Costco - A Great Store For Organics

People are often surprised to hear that I do the majority of my shopping at Costco.  But I really do.  It's amazing how much organic food they sell now.

We live on a budget just like everyone else, so I try to buy in bulk and freeze things to save money.  The fact that I can do this at Costco with organics makes me very happy.

Take yesterday's shopping trip, for instance.  Here's a list of the organic food I picked up:

• Bunny-Luv organic carrots
• TreeTop organic applesauce
• Kirkland organic apple juice
• Alpine Valley organic whole grain bread (we LOVE this bread)
• Sun-Maid organic raisins
• Kirkland organic extra virgin olive oil
• Ruta Maya organic coffee
• Daisy Fresh organic eggs
• Kirkland organic butter
• Kirkland lowfat milk

I also bought a few great all-natural (but not organic) products, such as:

• Coleman hot dogs
• gala apples
• lovely, sweet cantaloupes
• watermelon
• Tilamook mild cheddar cheese

Other organic items I saw but didn't need that day:

• organic quinoa
• organic baby spinach
• organic pasta (various kinds and shapes)
• organic pasta sauce
• organic cereal
• organic hummus
• organic bean and cheese burritos

I also saw a number of great green products such as:

• HydroRight dual-flush kits
• solar Halloween decorations
• solar landscape lights

Costco Is Now My Primary Source of Organic Food and Products

Costco finally became the primary place where I shop for food.  It displaced other retailers once it started carrying most of my organic/all natural/environmentally-friendly basics.  Here is a sampling of the products I typically see there these days:

• Marcal recycled toilet tissue
• Kirkland environmentally-friendly laundry detergent and dish soap
• Coleman Natural Beef Hot Dogs
• Apple & Eve organic juice boxes
• Dakota organic ground beef
• Lundburg organic short grain brown rice
• Treetop organic applesauce
• organic raisins
• Ruta Maya organic coffee
  
• Kirkland lowfat organic milk (they carry chocolate milk boxes, too)
  
• Kirkland organic butter
• Earthbound Farm organic baby spinach
• Earthbound Farm organic gala apples
• Bunny-Luv organic baby carrots
• Daisy Fresh organic brown eggs
• Kirkland Filippo Berio Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1.32 gallon jugs of Heinz all natural distilled white vinegar (my primary cleaning agent)
• 12 lb bags of Arm & Hammer baking soda (my second most-used cleaning agent)
• Garofalo organic pasta
• Simply Natural organic pasta sauce
• Wholesome organic sugar
• Amy's organic bean & cheese frozen burritos
• Kirkland organic orange juice
• Kashi cereals and waffles
  
• all purpose organic flour
• Coleman's organic chicken
• Kirkland organic strawberry jam
• Pacific Natural Foods organic free-range chicken broth
• fresh salmon
• Kirkland organic peanut butter
• Oroweat double fiber bread
  

Check it out!

100+ Great Green Gifts

The following is my exhaustive (if I may say so) list of green gift items, just in time for holiday!

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There are so many reasons why the Kindle is great, not the least of which is that it saves trees. My favorite feature is the instant gratification of being able to read whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. Check it out - it is amazing!



When shopping for a gift, you might not immediately think: "my friends and relatives would be psyched to save some water with more efficient toilet flushing!" But you should see this dual flush converter. It saves HUGE amounts of water. Perfect for the DIY-er.

FTC Says Bamboo Fabric Should Be Labeled Viscose Or Rayon

The Wall Street Journal published an article today titled "Picking Apart Bamboo Couture." It states that four apparel manufacturers are being sued by the FTC for claiming that their bamboo fabric is "natural", "biodegradable," and "antimicrobial," when in actuality, the process used to make bamboo into fabric utilizes toxic chemicals and the end product is neither biodegradable nor antimicrobial (two qualities that bamboo has in its natural state).

That's a big disappointment, but I find it encouraging that folks are investigating uses for bamboo given how easy it is to grow it.

Makes Me Think Twice About Eating Burgers

The featured article on the front page of Sunday's New York Times is titled "The Burger That Shattered Her Life."  It is about the risk folks run eating hamburger meat.

There were several takeaways from that article, in my opinion.

1. You can avoid many food-borne illnesses by properly cooking your meat - use a thermometer!
2. Keep your hands and countertops clean when you're cooking.  E. coli cells double every 45 minutes in a warm kitchen.
3. Hamburger meat can be comprised of a whole lot of odds and ends, sourced from different suppliers in different countries.  And here I thought it was from one cow.  Good grief!  But leaner is better, and not just because of the lower fat content.
   
4. Some components of some types of ground beef are treated with AMMONIA to kill bacteria.
5. Costco is one of the few big producers that tests for E. coli before grinding.
   

My conclusion: go organic or go vegetarian -  but if you must eat meat, USE A THERMOMETER TO COOK IT.