PLASTIC FREE URBAN FORAGING: A How To Vlog

Despite all the technical difficulties I experienced today trying to get this thing edited, I am pretty happy to share with you what a typical Saturday is like for me.  I leave the house as early as possible for a little alone time away from the family and head into the city to shop for supplies.  It's been over a year now since I've consciously attempted to drastically reduce the amount of plastic pollution our family generates.  It is amazing how much plastic still manages to find it's way into our house even when we try to avoid it like the plague.  Along the way I've refined my plastic avoidance skills and thought I'd share some of them with you via this Vlog.  I had to edit away alot of footage in order to fit it into the 10 minutes I was allotted by You Tube so I am going to do my best to fill you in on some more details after the video.  

VLOG ENDNOTES
Plastic:  for more information about why it is important to avoid plastic go here and here

Bags and Containers: The directions for making your own cotton vegetable bags can be found here

- the same site also has directions for making the simple fabric grocery bags that I show you in the video.  The only thing I did differently is sew down the little corner flaps.

- when using glass or stainless steel containers for buying meats, fish and cheeses, simply give the container to the salesperson and they can place it on the scale and tare the weight before adding your purchases to the container

Maple Syrup:  We tend to go through a lot of maple syrup and I really wish I could buy it in large quantities in a can like they used to sell it in the good old days.  But it appears that most producers are into using the plastic jugs.  So, until I find a source for that, I buy the can.  Note: many maple syrup bottles are glass and even come with metal caps...

Cart:  When shopping at Farmer's Markets I highly recommend a shopping cart that folds up because you will be more inclined to buy a larger percentage of your groceries there if you know you don't have to struggle carrying heavy bags around.  Same goes for a cooler - you can relax knowing your precious market goods will be safe and sound in their icy home.

Meat:  So after having done a little more research on butcher paper I just discovered that the pink butcher paper is often lined with polyethyene, which is PET (#1) plastic.  So, your best bet is to head over to an ethical butcher shop and bring your own containers and/or unlined butcher paper/waxed paper for packaging your meat

Vegetables:  The Farmer's Market is your best bet for finding seasonal, local, unpackaged vegetables.  Caution though, there is still a lot of over packaging and plastic at the market!

Feta Cheese:  I choose the Bulgarian variety because I like it that that Europe generally has higher standards when it comes to food production (like they oppose the use of GMO's) and also because it comes to the store in a can instead of a plastic bucket like the other bulk cheeses.  The Mid-East Food Centre is located on Agricola Street in Halifax's North End.  They also have an olive bar and bulk food bins.

Planet Organic:  also sells bulk medicinal and culinary herbs that can be put into paper bags.

Bulk:  I tend to buy flours, grains etc from organic mills in bulk because they come in paper bags.  I also buy organic nuts and seeds in bulk even though they come in large plastic bags because sometimes there is no way around it.  The way I see it, bulk stores generally fill their bins from plastic packaged goods anyway.