Give us a shout:
Green Gifts Elk Grove
  • Home
  • Swedish Dishcloths
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog

Ready to take a big leap

11/24/2021

0 Comments

 
Hello All!

Life is CRAZY! I have been rolling right along with my wholesale distribution, meeting new vendors and shops. These last couple times I did a product run up to the Pacific Northwest, my Model X was packed FULL. This has lead to me to look into places I can create distribution hubs that can house products closer to the retailers that need them. I would love for these hubs to operate as both warehouse/distribution spaces and retail/showcase spaces for consumers to visit. 

What does this mean for my loyal local customers?!? I am finally opening a shop location in Elk Grove! I am hoping to have a lease signed by end of this month and be opening late Spring. I am also looking into a space in Washington near Seattle to open by late summer with hopefully lots more nation wide after that. 

But even better, this is going to be a shop like you've never seen before, as it will be utilizing brand new dispensing technology. You're going to have the option to come in, browse, hang out and chill OR to just grab and go with ease and speed. 

In the meantime, I will be reworking my website and resuming selling there with local home delivery by the first weekend in December. I have lots of new products to debut! 

​I'll keep you all in the loop as more details become available. I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone that has supported my journey to bring sustainable, package free solutions to as many people as possible. 

0 Comments

On the Road Again...

7/12/2021

1 Comment

 

Summer Break

I am on the road for the summer. First I went down and dropped my elderly (14yo!) dog with my mom and on my way stopped by shops in Visalia, LA, Phoenix and Tucson. I then swung back up trough San Diego and LA again to head home to pick up my summer travel team (my fam). We are now touring around first through the Pacific Northwest and then turning East and heading to the Midwest. 

Why am I driving thousands of miles around the country? It is part to drop inventory with shops whom I already have a relationship with, and it's part to meet many new shop owners. I want to help shops with sourcing their most sustainable, local and closed loop products for their customers. I'm also hoping to help them overcome other hurdles such as funding and marketing. 

I find these face to face interactions the best way to kick off a business relationship. I get a sense of their shop, what's important to them, and they get to try samples and see products before committing to carry them. 

So much travel might be tiresome for some people, but I find it to be an adventure and my family loves to come along when they can. This is such a beautiful country, the landscapes and vistas are breathtaking and driving through is the best way to see them all in my opinion. 

I will be back in town end of July, but I'm keeping my retail operations on hold until the end of August as I restructure my business. I want to be sure I am serving all my clients to the best of my ability, both the other Zero Waste shops and the retail customers in my community. 

Exciting Possibilities

So, what will my biz look like in September? I am working to building a distribution/wholesale platform to help eco-conscious retailers to find those products that will best serve their customers and fit their ideals. I want to up-end some of the traditional retail model like high minimum orders, expensive and polluting shipping, non-close-loop packaging that must be disposed of by the consumer or retailer and a lot more. 

This is going to be a major undertaking, and will be the focus of my time. I do want to return to holding booths at markets, but they are going to focus on the products that I make that I believe are the best option in those categories and aren't available in other nearby shops. This will include my composting systems, my dryer balls made of local Climate Beneficial Transitional (TM) sheep's wool and my hand crocheted and knitted items made from natural local organic fiber. I am not planning to host a refill bar at the markets in the future. BUT..........

The Future of Retail

I am working with a gentleman who has created some mind-blowing tech in the field of refill and hope in the-not-too-distant-future, to bring that tech to the Sacramento/Davis area. I don't have a solid timeline to share, I will keep you posted. If it all works out how I envision, it's going to be big, like BIG. 

That's all for now, I will try to share some stories of my travels, but my days are so jammed pack I can't make promises!

​
1 Comment

Start and Stop

1/21/2021

1 Comment

 
I just finished taking photos of 6 new products and I am about to launch them on the site. But I wanted to pause and get something out of my brain. I don't know if it is a good idea to open a physical shop in Elk Grove right now. I've had a lot of (verbal) support, but very few sales these last few months. It weighs on me when I am at the Thursday market, someone stops to browse, we get to talking and I mention how I want to open a physical space. They tell me "That would be great, I'll come shop with you all the time!" then walk away from my full stocked booth that has the same items a physical shop would have. I am very nervous at the prospect of taking out a loan, putting myself in tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and then having no one show up to the shop. 

If you say you support small businesses, buy from me. If you want to be more sustainable, buy from me. If you enjoy the products I carry, tell your friends. If you want to see more shops like mine and have places to hang out, buy from me now so I know that I can invest in a place that will flourish and not be struggling everyday. I used examples of other small businesses that weren't completely different from what I want to create, that have closed in Elk Grove in the last 2 or so years. They couldn't compete with Amazon and Walmart anymore. They couldn't handle rising overhead costs and they just weren't seeing enough people coming in the door. Marketing is expensive and time consuming. Regulations and permitting and insurance is confusing, time sucking and expensive too. I tell myself that Elk Grove is not a good place for small businesses to thrive. 

But I really can't help but dream. I know of other shop owners who said they weren't really getting much traction until they opened their shop, then they were very busy and are already looking into opening second locations. I found a terrific shopping center that would be so perfect. The landlords seem genuinely great, and have been very generous with their terms. It's a good size and the first even remotely affordable thing I've found.

I can't leap. I am frozen. I am terrified. I'm afraid I'm going to miss a terrific opportunity, but I am even more terrified I'm going to go out on a limb and have the tree struck by lightening. 

I have other ways I can support the industry. I love working with all the other Zero Waste/Refill shops out there and I have a dream of developing a distribution network that alleviates some of the current retailer headaches. I think I can actually do more with that idea to have a bigger impact on the global plastic pollution problem. But I want to have a local shop for my community. I have toyed with the idea of bringing on a partner, someone I can split the local presence with. I just don't know how to find that person. 

Anyway, I need to get back to work, allowing myself to be pulled 20 different directions at once is a part of my bigger issue right now. I just wanted to type and get these thoughts out. Comment or message me a on social media if you ever feel this horrible edge-of-a-precipice-should-I-jump feeling. 
1 Comment

Look to the stars

1/14/2021

0 Comments

 
Here are my (probably overly) ambitious plans for tomorrow and beyond. 

This week I am organizing myself to be able to hopefully sign a lease on a physical retail space (fingers and toes crossed). The official opening will be in April. I need to do so much organizing of numbers and financials, not my strong suit. I also went down to Phoenix to purchase the left over inventory from a shop that was closing a couple weeks ago. I spent all of my cash-on-hand on it, so now I don't have the money I was originally planning to use toward the deposit and first month for the retail space. So now I am trying to see if I can make some decent sales this week so I don't have to dip into my family's savings (more than I already have). I'm extremely excited to take possession of the space, I'll probably spend every waking moment that I can there.

Some of the other projects I am working on concurrently are: 
- I want to put together a weekly round up email for the Facebook group I run, Zero Waste, Zero Judgement. 
- I want to do a big Trade Show style event that helps introduce the dozens of retailers I have met to the hundreds of vendors and manufacturers. I think it would be a mind-blowing networking tool for hundreds of small business owners. It will also be a TON of work and I need to have some cash on hand to hire help. 
- I plan to put together a detailed and interactive directory and map of Refill Shops and other resources to help people reduce waste and live more sustainably. 
- I want to open a facility where I can clean and sanitize containers. I have hundreds of glass bottles and jars already and I know of a number of vendors right now that ship their products in aluminum bottles that they take back to clean, but the logistics and emissions of sending the bottles halfway across the country feel wasteful and costly. I would love to create a refill distribution center that could bring in the large drums of product from further away and then refill bottles or mid size containers to go out to local customers or stores. This facility would also be a hub for systems like GoBox which supplies restaurants with reusable take out containers. Customers subscribe to GoBox and then can "check out" the containers when they buy food from the participating restaurants. They can then return them to one of dozens of drop-off locations for them to be collected, cleaned and redistributed back tot he restaurants. 
- I want to create more content! I've been shying away from being on camera and I am not good about regularly sitting down to write. I will be changing this, and will put more content out so that I can share my project, connect with others and hopefully inspire some people to start their own sustainability focused journey. 

​I need to get the car loaded up for tonight's market. I will write more soon, I promise. 


0 Comments

A Big Bucket of Awesome Sauce

1/13/2021

0 Comments

 

So, here's where I'm at: I've owned Green Gifts for about 18 months, running it mostly as a local delivery service with the occasional community market. During the fall last year, the NeighborGood Market started just a couple miles from me. It's a Farmers Market on Thursday nights. After the December holiday markets, they decided to bump it down to just once a month. 

Orders have been very inconsistent. I will have a really good week with 5-8 orders followed by weeks of nothing. I will openly admit that I am also not consistent in advertising or putting out other content or promotions. I get wrapped up in life (making adjustments for covid life took me a long time). I have also been pulled by a calling to connect all the different zero waste/refill shops across the country(and world) and all the different manufacturers. They are all fascinating, with their own stories and unique presences. And more shops pop up (or pop up on my radar) every week, the community is growing SO fast. I have dabbled in wholesale and distribution. Which brings me to one of the other highlights of my journey so far: the purchase of my Model X. 

I have a lot of ties to electric vehicles, including working in the EV charging industry for 4 years. We bought our first in 2015, a tiny, purple, glorified-golf-cart called a Mitsubishi iMiEV. It has a range of up to 60 miles and will be our daughter's car someday. Our second EV is a Chevolet Bolt. We got on the waiting list before it was even available and received it early 2017. It's much more like your typical family compact car and has a 240 mile range. We've taken it on many a road trip. 

I prided myself on traveling to my vendors to pick up my orders. I liked to meet these small business owners and innovators in person and see their operations. I also like how by driving my electric car that is at least partially powered by my home's solar, I am helping to avoid some of the emissions associated with shipping. Shortly after I started picking up my own orders and meeting other shop owners, I decided to ask shops near me if they needed orders picked up from the same vendor that I could bring them and help them avoid the shipping cost. I also started to work with other shops to split orders when the vendor has a high minimum order amount requirement that would make it impossible for either of us to afford to order on our own. As the orders got bigger, it became more obvious I would need a bigger vehicle. 

​In August, I bought the Model X sight-unseen from a used car dealer in Utah. They shipped it over. Turns out it had some cosmetic issues and did not have free supercharging like they though it would *sad trombone*. But I still LOVE it! It fits everything I need for my markets, fits lots of inventory and has the ability to tow a small trailer. My first exercise of the towing capability was in October I rescued a retired hot air balloon from a former employer of mine in Phoenix AZ. We rented an open utility trailer and rolled it on from the facility and brought it over to a storage unit I have nearby. I chopped off a few dozen panels and brought them home to clean and start experimenting with constructing some consumer products like tote bags. I hope to rescue at least a dozen more balloons this year. 

So, that leads us to today. Currently I am still operating my business as a delivery service, and holding a booth at the now monthly local Farmers Market (there is one today! YAY!). I still reach out and connect with new vendors and shops, but don't travel to meet them in person. I am debating a big trip at the end of the month to the SoCal, Las Vegas and Phoenix areas and hopefully can do another big Pacific NW trip in March. 

What does the future hold? You'll need to read the next blog post to find out. 


0 Comments

Life moves so fast

1/13/2021

0 Comments

 

I'm writing this while sitting beside my 7 year old daughter. She is home doing distance learning. She has barely seen her friends in the last year, besides our next-door and across the street neighbors, with boys her same age. She is in second grade and she has ADHD. I have to work beside her instead of in my office because every 30 seconds or so I need to remind her she needs to be doing her school work instead of singing and carving designs into my dinning table. 

Through researching her diagnosis, I have discovered that ADHD is something that I have struggled with my whole life as well. I'm not formally diagnosed, partially because our mental healthcare system is awful, partially because a pandemic has made it worse (or at least more overworked) and partially because one of the really "fun" things about ADHD is that it makes it difficult for a person to prioritize and that includes prioritizing their own care. 

I tell you all of this to share something about me. I am a really passionate, forward-thinking, creative, warm and generous person. I am also disorganized, have a memory that can remember a route I drove once six years ago, but not the fact that I have a meeting this afternoon and I have a horrible time prioritizing or completing important tasks. 

I have a lot of ambition, I am good at seeing things from a high level and seeing things logistically. I planned a five-part trip for my husband and I to go visit all of the Major League Baseball Parks in one summer. It took many hours of looking at schedules, planning routes, deciding on stops and other planning. It was intense and I am still so proud of myself for accomplishing it, even 9 years later. We plan to do it again with our children, this time in a fully electric car. 

My life goals also include creating a network of Zero Waste/Refill shops and other sustainability focused companies that work together to bring as many people as possible, low waste, natural and locally made products. I absolutely love the community of shop owners, manufacturers and other parties that I have gotten to know over the last two years. 

I also run a Facebook group: Zero Waste, Zero Judgement. We hit 20,000 members about a month ago. It is a terrific group, always eager to help those with questions and share interesting and inspiring ideas. I really want to construct some resources that I think will help all the group members immensely, but you can just add it to the pile of overly ambitious and altruistic projects that I just love to cook up. 

I have a lot of trouble with consistency. I can have an ultra productive day, followed by a day that I can barely get through just feeding myself and my kids. Some days feel like they go really painfully slow and I'm just waiting for bedtime so I can sit with my latest crochet project and a show. And other days are gone in a blink and I only got to half of my 18 item to do list.

All of this to be honest, transparent, and real. I have a lot of things I want to create, accomplish and share. I have been doing the research to get treatment for my ADHD so I can hopefully deal with my hurdles, but it's not going to be resolved in a matter of days, weeks or months. It will keep me from growing at the pace I want. It's extremely frustrating to me. I feel like I'm making excuses, and I know that's how it looks to some neuro-normative people. That's how I felt about it for a long time, the guilt and beating myself up over everything was constant. Through the power of knowledge, I am learning more about ADHD and to cut myself some slack, tackle each thing one at a time and to appreciate the positive side. People with ADHD tend to be creative, good problem solvers, generous and compassionate. I am all that and more. 

** Sorry, this post was supposed to be about my future plans, but I felt more like writing about the thing that has been occupying my mind the most this week. I will write about those plans in another post tonight. 

0 Comments

Closing the Loop

7/6/2020

3 Comments

 
If you’ve done research on waste reduction or just follow a lot of sustainability minded Instagram pages like me, you’ve heard the term “Closed Loop”. It’s another term like “Zero Waste” that was commandeered from industry and means different things to different people (don’t ask my network engineer husband what a closed loop is unless you have a few hours to discuss networking). You might think of the classic recycling symbol, the three arrows chasing one another in an infinite loop. But traditional recycling is actually pretty far from a closed loop, your plastic bottle is almost 99.99% guaranteed NOT to be turned into another plastic bottle to be able to be used and recycled again. Also, if you need to continuously feed in energy and resources such as water to convert that item into its next phase, that’s not a closed loop either as those resources are wasted.

In the Zero Waste/Refill community, a closed loop product is typically meant to mean the manufacturer takes back the container their product is delivered in to clean, sanitize and refill it to be used again, for as many times as that container can remain intact and useable.

Another example of closed loop is compostable packaging (that is actually composted, not landfilled). This looks at the bigger system, that the packaging was made from resources that were taken from the earth and they will return to the earth to replenish it. Obviously this category hinges on some pretty big considerations like the packaging not being overly resource intensive to create, or wasteful to distribute.

Last are the products that are considered “consumable” and do not require any packaging. Think of an apple, or a bar of soap.

In traditional retail there are lots of places where a product could gain or lose packaging. An item might be individually packaged by the manufacturer. It might not be by the manufacturer but could be by the distributor or retailer. Or you could be given the option to “package” that item yourself by placing it in a plastic bag or container at the store. A shirt may come to you unpackaged, but did it arrive at the store individually wrapped in a plastic bag? That was removed from a box? That came to the store on a pallet wrapped in yards of plastic pallet tape?

These are the things conscious consumers, retailers and manufacturers think about constantly. Traditional retail has SO MUCH waste (I worked in retail for 6 years, I’ve removed A LOT of shirts from plastic bags). The raw materials were most likely shipped to the manufacturer in packaging, there was most likely scrap material when it was made, the product was likely individually wrapped, placed in a box then stacked on a pallet. That pallet was sent to a distribution center where the tape was removed (and tossed) and the box was opened so quantities of that product could be placed in a different box to then again be stacked on a pallet, wrapped in tape and shipped to a store. Where the tape was again removed (and tossed) and the box opened, the product removed from bags (discarded) and put on store shelves. This is where the consumer buys it, has it placed in another plastic bag. They then take it home, remove it from the shopping bag (discarded) and then remove it from its packaging (discarded).  That one products was responsible for pounds of useless discarded plastic that did not actually contribute to the product itself.

So, what’s the solution? Until we can influence a major overhaul of retail as we know it, here are the small things we can do as individuals that make a big impact:

-If you don’t NEED it, don’t buy it. Reducing impulse purchases save waste and saves you money

-If you do NEED it, try to find it second hand or see if you can borrow it

-When you do need to buy something new, know where it comes from. Try to shop local shops, local brands, made by individuals or look into making yourself. If you don’t know where something was made, ask questions and do some research.

-DON’T FALL FOR GREEN WASHING! Do not take a brands word that something it “sustainable”, “eco-friendly”, “natural”, “recyclable”, “biodegradable” or even “compostable”. These words have lots of wiggle room and very often they just mean that under certain conditions, in certain areas these things COULD be true.

-Control what you can, bring your own bags/containers whenever possible, either don’t shop places that won’t let you or reach out to their management to let them know you want to use your own. It’s becoming more commonplace and the more they hear it, the more likely they are to change their policies.

I know we’ve all heard the now cliched phrase “We vote with our dollars”. But when it comes to retail, we really do. When you make a purchase, ask yourself what that product and packaging went through to get to you and where does it go after you. If you do this even a few times, you’ll never look at traditional retail the same. 


3 Comments

Where’d I go?

6/29/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Many of you know I’ve been out of town the last two weeks. So, where did I go? I went to Portland, Seattle, Boise, (Yellowstone) and Salt Lake City. Why? To meet with some amazing ladies that have taken the plunge and started their own Zero Waste shops. First I met with Leah of @therefillcenter in Portland, she’s a little newer to the scene, opened this year. She does delivery and pop ups. She is also an artist creating some of her own up-cycled items and I’m very excited for them! Next I met with Jocelyn of @goboxpdx. I got to see some behind the scenes and I am working to hopefully help bring a GoBox system to the Sacramento area in the near future. I then met with Rebecca and Nadine of @utilityzerowaste, they hold frequent refill stations and currently offer online ordering with local delivery. They have some big plans that I’m excited to see come to fruition. 


My family and I then headed up to Seattle, had dinner with some dear friends, and next day I met up with Stephanie of @scoopmarketplace. She has an amazing shop and I love picking her brain about vendors and best practices. She’s developed a thorough and informative course to help others open their own shops and offers a bucket of other resources to help those eco-preneurs along their journey. 


We then trekked out to Boise and I got to meet Lea of @rootszerowastemarket, she is a pioneer and inspiration in this space. She has a talent for seeing how the grocery retail space could and SHOULD be and building a better system from the ground up. 


After Boise, we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Yellowstone, as Rich and I have both never been and we really love visiting National Parks (ask me some time about 2016 where we went to 9 parks in 9 days, for free, while I was 5 months pregnant). Because there is not a DC Fast station capable of charging a Bolt in West Yellowstone, MT where we stayed, we had to search for and wait for a slower charge. Because of that, we got a later start in the park then we would have liked, but we did get to see some important highlights including Old Faithful and the West Thumb geyser basin along Yellowstone Lake. We got to see deer, bison, caribou, and a moose! 


We had a long drive and a very late night getting into Salt Lake City that involved some travel hiccups including our hotel’s system being down (because who in their right mind checks in at 3am, right?). I had to reschedule my meet up with Jamaica of @hellobulkmarkets. She was also early to Zero Waste grocery and her store sells over a hundred bulk goods from grains and snacks to soaps and oils. Her plans and dreams are so big, you can't spend any time with her without immediately feeling inspired.


So, are you wondering why I’d take the time to go on this adventure? It’s part because our family loves road trips and we’d been itching for an epic journey for the past 4+ months, we had to cancel this trip back in March due to covid. But really it is because the best part of my business is networking and connecting with people who are as dedicated to helping everyone to reduce waste as I am. We are only going to make an impact if we work together. There are so many amazing ideas being developed right now. I want to be a part of this rapidly growing movement and throw everything I’ve got into it to get it to grow as fast as possible. 


Next steps for me:

-Close out the Kiva loan, get the trailer and some additional products. 

-Partner with 15-20 local businesses and organizations to set up the mobile refill stations and have them regularly and reliably.

-Continue to connect ZW shops with innovative new vendors that will benefit them and their customers.

-Create a campaign to afford a Model X to tow the trailer to vendors all over the country and begin developing a ground-up distribution network for ZW products. 


Picture
2 Comments

Limit Your Waste, Not Your Adventure

6/24/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Picture
Road trips are very big in our family. Shelter in Place hit us particularly hard as it happened just as we were leaving for a two week tour of the Northwest that would include Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Boise, Salt Lake City and Reno. We had to cancel that trip and just dream about it and other adventures we would normally undertake in the Spring as we built box forts, filled our pool, went on long bike rides around our city and struggled through distance learning with our children.


Last week we finally felt comfortable enough to attempt at least part of our trip and that has inspired this post, how to travel in a eco-friendly way.

Our two biggest focuses are waste minimization and emission-free transportation, but we do also still practice water and energy conservation.

Minimal waste travel:
- Preparing snacks: When it's not a last minute trip, you usually have the 2-3 days before to make up some yummy Zero Waste road trip snacks. Home made cheese crackers, trail mix, granola bars, on-the-go pies, are all good car munchies. sometimes I'll make a loaf of zucchini or pumpkin bread, pre slice it and put it in glass tupperware or Stasher bags. We also make a easy to transport meal (this time was Mac 'n' Cheese and a jar salad for the first day so we don't have to rely on fast food. This made it easier during this time to limit having to go in stores and restaurants other than for potty breaks. A key when packing your food for travel is to use containers that can be condensed, stacked inside one another or cleaned and reused to hold other items. This way as the food disappears, those containers are taking up less room. We used a glass storage container for the mac 'n' cheese, were able to stack other containers inside, but found out our current hotel is not offering breakfast, so we were able to use that glass container as a bowl to make quick-oats that we had brought along. saves waste, time and money.

- Waste in the hotel: We specifically stay at Marriott hotels as we have been reward members a long time and I have a lot of knowledge of how to get the most out of their rewards program (please reach out if you want to sign up as a rewards member or for their rewards credit cards, I can give you a referral with bonus points and give you some tips). But Marriott has also been stepping up in the green space, they mandated all hotels much switch to refillable soap and shampoo dispensers instead of providing the little plastic bottles. Also many hotels encourage you to reuse towels and will even provide extra rewards points for skipping housekeeping service during your stay. We often try to pick brands like the Towneplace Suites and the Residence Inn when possible because they have full kitchens where we can cook our own food and reduce takeout and the associated waste or where we can bring the plates, bowls and cups down from our room for the provided breakfast if they are serving it on disposables. This is particularly useful for the complimentary coffee, way better to put it in a mug from your room or directly into your own reusable travel cup.

- When you need to eat out: Obviously we don't pack two weeks worth of food to bring with us, its not worth taking up that much space in the car. We also do enjoy buying local food and supporting local restaurants. We try to practice the same hacks we use at home. When possible, get the meal "for here" and slip any leftovers into your own empty containers. Ask up front, like when you are ordering, for no plastic straws or utensils, repeat as needed. If you still get a piece of plastic after explicitly asking not to receive one, put it in a Yelp review (in a gently suggestive way, not in an irate way), and they will most likely be more conscious going forward, many restaurants do read their reviews. 

Driving Electric:

We own a fully electric Chevy Bolt (we actually own a Mitsubishi iMiEV too, but that's not a road trip car) and have not owned a gasoline car for over 3 years. The Bolt goes approximately 240 miles on a charge and there are now many Level 2 (approx 25 miles of range per hour) and Level 3 or DC Fast (between 100-250 miles range per hour) stations all along every highway in the US. We can usually drive 2 1/2- 4 hours between stops, which is as long as our kids' little bladders are going to hold out anyway. We shoot for 50+kW stations for quick pit stops as we'll only need to charge 45-60 minutes, enough time for a potty break and quick bite. When we are going to be exploring, we can find a Level 2 station, sometimes we can even score free parking or a preimo parking spot but utilizing a charging spot. Charging costs vary very widely, its best to use apps like Plugshare and ChargPoint to see where stations are, if they are function, what the cost is and if there are any restrictions for use. Lots of stations are free or only charging a reasonable per kWh charge (in states that allow per kWh pricing), but others will tack on session fees, per minute or per hour fees or additional charges. We try to scope out hotels that have or are very near charging stations so we have flexibility to always get a full charge overnight, but we have also had a lot of luck asking to plug in at a standard 110V outlet somewhere on the property and can get from 1/4-1/2 charge overnight for free. I won't say that there are no logistical challenges to driving electric, there is certainly a period of trial and error when you are new to owning a electric car. But now, to us anyway, the logistics of charging and scoring that free charge or great parking spot are part of the adventure.


Picture
1 Comment

Zero Waste Food Shopping

6/14/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
I really should have made this my first blog because this is one of the most impactful areas any individual or family can tackle in reducing their household waste. 

There are three big factors that are going to determine your success in reducing food packaging

Time, Budget and Access

Time: 

And with time I’m also going to lump your cooking ability or how much you enjoy making things from scratch. It is possible to make A LOT of your family’s favorite snacks and staples from scratch, but there will most likely be a lot of trial and error along the way. So if you don’t have the time or patience for a lot of cooking and baking, you’re going to have trouble here. 

The things I have been able to make from scratch and with bulk ingredients: bread, granola bars, Cheez-it/goldfish style crackers, fruit leather, gram crackers, pie (including crust), frosting, tortillas, pasta, pop tarts, almond and oat milks, ranch dressing, Greek dressing, soft pretzels, brownies, muffins, salsa, guacamole, black bean burgers and applesauce. 

Some things came out better than others and some things are labor intensive enough that I just don’t have time to make them often. But I really do try to pick one or two things a month that I no longer want to buy packaged and I try out a couple recipes until I find the one I like enough to want to try to perfect. I then dedicate to not buy that food packaged again, if I want it, I have to make it. 


Budget:

My son has recently discovered a love of ketchup and mustard. When we ran out of ketchup, I decided I had to find it in a glass bottle that I could reuse until I have time to try out some recipes. I found it at the local co-op after trying 3 other stores, but it’s almost four times as much per ounce then it’s plastic packaged competitors. I know not everyone can justify that. I do feel like I generally balance out my food budget because making things from scratch TENDS to be cheaper than ready made (not always the case, cheese crackers use an ungodly amount of cheese, it adds up). But overall, I do find myself splurging on something better packaged or unpackaged and each time I do, I hear that voice in the back of my head that says “Not everyone can do this”. A good example is milk. My kids still drink cows milk and I occasionally use it for cooking. I have discovered a number of local brands that sell half gallons in glass bottles that you pay a $2 deposit which you can get back when you bring the empty, clean bottle back to the store. But this milk costs $3.50-$6 depending on the brand and store, so you could be shilling out up to $8 to bring it home. 


Access:

Lots of places don’t even have that glass bottle option. They don’t have organic produce or bulk bins or even value packs and large paper or burlap bags of staples like flour or rice. And access has even changed thanks to the threat of Covid as many bulk food sections no longer allow you to use your own containers or they might be closed altogether. Addressing food deserts has to be part of the sustainability narrative going forward.   

I will do a longer more detailed blog post on ZW grocery shopping when all my favorite bulk sections are back up and running, but this gives you an idea of some of the hurdles to overcome and things you can start thinking about now. 


Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Seeking solutions for reducing our footprint, and I've got a big foot.

    Archives

    November 2021
    July 2021
    January 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

©2021 Green Gifts
Proudly powered by Weebly