Supply Run

One of the tasks that we have each month is a trip to Tulsa for supplies. It is about 1.5 hours drive from home to get there, but I am able to get all of our supplies for the month in one trip. There are smaller towns in between, but they do not have everything we are needing to buy. By making the journey to Tulsa, I am able to get all of our dry goods, check the thrift stores for anything we are needing, and most of all, I am able to go to a health food store to get the specialty items that typical grocery stores do not carry.

Tomorrow is my shopping day. Micah and I will be taking our bagged recyclables to the recycling center in Sapulpa. It is one that will accept nearly all household trash that we have. Basically, if we can't burn it in our burn pit, the recycling center takes it. It has been great. We have been without trash service since early last summer and have not missed it at all.

Today, I did an inventory of our pantry to see what all we were getting low on. Surprisingly, we are in pretty good shape where the dry goods are concerned. I am going to be stocking up more on the frozen vegetables and such this trip. Our garden didn't do as well as we would have liked last year. Now, I just stock up on the frozen vegetables. Some, I end up canning to save space in the refrigerator's freezer. All in all, it works out great.

At the Whole Foods Market in Tulsa, they have a large bulk foods selection. I love to shop that area. They have a wide assortment of items including the various grains, mixes and seasonings. Something that they do that is different from many stores is to have the plastic deli containers in the bulk area instead of bags. The containers are in pint and quart size. They also have plastic bottles for the things like syrups or honey. I like this as I am able to reuse these containers each time I go. In the spices and herbs section, they have large jars of the dried spices & herbs that you can measure out into little baggies. The price for the seasonings there is much cheaper than the cost of the bottles & jars of seasonings at the grocery store. I buy the amount that I need and it costs under 25 cents. Instead of using the little bags however, I have found a better solution. The Parents Choice baby food has the fruit in small plastic cups with very tight fitting snap on lids. Each cup holds about 1/4 cup. I am saving these for the bulk seasonings and spices. The containers are very light, like the deli containers, and will hold more than the smallest sized bottles of spices that you find in the grocery store.

So, tonight, I am gathering up all the containers and frozen food tote bags to prepare for the shopping trip. I am going to take note of how many bags I end up using from the store so that next month, I can have that many fabric tote bags on hand. I am really wanting to get away from bringing home the plastic bags. Beloved bringing home a few during the month is fine. We reuse them as trash bags in the smaller trash cans and other purposes. I do however want to limit the number of them that we bring home so that we don't get over run by them.