First, I'm lucky to work in a place with a cafeteria. I generally eat there at least once a day, which makes daytime choices for food easy. While disposable food containers are commonplace, there are always options served on ceramic dishes, and I keep a silver fork in my office.
Second, I'm lucky to have access to a food co-op which sells regionally-grown produce as well as 'staple' items in bulk. I tend to make more frequent trips for smaller amounts of whole and fresh food rather than 'stocking up' on non-perishable goods which are highly packaged. I recognize that this is a class issue. If I were poor, I would likely not have convenient access to a grocery store at all, much less a co-op. The Food Trust's "Fresh Food Initiative" is one group working to change this.
Third, the busier I am, the more I eat out because it requires less planning and no clean-up. Before the challenge, I also relied on 'carry-out', although I've curbed that habit. No restaurant that I know of allows carry-out in one's own reusable containers (unless you're taking leftovers after a meal). Some establishments, such as the University of Maryland's Green Dining Program, are creating innovative ways to encourage patrons to reuse portable food containers. I'd hesitate to use those containers, however, if they're plastic. See post #9 about the risks of BPA and BPA-free plastics.
Alas, the art of eating nondisposably in my case is several parts luck, combined with some planning. This evening, unlike last evening in which I met a friend for dinner, I did some light shopping. I started with reusable cloth bags and glass containers:
The small jar is the perfect size for nut butter, freshly extruded from a bin of almonds that rests on top of the machine:
I used the large mason jars for granola and pecans from the bulk food bins:
While I would have loved to have purchased grapes and blueberries, they were all plastic-packaged, perhaps because they come from farther distances where the growing season is longer, or perhaps because plastic is simply more convenient than any alternative.
The farmer's market might have blueberries that I could get in my own container. Not sure about grapes. In the meantime, I chose loose apples, apricots and kiwis sold by weight, and shifted to the unpackaged bonanza of vegetables for a few complements to the greens I still have at home.
Everything but the almond milk and tonic water, which aren't sold in bulk, will be eaten or reused. The disposables include waxed cardboard and glass, which can at least be recycled.
One of the best parts of the whole evening was meeting a fellow shopper who is also trying to live without producing unnecessary garbage.
The reusable bags in our carts reminded me of the scene in Albert Lamorisse's book, Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon) in which Pascal meets a playmate with a blue balloon. Don't the bags look as if they are socializing?
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