Commonsense Organics - package-free bulk food options

Now that we are pretty well set up in our new place, I'm turning my mind back to thinking about zero waste living. I've set up a new page on Craving Fresh called Zero Waste, where you can find all my posts about the subject. I'll keep adding more as I write them.

Today I'm sharing with you the food options that are available to be purchased in bulk from Commonsense Organics in Mt Eden.

The bulk bins have brown paper bags available to fill your bulk food purchases. In my mind this is a fine option because the paper bags can then be reused for packing lunches, or they can be recycled or composted depending on what you want to do with them after you've brought your purchases home. They don't need to end up in landfill.

If you want to go hard-core zero waste, you could try bringing your own containers and getting the staff to weigh them and write the Tare on the container before you fill them, but this is a more fiddly and time consuming way to shop, so I've been sticking with the paper bag option.

One cool thing I've found at Commonsense Organics that I haven't seen anywhere else, is a refill-your-egg-carton station. You can take in your old egg cartons and fill them up, just make sure you cross out the barcode on your old boxes so they don't get scanned.

You can also purchase organic fruit and vegetables from Commonsense Organics, although some come pre-packaged in plastic.

Commonsense Organics bulk bin contents

Banana chips
Apricots, dried
Carob buttons
Crystalised ginger
Goji berries
Chia seeds
Prunes
Dates
Sultanas
Raisins
Walnuts in shell
Coconut sugar
Panela sugar
Sugar
Chickpea flour
Almond flour
Coconut flour
Coconut chips
Shredded coconut
Desiccated coconut
Buckwheat flour
White rice flour
Brown rice flour
Tapioco starch
Buckwheat groats
Red quinoa
White quinoa
Walnut halves
Commonsense muesli
Whole wheat
Bulgur wheat
Whole wheat couscous
Bread flour
White flour
Wholemeal flour
White spelt flour
Wholemeal spelt flour
Oat bran
Oats rolled coarse
Oats rolled fine
Popcorn
Pearl barley
Soy beans
Chickpeas
Mung beans
Adzuki beans
Puy lentils
Red split lentils
Red lentils
Brown/green lentils
Brown jasmine rice
White jasmine rice
Brown basmati
White basmati
Medium grain brown rice
Sunflower seeds
Golden linseed/flaxseed
Brown linseed/flaxseed
Brazil nuts
Almonds
Cashews whole
Pumpkin seeds
Hulled sesame seeds
Unhulled sesame seeds

And the final great thing about shopping at Commonsense Organics is that all the stores have a little playpen full of books and toys for kids. Baby J loves playing in here, and often doesn't want to leave the store when I'm finished shopping because he wants to keep playing.