River Valley Market

   I read an article in People magazine recently about a “Zero Waste Family” in California. It was really inspiring! It was fascinating the lengths that this family went too to reduce their waste. While I don’t aspire to have zero waste (I refuse to use anything other than paper towel to clean the outside of the toilet!), I was inspired to take a closer look at some of the ways I could reduce my waste.

   One of the things that the Johnson family did that I loved was buy snacks in bulk and store them in glass jars. I decided this was something that my family could do so I took a trip to River Valley Market, Northampton’s organic and local food grocery store/co-op (or as we call it, simply The Co-Op). River Valley has a wide variety of bulk foods and glass jars in the back corner of the store. I brought my reusable bulk bag that was supplied free at the Cummington Creamery (another good spot for bulk buying) and stocked up on all kinds of goodies.

   Some of the things I like to buy in bulk are almonds, peanuts, pistachios, dried mangos, chocolate covered pretzels, and dark chocolate. There’s also quite a selection of pasta you can buy in bulk, which I haven’t done yet but will eventually. My favorite snack of all time is the “Zen Mix” which you can purchase already packaged at Target, but is really easy and so much cheaper to purchase and throw together yourself. It’s a mix of almonds, rice crackers, wasabi peas, and sesame sticks. It’s so delicious and healthy!

   Even though we’ll never have zero waste, it feels so good to cut back on your waste where you can and have an overall much healthier lifestyle. Reusable grocery bags, snack bags, bulk bags and glass storage jars are a good start to getting greener!

Check out the “Zero Waste Family” at http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com/. To learn more about or join River Valley Co-Op, visit http://rivervalleymarket.coop/.