Thursday, February 4, 2016

Bulk Food Savings Mt Eden - Zero Waste food options

Photo credit: http://www.katjenkins.co.nz/the-no-more-supermarkets-challenge/
Today I visited Bulk Food Savings in Mt Eden. I wanted to see what food I could purchase there from the bulk bins to take home in my own containers, since I'm trying to go zero waste.

I took photos of all the bulk bins and here I'm just going to list what they contained so that I (or anyone else who wants to shop at Bulk Food Savings zero waste) will know what's available.

The store manager I talked to was really helpful, and good about weighing my containers before I filled them so he could adjust the price to take them into account. It was a bit of a hassle for him, but he didn't seem worried. He told me they used to have a lot more bulk bin options, but it's actually cheaper these days to buy the food prepackaged in smaller quantities, as that's how it gets shipped by the big companies.

I was still pleasantly surprised by how much is available sans-packaging, although I'm disappointed there aren't liquid options as I'm looking for ways to fill up my condiments.

The food items I bought only came to about $13, and that got me lots of sunflower seeds, baking soda, raw sugar, chocolate drops and pinto beans.

I did, however, splash out on a big bottle of Dr Bronners Castile Soap (pre-packaged in plastic, sigh), as I want to use it for shampoo, hand soap, body wash and possible cleaning product concoctions.

I washed my hair with it this afternoon and only needed a small amount, so I think it will last a while. I didn't use conditioner with it, and my hair feels good, so I'm hoping that's my hair care sorted and I can just do without conditioner here on in.

Bulk Food Savings Mt Eden - Zero Waste food options

Cashews
Almonds
Almonds Sliced
Peanuts raw
Peanuts blanched
Walnut pieces
Brazil nuts
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Toover Dhal
Moon Dhal
Chana Dhal
Yellow split peas
Green split peas
Soup mix
Mung beans
Baby lima beans
French green lentils
Linseeds
Red split lentils
Brown lentils
Blue peas
Pearl barley
Chick peas
Barlotti beans
Cannelloni beans
Pinto beans
Black eye beans
Black turtle beans
Haricot beans
Pink beans
Small read beans
Red kidney beans


Chocolate - white buttons
Chocolate - dark buttons
70% Dark chocolate kibble
Chocolate chips
Chocolate bits
Chocolate buttons
Carob powder
Drinking chocolate
Cocoa
Caster sugar
Glucose
Icing sugar
Custard powder
Baking powder
Baking soda
Maize cornflower
Tapioca starch
Cornmeal
Polenta fine
Polenta
Soya flour
Gluten flour
Potato flour
Coconut chips
Coconut shredded
Cherries
Banana chips
Golden raisins
Apricots Turkish
Fruit cake mix
Dates
Prunes
Raisins
Sultanas
Currants
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Cranberries
Crystallised ginger
Figs
Pineapple diced
Papaya diced
Apricots diced
Oatmeal
Oat bran
TVP chunks (I don't even know what these are???)

I also visited Commonsense Organics today and took photos of the bulk bins there, but I'll share that list another day. 

5 comments:

  1. Yay! I need to get some liquid soap for cleaning too. Keep looking around and you might find some liquid refill options. I know I have seen shampoo and honey in bulk in the past at healthfood shops, surely somewhere in all of Auckland has more options for you. Its great to see you on the blog again :)

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    Replies
    1. I went to ecostore today and it had a lot of refillable cleaning liquids, like shampoo, conditioner, dishwashing liquid, laundry liquid. Even glass cleaner. So that was exciting.

      It feels good to be blogging a bit again. Life has settled down enough that there's room for it. Whew! What a whirlwind it's been with three kids!

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  2. I don't use shampoo at all any more, I just wash my hair with water and give it a diluted cider vinegar rinse. If you do stop shampoo be warned that your hair will get gross and be like that for up to a month until your scalp gets used to not having its natural oils constantly stripped and stops overproducing them.

    TVP is textured vegetable protein, usually soy. I think they're supposed to be vegetarian bacon bits.

    You're lucky to have such a great range of dried beans! I haven't been able to find cannelloni beans in Wellington, not even at the Mediterranean Food Warehouse.

    - Jessica

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  3. I've never been able to get myself passed the gross stage. It makes my head feel so incredibly itchy! That's disappointing that the Mediterranean Food Warehouse doesn't have cannelloni beans. Could you ask them to get them in?

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  4. I am so happy to have come across this blog! I have just been overwhelmed with where to start with reducing my plastic where nearly EVERYTHING is in plastic! Thanks for doing this research for me!

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