And the money keeps rolling out...

We've been officially attempting to be "waste free" now for about 3 weeks, and the number one question I get (aside from "are you a nutjob?") is "Isn't it expensive?" That depends, I suppose, on who you're asking. If, for example, you've been living on Costco flats of Ramen and brunching on Sausage McMuffins, then yes, it's expensive. For me, since I usually shop at Whole Foods and buy more expensive gluten-free versions of everything (thanks to my membership to the Celiac Club), it's actually proving to be cheaper.

For example, a typical week of groceries usually runs me around $80 - $100. My post-vegetarian guilt leads me to the free-range eggs and organic meat. I like to think my food had a good life before I demolish its carcass. Gluten-free pasta, flour, bread, etc are usually about 10% more expensive than their wheat-y counterparts. As for the rest of it, who knows what I buy, but the amount always seems shockingly high.

Going waste-free has definitely cut down on some expenditures. Dried beans are dirt cheap, probably 25 cents compared to a $1.50 can. Bulk flour runs me about $3. Bulk rice, pasta and quinoa all clock in around $2 each.

Produce can get a bit pricier buying fresh over frozen, but the taste alone is worth the small expenditure. I bought fresh before this experiment anyway, so nothing has really changed there.

What really gets marked up going waste-free is dairy. Basically waste-free dairy = high quality dairy. Strauss Family Creamery bottles their organic milk in re-usable glass bottles. The half gallon runs about $4, with a $1.50 charge for the glass bottle that you get back when it's returned. Cheese is another tricky one. Cheese at the store is usually pre-packaged in plastic. I could probably bother the cheesemonger at Whole Foods to deposit a chunk of cheddar directly into one of my re-usable containers, but why do that when I work mere blocks from the mecca of all things cheese, Cowgirl Creamery? Cowgirl deserves a blog post of it's own, but suffice to say, it's cheese heaven. Most of their cheese is not pre-wrapped, and they happily shoved my Parmesan and "Wagon Wheel" in a glass jar. 

Anyway, back to the point. Whereas a week of groceries usually runs me around $90, my total bill this week for all my waste-free groceries? $70. That's $100 off my month's grocery purchases! Oh, and I'm shopping for 2, so that's about $35/week/person on groceries. Better for my wallet, better for the earth. Definitely a win-win.