A Trip to the Co-op

A simple trip to my local food co-op is never very simple.  First I round up a bunch of bottles, jars and tubs to use for oats, nuts, sugar, soy sauce, honey etc...

Then I grab any plastic bags I have around to use for produce or to dump in the It's In the Bag, plastic bag recycling center.

Of course, I don't want to forget my little envelope of money-saving coupons!

 
and finally, the shopping bags (which I keep in the car).
 

Do you bring all this stuff to the co-op too?  What tricks do you have for organizing and remembering to bring everything?  The hardest part for me is figuring out which jars and containers I need to bring.  I have to store my empty containers in the basement because I don't have enough room in my kitchen so it's a bit of extra work to get it all together.  Totally worth it, but sometimes a pain! 
 

Comments

[Becky]

Maybe you could talk to your co-op about having sort of a free-cycle container system? My co-op welcomes you to bring your own containers but they also have an assortment of jars, etc, on various shelves that you can take. It's an on your honor sort of a thing that they were washed well before you leave them but since a fair number of items going in are cooked anyway (beans, rice, etc), I don't stress about it too much. And, leaving some jars keeps my cupboards from overflowing.

[Joan]

You can use coupons at your co-op? That's neat, I wonder if we can do that too at my co-op? I just joined one, so there's still a lot I don't know.

[Lisa @Retro Housewife Goes Green]

You should see the stuff I take haha. We only shop once a month and it's about an hour away. I have TONS of bags, reusable produce bags, reusable butcher bags (for meat), reusable bulk bags, coupons, reusable freezer bags and glass recycling (our town doesn't recycle glass).

[Floss]

We have a large organic store a bit like this near where I work. I've been put off it because the open or semi-sealed bins of dry goods are not free from the nasty little moth catterpillars that thrive in southern French kitchens in the warmer months. Is this a problem where you are? Am I being too fussy? I'm afraid that I buy my food packaged so that I know the moth eggs haven't got in.

[Micaela]

Ewwwww....moth eggs...that does not sound like something I'd want in my food. I don't think that's a problem here because almost all of the bins are the bottom dispensing types...you know where they fill it at the top and you get the stuff by opening hatch at the bottom. They've got some pretty strict hygiene rules now...but I remember the days at the co-ops when things were not always very clean.