Green Grocer

Scott has been working at his rural office this week, and so I've not had the car. I could take the bus into the next town over to do grocery shopping, but why bother when I can order online?

When we lived in Brooklyn, I regularly used Fresh Direct* (the alternatives as a Clinton Hill resident being a subway ride into Manhattan to Whole Foods with an energy-sucking, weighed down ride home or the charming yet exorbitant L'epicerie on Vanderbuilt Ave. which charges $20 for a head of lettuce). With Fresh Direct I always felt so guilty--the packaging was shameful, borderline vulgar. I remember opening one large cardboard delivery box to find, to my dismay, a single cluster of bananas inside, wrapped in 3 layers of protective plastic.

So back to the present. I decided to test out Ocado, the local online/home delivery service. What a pleasant surprise. After compiling your shopping list, you select a delivery date/time. The time slots are color coded allowing you to select a time when a delivery truck is already scheduled to be in your area, thereby saving fuel. When the groceries arrived today, they were packed in reusable bags that I can return to the delivery man next time. And, the bags are color coded to denote freezer items vs. frigde items vs. cupboard items (just like I arrange my own groceries on the conveyer belt). Brilliant!

The thing I love about England/Eurpope is that conservation efforts like this don't seem like crunchy fringe environmentalism, but rather as plain common sense. So refreshing...

*I was loyal to the farmer's market when it was in season. I promise!