I watched Sunday’s game at triangle tavern and might watch the super bowl there. I live a few blocks away so it’s convenient, but it’s small and got crowded quickly. It’s only a few blocks from broad. If you need a super bowl watching buddy, let me know :)

No, it’s not, as I previously stated. Have a good night.

Who said $3-5 per pound for pasta? I buy a lot of red lentils. I just looked up packages of red lentils online, and am finding most average $3-3.50 per pound (on Amazon). I just checked Whole Foods Fresh and the cheapest I saw was $3.49 for 16 oz (1.5 pounds), which comes to $2.79 per pound. From the bulk bin at Whole Foods, organic red lentils are always less than $1.20 per pound. A 32 oz (2 pound) bag of Indian basmati rice (not organic) at Whole Foods is $4.69, which is $2.34 per pound. Again, they sell basmati rice and many other rices in the bulk bins that are always less than $1.50 per pound.

Do you realize how much baking soda a pound is? You picked a very obscure item to price match. And you’re right, online prices often don’t reflect the price in the store, especially if you’re looking at the price through a service like instacart (they increase prices at many stores on their app).

Many people buy those little orange boxes, which are a pound, and if you’re using it for cooking (in vegan baking it’s sometimes used, that’s the only reason I have a box) you never use the whole box. It sits in your cabinet for a year. If you’re using it for cleaning, sure, buy a big pack off the shelf. The point is for most uses you only need a small amount, and buying from the bulk section means you can measure out a small amount, that doesn’t cost $6. And regardless, baking soda often comes in a paper box that can be recycled.

Where bulk bins are especially helpful are for dried foods, like rice, beans, legumes, oats, spices, nuts, seeds, etc. Many stores sell bags of rice that are 3-5 pounds, and the bulk price per pound is almost always if not always cheaper. I buy a lot of dry beans, which are significantly cheaper than canned. And when you buy them from the bulk bin, they’re cheaper than the pre-bagged dry beans.

Last, out of the places I listed, Whole Foods and Riverwards have the cheapest bulk bins that I’ve seen. I listed Mom’s because it’s an option, but I don’t shop there often because the items I can’t buy in bulk are overpriced there. It’s more expensive than Whole Foods.

I think you’re misunderstanding the use of “bulk” here. Bulk can mean one of two things- buying in bulk, such as large quantities (think Costco) OR buying by the pound, which is what we’re talking about here.

I live alone in a small 1 bedroom apartment. I don’t do the mass quantity bulk buying, because I don’t have room for the stuff and it would take much longer to go through it. I DO shop the bulk bins at stores like MOM’s, whole foods, Riverwards, Good Buy Supply, etc. Which is great for a single person or couple, because you can buy items in as little or large a quantity as you want, which means less waste. And since the items aren’t packaged, that often reduces their price per pound.

Not true. More places need to offer bulk, but for those that do, it’s often way cheaper. Go to a store that offers bulk and pick an item, like white rice or lentils. See what they charge per pound in bulk, then go find the same item on the shelf that is packaged. Almost always, it’s cheaper per pound when it’s bulk. And, you can adjust the quantity. If you’re never going to use a 5 pound bag of lentils and if it will just go to waste, it’s better to just purchase the amount you need from the bulk section. Which creates less waste. Good Buy Supply sells laundry detergent, hand soap, etc by the ounce and it’s on par with what an average name brand detergent would be.

Places to shop bulk in Philly:

Good Buy Supply (an entire store dedicated to bulk and limited or no packaging) https://goodbuysupply.co

MOM’s organic market (grains, legumes, oats, 1 brand of laundry detergent, hand soap, etc) https://momsorganicmarket.com/center-city/

Riverwards Produce (I’ve only been to the one in old city, but they have really great prices on bulk grains, legumes, nutritional yeast, etc) https://www.riverwardsproduce.com

There’s an entire bulk shop in south Philly (east passyunk ave) called Good Buy Supply

https://goodbuysupply.co

People seem to forget that the saying is “REDUCE, reuse, recycle”.

Maybe it’s because I grew up in the 90s, but I remember this plastered everywhere. Recycling comes LAST, because as you pointed out, in many scenarios it sucks (people don’t do it correctly, which slows down the recycling process at the plants and even sometimes clogs them; in many places only certain materials are recyclable and others have to be thrown away, etc).

Reducing consumer waste is first because it’s so important. Here are some ways you can reduce your waste:

• bringing your own shopping bags
• not using produce bags or using reusable produce bags
• shop the bulk aisles, which cuts down on packaging waste (and many times can be less expensive)
• buy second hand. You can get almost anything second hand, from clothing to electronics. I bought a certified refurbished iPhone from Amazon recently and it works perfectly.
• join local “buy nothing” groups and before you buy something, as if anyone has one to share
• make a plan before you go grocery shopping so you don’t buy things that will just sit in your fridge and go bad
• switch from single use items to multi-use. Such as straws, coffee cups, rags instead of paper towels, etc
• if you have to buy something packaged, try to find something that comes in packaging that you know is recyclable