This afternoon we’re headed up to VT for a brief family visit and a stop at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, which I am fairly certain is the greatest food co-op in the world. Obviously Brattleboro’s a bit far afield for local stomachs in the city, but a word about it, all the same. Metaphorically, it’s very important.
In preparation for our trip: we’ve packed several old yogurt containers, mysterious assorted other glass jars (salsa, capers?) and plastic bags from English muffins we once loved. Darry, a recovering cheapo Yankee, compulsively collects these items instead of just recycling them. They are of course very handy for leftovers but our space is limited, and I have opened the doors to the cabinet where these treasures live only to have them burst with plastic lids an unknowable number of times.
More to the point. Hanging on to all of this airtight stuff is also very crucial when buying in bulk. And buying in bulk is sort of crucial to eating locally — affordably.
What makes the Brattleboro Food Co-op so dazzling is the scope of its bulk selection. Even as I type this, I am cringing for my own earnest nerdiness.
In this case, I must clarify, bulk does not mean Sam’s Club or CostCo. Bulk here means you bring a container, weigh it while it’s empty, put the weight on the container with a little sticker (provided by the co-op, along with a mini golf pencil), and … THEN fill it up with whatever you want. Flour, sugar, peanut noodle sauce, Hippie Trail Mix, maple syrup, honey, obscure and pretty spices, tea, coffee, rice, quinoa, Shampoo, Lotion, laundry detergent etc.
Basically, at the Brattleboro co-op you can get anything you would buy normally at a Big Grocery Store but minus the superfluous plastic/paper wrapping, single-serving sizes and other lovely additions to our festering landfills.
There is one more plus. Things are often either a wash when you buy them this way — just as cheap as the Big Grocery Store price — but actually, also, they can cost a lot less. I wish I had some real life numbers to put up here, but I’m sitting in the front seat of my Civic right now, outside the Wayland Free Library, waiting for Darry as she reports on a story across the street.
There ARE places to buy in bulk in Boston! We do it there, too, but with, admittedly, less dorky enthusiasm. The selection is smaller and with fewer local foods compared to Brattleboro, but still the Harvest Co-op (locations in Central Sq AND Jamaica Plain) stocks all cooking staples (grains, sugar, salt, et al), household items (laundry soap type things) and other treats — including Coombs maple syrup (from Wilmington, Vt, and run by a very nice family we happen to know).
VERY IMPORTANT: bulk is beautiful when it extends to buying loads of stuff direct from farmers, especially at the end of a season. It’s good for eaters and for farmers. We picked up 25 lb bags of potatoes and onions direct from Harlow’s (of Westminster, Vt, often featured in Whole Foods). They lasted until the end of March, cool and dry in our basement. And combined, they cost less than $50.
Several farmers+cheesemakers CLOSER to Boston that we talked to said they’re very into bulk selling in the fall, and even sometimes in summer. Tomatoes go in big bags for canning, cheese can be sold in whole wheels instead of wedges marked up for retailers and root veggies need to be unloaded before winter.
Write to me if you want specifics - kristi [at] bostonlocalvores [dot] org
ONE MORE WORD: I personally spent the first two years I lived in Brattleboro observing bulk shoppers with curiosity and judgment. I thought their willingness to wash out peanut butter jars and eat yogurt in something other than single-serving cups was too wholesome, and it stunk of privilege and public radio to me.
It was not without a giant chip on my shoulder and a lot of anxiety that I started saving my own jars and lugging them in a tote bag to the co-op. It is scary and weird when you don’t do it, I know, but it is actually not scary or weird at all. It’s not really inconvenient either, once you get used to it. WHAT IT IS: actual active re-use, thriftiness and good eats. Be brave and hungry.