Since we can’t buy any food that comes in packaging, the best place to go shopping is the market. We went to the Jean-Talon market here in Montréal armed with reusable bags and containers to carry the food that we were going to buy. Fruits & veggies were easy to fins without packaging but I always had to move fast to show my reusable bag and ask to use it – otherwise I would end up with a plastic bag that I would have to give back. It seems to me that the majority of people bring their reusable bags when shopping but then use them to carry food that has been put in a bunch of other plastic bags. At the beginning I felt strange with a bunch of food all mixed together in the same bag, (carrots, peas, potatoes…), but it’s not really that complicated to separate them when we get back to the house.
I was also really happy to see farmers selling their eggs in cartons that they will take back when I return. Eggs were one thing that I wasn’t sure we would find very easily. It’s nearly impossible to buy eggs without packaging, (for good reason!), but at least this way the same carton is reused many times over.
We also bought sausages at William J. Walter Saucissier and the person working there was happy to put our sausages into the container we brought with us. He even reset the scale to zero with our container on it so that we wouldn’t pay for the weight of our container. We’ll be going back there often!
Now the big problem that remains to be solved is my milk. I’m most of the way through my last carton of milk and after it’s finished I won’t be able to buy milk unless I can find it in a reusable container, (like a glass milk bottle – the plastic ones that are more recyclable than reusable don’t count). I asked at a fromagerie at the market that sells its own milk in plastic containers and the response wasn’t encouraging. After practically laughing at me suggesting that I buy a cow, they told me that it is no longer possible to find glass bottles for milk. I’m super discouraged. It isn’t that I drink a lot of milk but I love my coffee in the morning and I need some milk in it.
The search continues as I am convinced that I’ll find milk somewhere…
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