Reduce, Reuse, and Make Oatmeal

A bulk aisle love story

Brad and I recently celebrated our nineteenth wedding anniversary (yes, love is real and I am old). The funny part is, we didn’t spend it together. Brad was in upstate New York helping our friend B work on his property by digging holes, raking leaves, and building a tree house, while I was hunkered down in the Poconos with our pets, learning about mushroom farming in the woods, and preparing to plant the seeds of our first real kitchen garden. 

When we finally reunited on the evening of our actual anniversary (the day when we said “I do” at a stupa on a mountain in Santa Fe New Mexico way back in 2005), we celebrated by doing what we usually do - living the good life. This is always centered around one thing for us, cooking together. We don’t exchange gifts, as that’s not really our thing, but at some point in my solitude I started writing this newsletter as a bit of a love letter to Brad. Let me tell you a little something about him, that man adores the bulk aisle.

Sometimes writing starts as one thing and becomes another, like the little idea I had to share this small joy from my household which grew into a bigger idea about how these types of actions can be activism. As I watched Earth Day quite literally come and go last week while dipping into my original thoughts to edit, I collected more thoughts from other writers to share with the hope that you might want to join me in living Earth Day every day.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the bulk aisle as a part of some bigger thoughts I’ve been having about what it means for food to be “affordable”. If you shop in a regular (corporate-owned and operated) grocery store, which for many people is the most easily accessed food shopping resource, you might not know what I’m talking about. Imagine rows and rows of bins of dry-goods that you self-scoop and purchase by the pound. Aside from the basic economics of a store passing on the lower bulk-buying costs of these items by allowing customers to serve themselves from bins, it also eliminates so much packaging and material waste.

Whenever I take a stroll through Acme or ShopRite (name your regional chain here), or even Whole Foods where the once plentiful bulk bins are now fewer, I notice that more and more groceries, and especially produce, are packaged for “convenience”—which is the opposite of what the bulk aisle can do for you. While I’m all for plastic bag bans, I recently watched the roll out of this policy in my neighboring state of New Jersey, and can’t help but wonder how much impact replacing plastic bags at checkout can make when customers have more options for purchasing their food pre-packaged in plastic than ever before.

Brad and I first retooled our own shopping habits around packaging and purchasing when we moved to the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn back in 2007 and joined the infamous Park Slope Food Coop. This is one of the oldest food co-ops in the country, and a divisive one in the neighborhood due to its member-run model. Unlike other co-ops that either allow anyone to shop, or simply require a capital investment for membership, in Park Slope you gotta work for it. The labor of working member-owners is what the Coop runs on, and if you don’t work, you can’t shop. Throw a rock in Brooklyn and you can hit someone happy to gripe about how they used to be a member of the Coop, but after too many shopping probations for missed shifts they gave up. 

Employing the labor of its 17,000+ members (each contributing one 2 hour 45 min shift per month) is how the Park Slope Coop can afford to maintain low-margin pricing for its community. Over our years as member-owners, Brad and I happily worked shifts walking neighbors home with their groceries, assisting by returning the cart once they loaded their (reusable, self-supplied) bags into their homes. This contributed to minimizing the use of cars, and the stress of city parking, by making it possible for members to get heavy grocery bags home on foot. I also checked out customers at the register where I LOVED seeing what groceries other people bought while having the opportunity to chat about what they were cooking. I had no idea this was foreshadowing my future, when I would regularly delight in conversations like this over the butcher counter.

But back to the bulk aisle. The Coop had a combination of both self-serve bins and small bags of bulk items that were pre-packed by working members. We quickly discovered this was an excellent way to stock our pantry with otherwise pricey items like nuts, loose tea, and spices, sourced from responsible organic brands (like Frontier Co-op). They were sold to us for much less than what it would cost if we bought them individually packaged brands. It also minimized packaging, as we’d refill glass jars in our cabinets at home rather than purchasing containers over and over again which would otherwise end up in the recycling bin, or worse, the landfill.

When we relocated to the Bay Area in 2013, we discovered Berkeley Bowl, a nirvana for bulk shopping where aisles and aisles of goods are sold in self-serve bins. We’d expand what we regularly purchased there to include various dried goods like fruits, mushrooms, beans, rice and grains, and flour. So much flour. This just so happened to coincide with Brad learning to bake sourdough bread and us both taking an interest in heritage wheat while supporting local farmers and mills who produced flour from them. Brad still waxes poetic about buying Guisto’s in bulk. 

Not long after moving back East to Philadelphia, landing in the neighborhood of Fairmount, we immediately sought out the Weavers Way Co-op in Mt. Airy as a grocery source. The first time we walked upstairs to the bulk room (yes, a whole floor dedicated to bulk goods that’s half the footprint of the entire store downstairs), I watched the man I love absolutely glowing as he filled paper bags of dried goods with the greatest hits including must-have snacks like trail mix. You can buy your coffee beans in bulk, and even refill containers with liquid goods like maple syrup or cooking oils. For us food-loving environmentalists, this really is heaven on earth. 

Over many years in Philly, my life and network of “food people” continued to swell and so did my bulk buying options. I was so proud of my friend Vincent Finazzo when he realized a personal dream of incorporating a row of bulk bins into his independent Fishtown grocery store, Riverwards Produce. Based on its success, he would envision an even bigger, better bulk section into his second location that opened in 2021 in the Old City neighborhood.

Which brings me back to today. I’m at our cottage in the Poconos, from which Brad and I regularly bounce back and forth between our home in Philadelphia, with bulk bins on my mind. One of the many signs that suggested this was our place as we committed to being future stewards of the property where we now reside was the discovery Earthlight Natural Foods, an independent grocer in Stroudsburg that has, you guessed it, a bulk aisle as part of its mission to be socially responsible as well as environmentally sustainable.

While we typically purchase as much of our fresh groceries like produce, dairy, and bread (if Brad isn’t baking) from the farmers’ market, we rely on grocery stores like Earthlight, or the many co-ops we have loved, to stock our pantry shelves with dry goods and for eco-conscious choices for other consumables like soap and toilet paper. Our usual shopping routine is to split up upon entry. I’ll scan the produce section for local or seasonal delights before weaving aisle by aisle for the items on our list. Brad always heads straight to the bulk section to start filling paper bags with go-tos like rolled oats, grains, seeds and nuts (we eat a lot of both as a source of protein, simply snacking or adding them to salads for crunch nearly every day), and whatever else might need restocking.

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Brad’s Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Maple Syrup

A staple breakfast recipe in our home, sourced from the bulk aisle. Brad adds a heaping spoonful of peanut butter to guarantee the oatmeal really sticks to your ribs (or to put it plainly, upping the protein content), and the result is a creamy bowl of sweet and savory breakfast goodness.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 2 cups water

• 1 cup rolled oats

• Kosher salt

• 2 tablespoon peanut butter

• 2 tablespoon maple syrup 

Souring notes from Brad:

• Oats: Not the instant or quick cooking kind, and ideally organic. Bob’s Red Mill “Old Fashioned Whole Grain Rolled Oats” are a good source if you don’t have access to oats from a bulk aisle.

• Peanut Butter: I prefer the natural stuff, creamy, salted, but that’s just me. I also try to avoid the “no stir” kind, because IMO peanut butter should have just peanuts and salt listed as ingredients, not palm oil or other stabilizers/preservatives.

• Maple Syrup: Use real maple syrup! You do not want to add GMO corn syrup to breakfast. And if you have the choice, Heather prefers Grade B dark.

Directions:

Bring the water to boil in a small saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and then stir in the oats. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes (oats can vary on cook time). When the oats are tender, stir in the peanut butter and maple syrup and adjust to taste. 

Note that Brad cooks in glugs and spoonfuls, and so the tablespoon measurements are approximate. More peanut butter will make it extra creamy, more maple will add sweetness, and more salt will up the savory factor. Enjoy!

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If the issue of food costs (at home and in the world) is on your mind, or if you are concerned about the environmental impact of so many single-use plastics being used for packaging, I’d like to invite you to explore the bulk aisle. When you stock your pantry this way, you’ll not only save money, but you can also play a part in saving the planet by reducing your consumption of single-use packaging plastics and instead reusing containers you already have at home.

PS. If you’re in the Philadelphia area, we can’t recommend Morganics Family Farm enough as a source of locally-grown rolled oats. If you catch Scott at the Headhouse Farmers’ market, you can buy a bulk 5lb bag and we simply sort it into quart containers to store in our freezer until we’re ready to use them.

PPS. When you do purchase products that come in glass jars like peanut butter, always save your jars. They make great bulk pantry containers. If you’re inspired to learn or do more when it comes to reusing or upcycling glass, check out my friends at Remark Glass and Philadelphia and their sister non-profit, Bottle Underground.

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Recommended Earth Awareness Reading

I belatedly discovered that the official theme for 2024 Earth Day, which the world celebrated on April 22nd, was "Planet vs. Plastics” (and…we have a theme). Over the course of last week I found myself reading a number of Earth Day inspired newsletters, several of which I made note of to share with you all. 

But first, have you discovered The Three-Body Problem? Brad and I just started watching this Netflix series, which he is enthused about having read the novel it was based on. Me? I was excited to see characters in the first episode share an influential (and controversial) copy of Rachel Carlson’s 1962 novel Silent Spring, and have since learned that due to the popularity of the show, book sales have recently shot up. 

Silent Spring (yes, Hungry Heart recommends!) was the result of Carlson’s life work, intended to warn us about the danger of pesticides in order to protect the future of the planet. It is recognized as a primary source of inspiration for the foundation of Earth Day. For me, Silent Spring, which I only discovered recently after seeing multiple references to it in other works I read, is one of those things I wonder about like Al Gore and Joan Dye Gussow. How is it 2024 and we’re still fighting for truly organic farming practices and don’t all know Carlson as a household name?

A great newsletter I regularly read is Noted by

Jillian Hess

, who recently wrote about Carlson, and encourages us to all be more attentive to nature in "3 Ways to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook”.

3 Ways to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook

I appreciated "True Earth Day Confessions” by

Maria Rodale

and its sentiment about the commercialization of the “holiday”. It’s not about buying things, it’s about doing (or not doing) things. Earth Day is for demonstration and education to inspire our actions every day, and then maybe then we wouldn’t all be living in a constant state of apocalypse planning.

True Earth Day Confessions

I was also inspired by “Against Categories” from the

Perennial Roots Farm

newsletter, on how our need for binary categories creates an unhealthy “us vs. them” divide between people and nature.

It is not in our best interest to strip nature of all her assets without any practice of reciprocity. There is no conquering or taming the natural world if you want to live in harmony with her. One day, we too will return to nature, to the earth, in a beautiful cycle. So, who is actually conquering whom?

I found myself highlighting many quotes to share and recommend a full read if you have the time. Here is another hopefully inspiring snippet and some words to act on:

To give attention and honor and care to any space in nature, is to fight climate change. To honor the earth and do your part in big ways and small is all each and every one of us can do. Revolutions and worlds were made and remade by such tiny acts of courage.

But what can I do, you might ask? 

• Grow your own food

• Join a community garden

• Compost your kitchen scraps

• Forage responsibly

• Support your local farmer

• Build your soil

• Save seeds

• Buy locally grown meat, vegetables, and fruit whenever possible

• Eat less meat

• Eat more local fruits and vegetables

• Eat seasonally

• Pick up litter 

• Plant trees

• Plant more flowers

• Support your local flower farmer

• Be respectful and listen

• Observe the patterns, cycles and rhythms that surround you

• Give back more than you take

• Teach others, especially children to love the earth and care for her creatures

• Take joy in her presence

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Thanks for reading and just being here, friends. Let’s wish each other Happy Earth Day every day (with the spirit of Andre 3000 singing “every day is the fourteenth”).

XX, Heather

Comments are open to everyone! Please feel free to share your favorite independent grocers, resources for buying in bulk, and tips for reusing materials to minimize packaging waste.