Food Adventures

Here are two fun aspects of simple living involve saving... money, the environment, ourselves & our society from wasteful consumerism... you know, the usual.

1) The Co-op.
This is possibly the most amusing part of our neighborhood. It's the real deal: labor shifts, dues, organic & local produce, vegan & gluten-free food, etc.
Everything is done by volunteer labor. The mark-up on the wholesale price depends on how much you work. Some jobs get a 10% or 17% mark-up, and little labor minions like us get a 23% mark-up.
The co-op is open on Saturdays from 10am-1pm and anyone can have a key for an off-buy. We rent the space out of a basement of an elderly woman's house. It's not a legal entity and we kinda have to keep things on the DL.
Here's the kicker, his name is Stan. He's been a member of the co-op since 1979. Stan is the produce and cheese buyer, so he's high up on the work-time ladder. He's also very picky and pushy and "brusque" as someone whispered to me when I first met Stan. At the yearly meeting, Stan had a contention with the supplier farm because they've been skimping a pound or so on some produce buys. So Stan BROUGHT HIS ANSWERING MACHINE to the meeting to play a rude message from the farm manager about how pound of apples is not big enough to give us a credit. It was hilarious. But in the not-allowed-to-laugh-because-he's-taking-himself-so-seriously kind of way.
But Stan does a lot of great stuff to keep the co-op running, so everyone treats him really well. I'm told his best quality is that he fabricates badges to look official for this huge Food Expo and brings co-op members to take all the extra food. Basically it's like Robin Hood, steal from the rich to benefit the poor.
Meanwhile, almost everyone else is under 40 and kinda hippie, do-gooder types. It's great fun.

2) Dumpster Diving.
I have to admit that I have not had the opportunity to do this myself, but I have a second-hand story. The Sojo interns took home a load from Trader Joe's in their co-workers car. (We don't have a car, so it makes dumpster diving a little more difficult.) They got so much stuff that they're giving a lot of it away - cakes, pies, desserts, pita bread, cheeses like brie and party rounds, stuffed turkey breast and other meat. FOR FREE! The store can't sell it anymore for whatever reason, so they pack it up and put it outside. So you don't have to go picking through half-eaten stuff. As their friends, they gave us 3 different desserts, several packages of cheese and meet, and a bunch of pita bread. Lovely.

So those are my adventures in the food world. Definitely more interesting just the local grocery store.