apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i know what you mean! It's fun to be purposeful about your outings, and get the product you really want instead of what's most convenient. Often my husband and i ride our bikes around all day to do our errands and feel like our exercising was purposeful too. We also "shop" around our downtown neighborhood. we have chickens so our neighbors have eggs. another neighbor grows year round greens, some have a cherry tree, well established grapes, etc. SO much fun to "hunt & gather"!

We get eggs, apples and honey from neighbors and co-workers, and most of our produce from the farmer's market. That won't last long (most markets in NE close at the end of the month), so I'll be shopping at a combo of the local co-op, Hannaford and Shaws for the rest of the winter. It's definitely more complicated than when I could just go to Shaws, but I much prefer to be able to meet the producers of my food!

My errands look the same as yours (I actually think we must be neighbors, since all three of the stores you mentioned are in my neighborhood!) and I agree that life's gotten more complicated. With two young kids and a job, it's actually a big hassle for me to have to go from place to place and often I need to head home before I complete everything. It feels pretty inefficient in a lot of ways, not the least of which is the emissions and costs of driving from place to place (none in walking distance, and young kids means biking's not an option). I really wish one store would step it up and be the green shopper's one stop shop, perhaps avoiding the Wal-Mart model by being a "Farmer's Market" of sorts for small organic businesses and products.

As I was making my weekly lunch hour trip to Whole Foods to buy Pet Promise and the other items that I can only buy there, I was totally thinking about how much more complicated my shopping routine has become. And, like slou, I wonder how much of the good I'm doing by purchasing green products is being undone by all of the driving around I'm doing! I ride my bike to the farmer's market, but everywhere else is a drive (and sometimes a long one).

I can relate to this too. I do the bulk of my shopping at Trader Joe's, rounding it out with occasional trips to the farmer's market, a nearby chain grocery store, and Berkeley Bowl (which is the closest thing to an affordable one-stop, mostly-green shopping experience I've ever seen).
I either walk or take public transit to do much of my shopping, unless I'm planning to buy a bunch of heavy stuff (then I try to stock up on as much stuff at one place as is practical).
Before I was in the market for organics and green supplies, I would pretty much go to just as many stores: a cheapo grocery store and a couple of big-box department stores (and I only drove to them).
Progress is good!

Not for nothing - but isn't it better for the environment to make ONE trip to a store and buy everything you need, than drive all over town making several stops or even going to a neighboring city just to pick up some organic veggies from a farmers market? My local Super Stop & Shop carries organic and eco-friendly products, and I'm sure if you look around, most major grocery chains are doing the same.