Hulk, bulk, shmulk. He's green, so it sort of counts. And he rhymes, too. In an attempt to reduce the amounts of garbage that my food consumption generates, I've started buying as many of my dry foods in bulk as possible. Not only does this reduce the packaging (and garbage) associated with the food I eat, but it also means that the energy used to get my food to me (such as the gas used to transport the food) is more efficient. It is much more efficient for a truck (or van, or whatever) to transport large bulk bags of a product as opposed to a much lesser quantity of individually packaged products. Plus, since it is much more efficient means of food supply, it is way cheaper to buy food in bulk.
If you live in Tel Aviv, then your average AM:PM definitely won't have a bulk food section. But if you go to some of the health food stores that are all over Tel Aviv, it's easy to find a wide variety of foods offered in bulk. My favorite is Nitsat Haduvdevan at 58 Ibn Gvirol. They have a really big selection, and the products that I get there in bulk are always a fraction of the price of their packaged counterpart. Their bulk products range from grains to dehydrated vegetables, to all kinds of flour, legumes, nuts, and dried fruits. Teva Castel, which has stores all over Tel Aviv (including a really nice new one on the corner of Dizengoff and Frishman), also has a big bulk selection that includes spice blends and granola. The Organic Market at 59 Sheinkin Street has a small bulk foods section, but they offer organic bulk products. It's definitely the yuppiest store of all three.
Buying in bulk means you need to figure out your own means of packaging the food, though. I keep a bunch of reused plastic bags for buying bulk foods in my bag so that I have them whenever I want to go shopping. Then I transfer the food into reused glass jars and containers when I get home so that I can reuse the plastic bag instead of consuming another one the next time. A little fanatic, but plastic is bad.
3 comments:
great stuff!
i know its kind of basic for people, but that depends where u're from. i've started buying bulk slowly.
I am assuming you mention these 3 places, because they offer organic bulk ?
otherwise for standard (and sometimes organic also) bulk there is always Shuk Ha Carmel, and even better (but further south), the famous Shuk Levinsky (shuk is market, for all you Anglos..)
Levinsky market is in and around (you guessed it), levinsky street. and Tami (from CityTree.net) swears by a shop that is on Haruchim street, around the corner (the difference being, that this shop is closed with a door, whereas most of the other shops are open air, and get all the pollution of the cars right into them).
in Shuk Ha carmel there are no cars running around so most stands are smoke free (except for the ones at the bottom, next to the Dan bus central...)
Hey Ariel,
Thanks for your comment - I love shopping in Shuk Levinsky and recently discovered that you can buy olive oil in bulk there, too (you just need to bring your own bottle). I'll check out that store on Haruchim Street next time I'm there.
Great post.
Thanks for sharing.
Shuk Levinski is a great market,
but Shuk hakarmel is great market too, where you can find great stuffs, and very fresh ones.
yours,
Yaniv
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