout.
I was absolutely ecstatic to get some bulk tea this last week, after looking for 3 months for some loose leaf tea. Im looking forward to going back soon for our staples. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few tips for those of you learning to shop in bulk. Heaven knows I read so many articles and watched so many videos before attempting this myself and now that I have a rhythm, I’d love to share. So here we go:
Bulk shopping tips
1. Only Two Sizes (with interchangeable lids)
Try to have 2 (maybe 3) types of containers for your bulk if you can. I use wide-mouth 16oz and ½ gallon Ball jars. This is a really easy, simple way to keep things streamlined.
2. Tare Once (and write in sharpie)
I’ve gotten one of each size weighed with a lid on and I simply write the tare weight on all the other jars of that same size in sharpie. That way, after the first tare, all of them are ready to grab and go straight to the bulk section. And if you want to remove the writing, it wipes off easily with a little alcohol.
This goes for bags too. I don’t really use bags except for produce or bread, and in those situations I usually don’t bother taring them. I am thinking about making some new bags of the same size (see tip 1!) out of an old sheet and wiring the tare weight on them in a pretty way or with a bright tag, but for now I just don’t sweat it. All my current bags are quite light and add almost no weight.
3. Start Small (and take pics)
Remember I said at the beginning of this article that so far I only bought tea at this new store? Well, that’s because even though I’ve bought bulk before, it was a different store in a different town and I wanted to get the lay of the land. Sure, you can dive in and set off for the store to get all your essentials sight unseen- go for it! But it’s ok to start small and just get one or two small things so that you understand the expectations and the flow. Especially if you’re new to bulk shopping or nervous about it- you want a win to encourage yourself!
Taking pictures also helps you know ahead of time what you want to (and can) buy. I like to know ahead of time if they have the legumes or grains that I like. If they don’t I can re-evaluate and plan which/how many jars I need to bring.
4. Determine Essentials
We have narrowed down what we actually like and want to eat. This helps keep “analysis paralysis” and stress at bay, as well as helping us be more intentional and creative in our meals. So instead of having kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas, lima beans, butter beans and lentils (like we used to), we just have black beans and chickpeas. It’s the most versatile combination for our meals and our favorites. For rice, we only have brown rice. This new bulk store has 4 different kinds of quinoa! But we really dont eat quinoa much. So I won’t be purchasing it. If you want to mix it up, I’d suggest trading out an item for a like item occasionally, like getting quinoa INSTEAD of brown rice, rather than in addition to.
5. Smile!
It is still weird in a lot of places for shoppers to refuse and reduce plastic consumption. So, I recommend being calm, confident and grateful with the clerks, cashiers and other shoppers you encounter. It may seem odd, but remember that humans tend to fear what they do not understand- which may include you are your jars! So just smile. It will make them feel that everything is ok and possibly even encourage them to find out more about zero- and low-waste. Also, be sure to let the store employees you encounter know how great it is that they have a bulk section/tare your containers/are helping reduce plastic. Sometimes it’s a struggle for them to figure out how to tare or calculate and they need to know that it’s you’re grateful and it’s worth the struggle! If the store starts hearing lots about how much customers like something, you can bet they’ll pay attention and make more efforts to expand on that popularity.
Please share any tips you have for bulk shopping- I’d love to hear them. Good luck in your shopping- we can do this.
Thanks for visiting!