one small change update

I finally have an update on our first one small change project. I had made some bags right away, and then made a few more this weekend to make sure we were ready for our big grocery shopping today. (We only do one big grocery trip each month, then maybe a couple other very small trips.) I also spent time this morning making sure all of our glass jars were ready to go, because I am using those for a lot of the smaller grains, nuts, beans, etc... It was certainly a bit of extra work, but so so worth it. Look how many bags I saved! Now there were some things I already used our own containers for, but this time I really did every single bit of our bulk shopping, and it's a lot!, without grabbing a single plastic bag! (Wait, does this count... I used little plastic bags for a few bulk herbs, but I re-used empty bags from the cupboard at home. Some spices I was able to put into their own jars because they were already empty.)

My bags are nowhere near as pretty as Sara's. (Though actually the white floral fabric was a gift from her. I'm not saying it's not pretty, just not as pretty.) And I still am not sure what I am going to do about plu numbers. I did come across this lovely blog and saw that she has a great bulk bag tutorial. I thought I was crazy for considering embroidering on the plu's, but that's what she does, I think it is most likely what I will do too. I also really like how she sewed in the ties... wish I had thought of that.

I did purchase a few packaged foods, though not without some guilt. Three bags of pasta... I was surprised they didn't have any whole wheat pasta in bulk. We don't eat much pasta anyhow, someday we will definitely just make our own, but I felt like we needed it on hand for quick emergency dinners. Sounds silly, why would dinner be an emergency... I bought peanut butter in a jar, but those will of course get used for more bulk shopping later on. Olive oil. Three bags of frozen broccoli... I'm now sitting here sighing thinking of the plastic bags that will just go right into the trash. I bought a jar of artichoke hearts and a can of black olives. At least those can be recycled when they are empty. They are not even things I usually buy, but I am having a kind of "what to cook for dinner" crisis, mostly because of the great vegan dilemma going on in our heads!

Phooey, the carrots came in a plastic bag too. Imagine though what we will be able to accomplish in the summer when fresh produce abounds in our community, including our own backyard.

My February small change thoughts have a lot to do with food choices, but I am not ready to share all those thoughts yet. That is where the "vegan journey" posts come in. I hope to spend some time writing another vegan/food post over the weekend. Thank you for sharing your comments, I look forward to continuing the conversation soon.

We visited the library today also. I was about to say that we broke our record for number of books stuffed (gently) into our bag, but I just went back and saw that I am wrong, it's a tie, 21 books again, all in one bag. (I made it as a diaper bag many years ago. Now it is used mostly for library trips and picnics.)

This is the second time we have seen these deer in the same place on the way to the library. Glad we had the camera this time. They did not seem at all concerned that we were there, these pictures are taken from the car, not zoomed in at all, this is how close we were. One peed right in front of us, and I did get a picture of it, but I feel kinda bad about it, so I'm not posting it. I think these are the same deer that Sara posted pictures of the other day.

These two started rubbing noses and being oh so sweet!

And my goodness, what a lot a writing I have done tonight! Thanks for visiting :)