mothering Mother: How I Discovered Reusable Produce Bags

I love Facebook! I love seeing everyone’s posts about their lives and whatever they are into. I love posting pictures of my family and my food for everyone to see so it feels like this world is a lot smaller than it really is.

Facebook is also a great way to connect with old friends and make new friends too.

A few weeks ago, my very first friend, who I have known since I was 3, posted a link to a blog on a site called mothering Mother. It was a story by Anna who explained that she is transitioning to a plant based lifestyle and some of the challenges she was facing. I could totally relate!

I made a comment on the blog (regarding recipes for vegan mac ‘n cheese) and the next thing you know I was at Candle Cafe having lunch with Anna and Sydney, the founder of mothering Mother! While we ate delicious vegan food, we talked about our life journeys, swapped stories about yoga, and our passion for living holistic, healthy lives. New friends felt like old friends in an hour. Love that.

Anyway, so Sydeny started mothering Mother, whose mission is to “empower people with action oriented behavior that moves each of us toward greater health and a smaller environmental footprint. mothering Mother’s guidance starts in the kitchen! Eating is one of the most repetitive activities that you do in your lifetime, and the foods that you eat greatly determine your health and the health of the environment.”

Exactly.

So I am taking my WFPBV (whole foods, plant based vegan) lifestyle, which we follow for our health, the health and welfare of the animals and that of the planet, to another level. I am always conscious of waste and I try to limit the amount of plastic and paper I take home from a run to the market. But then this happened.

The day before my lunch with my new friends, I was the local health food store for my usual Monday shopping. I picked up a few heads of lettuce, some lemons and limes, apples and bananas, along with a bunch of cashews, sunflower seeds and whatever else was on my list that day. I consciously did not put the produce into the plastic bags provided. But when I got to the checkout counter, and I asked for delivery, the woman (a very sweet woman named Ann) placed each piece of produce into its own bag. She was doing her job but I was mortified.

I went right home and ordered 2 sets of mothering Mother reusable produce bags. These bags are genius! Here is some information from the mothering Mother site:

“By using reusable bags in place of plastic, we are immediately reducing our imprint on the earth. Each bag has the tare weight , the weight of the bag itself, printed on the front under the mothering Mother logo. The cashier can deduct the tare weight from the weight of your purchase before it is placed on the scale to ensure that you are only paying for the food in the bag.”

“All of our bags are produced in a factory in India and handmade, with cotton that is 100% unbleached. The factory is certified fair wage fair labor. The woman in India who supervises the production insures that this criteria is met. We have visited the factory to meet the supervisor, workers, and owner as well as check on the working conditions. It exceeded our expectations.”

I can store the food in the bags in the refrigerator and then wash the bags at the end of the week just in time for my next shopping spree.

Why not start the new year off by getting a set of these bags? All of these small changes that we can each make will add up to big changes. Together we can change the world!

Click here to go shopping!