Minimal Waste Grocery Haul

Took some quick pictures of our weekly grocery run. We went to the Central Market in Dallas, which has a great selection of bulk items (and loose salad greens!). As you can see — this isn’t 100% zero waste but I’m happy with where we are at.

From top left to bottom right:

• Canned La Croix: 100% recyclable. I use this to make homemade soda.
• Beef burger patties: Wrapped in butcher paper (I’ve heard mixed things about whether this can be composted or not). When I open this up, I’ll see if the paper has a “plastic-y” coating on the inside or not. If it does — trash. If not, compost.
• Milk: 100% recyclable.
• Bottled chai concentrate: I usually buy a 4 lb. bag of this from Amazon to create my own concentrate but was in desperate need of chai ASAP… so I got this 100% recyclable plastic bottle. Ideal? Nope. But hey, I gotta live a little.
• Strawberries: They had these in little baskets — so I just dumped out the strawberries in to my own bag.
• Bananas
• 1890 Olive Oil: This was not from Central Market, but from this shop?in the Deep Ellum neighborhood. They told me that I could keep bringing the bottle back to the shop and get it refilled. Score. And they had an AMAZING selection of oils and vinegars.
• Gnocchi made in store: The exterior plastic wrapper is trash. Interior cardboard box is compost.
• Corn
• Watermelon
• Butter lettuce grown in store: The exterior plastic is trash. Interior cardboard box is compost. This one was an interesting find. Either I could get the bulk lettuce without packaging but grown thousands of miles away OR I could get this slightly packaged lettuce grown INSIDE THE STORE. I picked the latter.
• Bulk salad greens
• Mangos
• Dill
• Cereal: 100% recyclable. The box goes in the recycling bin and the plastic cereal bag goes with the bag recycling. Unfortunately, haven’t been able to find bulk cereal yet.
• Peaches
• Bulk cherry tomatoes on the vine
• Bulk granola
• Bulk Mike and Ikes: Yep, the Central Market in Dallas has a crazy bulk candy section. I got this for my husband to he has some thing to nosh on at the movies.
• Frozen broccoli: Yeah, still haven’t found a great alternative for frozen vegetables (besides, freezing my own).
• Burger buns made in store: 100% recyclable. Central Market has most of their bread available without wrapping. Exception: these burger buns. Will recycle the bag with the plastic bag recycling.

So there you have it. An imperfect zero waste grocery haul. Or, rather. A minimal waste grocery haul. What items do you have a hard time finding in bulk in your city?