Go Green People

I know that “going green” has become the latest trend, but here are some selfish advantages in doing so if you’re not into being trendy.

We are now avid recyclers at our house, thanks to the gentle prompting of my husband. I enjoy seeing just how little trash we can produce, but I’m sure George is tired of my constant questioning, “Is this recyclable?” At the last house he made a list and taped it up by the bins, this hasn’t stopped my pestering though. Recycling has revealed the selfish advantage of less trash bags to empty and change in the kitchen.

This brings me to my self-indulgent grocery shopping trip yesterday. Let me preface the green part of this story with a few anal tendencies of mine when it comes to Groceries. I am an avid list maker and cannot go to the store without one. I even write the list by order of sections in the store. And then next to each item on the list that has an applicable coupon I denote this with a “C.” [Remind me to tell you about my coupon dependency and the sweet Publix cashier who questioned my grocery costs. I can only hope that she is a budding coupon enthusiast too!] I inherited this organizational trait from my Zercher mother. I always admired this method and thought how satisfying it would be to mark everything off my list in order, making it virtually impossible to forget needed items.

After I’ve made my way through the store, the same way every time, I unload the cart. If George is there, I elbow past him to take my usual spot in front of the cart to unload. I then strategically place each item on the belt by category. Dry boxed goods, canned goods, frozen goods, refrigerated goods, produce, meat, and then household goods. And Lord help him if George tries to help. I just continue moving the items around that he’s placed on the belt. I’m convinced this helps the baggers immensely, and helps to make certain the bread doesn’t end up under the canned goods. Of course, they could be whispering, “Who is that crazy woman?” after I leave. I learned this method in part from my Grandpa Ferguson. He would even go as far as to turn each item so the bar code would be facing the cashier. I only do this when I’m waiting in line a long time. Secretly I’m a little put off when I don’t have everything loaded on the belt before the cashier starts, because then I can’t watch every price as she scans.

But enough about my psychoses. For George’s birthday gift I threw in a couple reusable grocery bags from Publix, which undoubtedly were his favorite part of the gift. On this last trip to the store I had forgotten them at home and decided to buy the two more we had been talking about. So $83 later, I had two new bags packed to the brim and only one plastic bag for the meat. Incredible! I cannot say enough about how sturdy and huge these bags are.

I was skeptical at first, as a retired Publix bagger, that the baggers would be less than thrilled to learn how to pack these reusable bags. But, they have done a great job each time we’ve used them. It’s like they’ve been hungry for the extra challenge all these years.

Getting back to the selfish benefits; we no longer have gobs of plastic bags pouring out of the recycling bins, there are fewer bags to unload from the cart and into the car, and I by myself, using the over the shoulder feature, was able to carry all $83 worth of groceries into the house in ONE TRIP!

Holy Moly Only Three Bags!

For All This Stuff!

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be an advertisement for any of the products pictured here.

Hope to post next about my homemade snacks recipes with all these ingredients!