a community-owned market
Yes, we sell more than food! But also yes, food makes a great holiday gift! Gifting from the Co-op might require going outside of your comfort zone (and your regular grocery list), so we put together some easily giftable ideas that are bound to fit someone on your list. The best part may be that they’re all available at the Littleton Co-op 🎄 One stop local shop!
Where would life be without Dads? That being said, they can be incredibly hard to buy gifts for! We here at the Littleton Co-op broke things down by dad characteristics (dad-teristics, if you will) and found options for everyone for Father’s Day. And have no fear — there’s a gift for every budget, too. Make things easy and find all of your Father’s Day gifts and essentials at the Littleton Co-op.
If you swear every TV sitcom father is based on your own, he will appreciate complex sauces and marinades to complement his summer grilling; one of our hundreds of local craft beer options; a nut or snack mix to make couch-sitting more fun; or a sweet treat to end the day. Consider these options this Father’s Day:
If you’re worried about getting your dad inside long enough to open a present, give him tools to stay out longer, enjoy the outdoors, or remind him of our area’s natural beauty with:
TIP: Get creative with s’mores! Check out our post on 8 ways to make s’mores.
Every father is a working father, but some just don’t know how to turn off “work mode.” Gifts for the “workaholics” can either be aimed at making their busy lives easier, creating efficiencies in their schedule, or trying to teach them how to relax. These gifts hit all of those categories:
In some families, if Dad is making dinner there’s no question that it’s going to taste fantastic! Whether you want to treat him to high quality ingredients, help restock the pantry, or set up a family cooking adventure, these gifts will “cook” (as the kids say):
If Dad loves hitting the gym, going on family walks, or just never sitting still, fuel his active lifestyle with gifts like these:
*Product availability and pricing may vary; please stop in store for up to date information.
In honor of Earth Day, Littleton Food Co-op’s Green Team is announcing their new shelf tags – look for them in the aisles to signify tried and true products loved by members of our Green Team. Will you find a new favorite natural deodorant packaged in *gasp* not plastic? Maybe! How about some eco-conscious laundry detergent you don’t have to work so hard to lug up some stairs? Take a peek in aisle 5 and your dreams just might come true. Did you know we have plant-based bacon that some of our vegan employees love?! Consider this a permission slip to go on a fun and earth-friendly scavenger hunt around the Co-op! What sustainable featured products will you find?
With whatever you discover, remember you’re not alone in your determination to choose more eco-conscious items for purchase! The Co-op is on a continuous and evolving mission to consider challenges of climate, energy, and ecology as decisions are made throughout the store. Happy Earth Day from the Littleton Food Co-op, and may your findings be both fun and sustainable. Look for these shelf tags throughout the store for Green Team’s picks all year ‘round!
Humble Deodorant
Humble Deodorant has plastic-free packaging and the brand has ingredient transparency.
MyBacon
This product is a plant-based (mushroom) bacon alternative- and approved by Co-op resident vegans!
Rebel Green Laundry Detergent Sheets
These laundry sheets have plastic-free packaging!
Thousand Hills Beef
Thousand Hills ensures their livestock spend their lives on grass-fed pastures (100% grass fed beef), support and utilize regenerative agriculture practices, and have a lot of educational info on their website.
Fetzer Wines
This winery is a Certified California Sustainable winery and a Certified B Corporation, which means the winery is committed to driving a global movement toward building a more inclusive, sustainable economy.
Earthwise Mesh Produce Bags
Their bags are reusable and on a mission to reduce the use of single-use plastics.
As is the unfortunate origin story for many companies, The Honey Pot started because CEO and co-founder Bea Dixon was suffering; and there was no solution in sight. As a child, she suffered through bacterial vaginosis for eight painful months. Then, her grandmother came to her in a dream and presented the correct remedy of herbs to heal herself. In 2014, armed with the knowledge of the dangerous toxins found in most name-brand feminine hygiene items – and the gumption to change that – she founded The Honey Pot. Now, all of The Honey Pot’s products are plant-based, powered by natural ingredients that make them hypoallergenic. There’s no SL, SLES, phthalates, or artificial fragrances.
But to this day, it is still the people that come first. As Dixon said to Fortune, “I don’t want us to be judged based on how much money we raise or how much money we make. I want us to be judged on the character of our business, how we serve the humans we do.” Part of that translates to annually donating 2% of online sales to organizations that support wellness and education. The Honey Pot also won a 2020 ESSENCE Best in Black Beauty Award.
The New Hampshire state legislature will soon be deciding on HB1678-FN, also known as the Local Food for Local Schools Reimbursement Pilot Program or the Farm to School Bill. The goal of this program is to connect more NH school cafeterias with fresh, locally produced foods to serve their populations. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: there are innumerable benefits to eating local, including fresher food, lower carbon emissions, and a strong economy. That is why the Littleton Food Co-op is a proud supporter of the Farm to School Bill. As we know, a thriving democracy only thrives when its members are active participants. Here’s what you can do to help support the passage of this bill:
NOFA-NH (Northeast Organic Farming Association of NH) has put together a great resource guide about how this program will work, why it is important to NH, and who will benefit from it. Click here to read more from NOFA-NH.
To Whom It May Concern,
Food Coops across the country have a long history of supporting local agriculture
and healthy eating. I’m writing this letter in support of a Farm to School Bill that is
currently before the New Hampshire House (HB 1678-FN). The goal of the bill is to
increase the availability of local fruits and vegetables in our school systems
statewide. Similar Bills have failed to pass recently in New Hampshire, leaving a
significant amount of Federal matching funding on the table. Speaking on behalf of
the Littleton Food Coop’s 9 Board Members and over 9,000 Members we feel that it
is imperative that HB 1678-FN passes in Fiscal Year 2024.
We’re not sure why this initiative hasn’t passed before this year? This program has
a modest cost of $241,000 for the state and accesses significant federal matching
funds that have already been approved. Do our representatives have something
against NH Farmers? Or perhaps they’re not interested in better nutrition for our
school children? I doubt that is the case. Maybe I am missing something here? What
we don’t want is the errors of the past to doom a positive path forward. Therefore the
Littleton Food Coop and its Members urge our legislatures to pass HB 1678-FN
during this session.
Cooperatively,
Ed King, General Manager LFC
NOFA-NH is doing the ground work of centralizing communities across NH into one strong letter of support. Click here to add your name to the letter and an optional short what local food means to you.
If this is a cause you’re really passionate about and you have a few extra minutes, use them to contact your state representative directly. Click here to find out who your representative is. If this seems to overwhelming, have no fear! There are plenty of resources and templates online designed to help folks contact their representatives. Many of them allow you to just plug in your name and information, and a sentence or two about the bill you’re writing about.
By the time you’re reading this, we’re getting into the “last minute shopping season.” Just because you come across a gift closer to the holiday does not mean you have to compromise on quality. We’re all busy people who don’t always have time to take a special Christmas shopping trip. And then there’s the flaky uncle you assumed wasn’t coming to dinner who all of a sudden RSVPs “yes.” The extra child you forgot your sibling has. The dog! Don’t forget a present for the dog!
But wait, you also have to go grocery shopping! Ahhh! Stress!! Why not do two things at once and do your last minute holiday shopping at the Littleton Food Co-op? This year we’ve compiled a list of gifts straight from the Co-op shelves to fit any budget. Whether you’ve got $5 to spend or $50, show your love this holiday season with one of these festive gifts:
For more gift ideas–from very general to very specific (I mean, we’re talking “gift for your mail carrier who you have an oddly close relationship” specific)– check out our podcast, That’s Rad. Our 2021 Gift Guide has gift suggestions for those absolutely un-giftable people in your life, and our 2022 Sustainable Gift Guide is all about creating unique gifts from our very own Bulk Department. Check them out today, and let us know if you use any of these suggestions.
*Price categories reflective of time of writing and cannot be guaranteed.
Let’s have a friendly chat about something important: garbage. Yep, people create quite a lot of it, and sometimes we toss away things that could actually be repurposed or reused. Unfortunately, this kind of consumption isn’t doing any favors for our environment. Trash ends up in landfills, streams, airways, and even the ocean, polluting our planet.
One major culprit in our global waste stream is single-use plastic. Plastic-Free July is an international movement that encourages everyone to be more mindful of the plastics we discard daily. Despite the name, the idea here is not perfection but a concerted effort toward harm reduction. In some cases, we’re stuck with plastic for health and safety reasons, as accommodations due to disability, or because people don’t have equal access, opportunity, or resources to choose more sustainable options. That’s okay. The conversation is ongoing, and we urge everyone to push for better alternatives, educate themselves about how plastics are manufactured and recycled, and urge your community to develop more sustainable policies at the government level.
All of these issues can feel very overwhelming, so let’s start with some simple ways you can participate in a Plastic-Free July when you visit the Co-op:
Bring your own coffee cup
When you bring your own travel mug to the cafe, you can get a price break on coffee refills. We also carry colorful kleen kanteens if you need a new travel mug. And all our coffee and tea is from Equal Exchange, which is a fair trade cooperative!
Carry your silverware
Keep your silverware close at hand by simply wrapping it in a napkin and carrying it with you in your backpack, car, or purse. If you don’t want to misplace your spoons, check out our options from To-Go Ware, including travel kits and bamboo utensils. Easy peasy!
Buy in bulk
Pay a visit to our awesome bulk foods department, where you can choose exactly how much of an item you need. We’ve got handy paper bags, jars, and canisters for your convenience, or better yet, bring your own clean reusable container from home. At the Co-op, it’s a breeze—just weigh and fill!
Bring your reusable water bottle
Stay hydrated and help save the planet by bringing your trusty water bottle. We have a water station as well as sinks in the cafe, and guess what? Refilling your bottle is absolutely free! Hydration for the win!
Bring a bag, grab a box
Say goodbye to those pesky single-use plastic grocery bags – we haven’t had them here for years! Bring your own reusable bags, or if you prefer, feel free to use a recycled box from the Co-op. We also have stylish totes in all kinds of colors and designs. We’ve got options to suit your shopping style!
Skip the produce bags
Let’s skip those little bags for your fruits and veggies. Instead, bring your own cloth produce bags, or pick up a few extra from the co-op. We have tons of styles of small bags and wraps! Or simply let your produce roam free in your shopping cart – your veggies won’t mind!
If you’re curious about different earth-friendly initiatives happening behind the scenes at the Co-op, check out our website’s sustainability page. And don’t forget to learn more about Plastic Free July at plasticfreejuly.org. It’s a great resource to discover alternatives to single-use plastic and build lifelong habits that positively impact both the local and global environment. You can be part of the solution, too!
We’d all like to make more earth-friendly choices when we’re shopping, but it can be confusing to discern what different labels mean. Here’s a handy guide to some sustainable symbols, brands, and certifications, so you can keep an eye out when you shop.
One Percent for the Planet is an international organization whose members contribute at least one percent of their annual revenue to environmental causes to protect the environment. The aim is to offer accountability, prevent greenwashing and certify reputable giving.
From fighting deforestation and climate change to building economic opportunities and better working conditions for rural people, the Rainforest Alliance is working to solve urgent environmental and social challenges.
The term “organic” refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. While the regulations vary from country to country, in the U.S., organic crops must be grown without the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers, or bioengineered genes (GMOs).
Friend of the Sea has become the leading sustainable seafood certification standard for products and services that protect the marine environment. The certification awards sustainable practices in Fisheries, Aquaculture, Fishmeal and Omega 3 Fish Oil.
Tree Free Greetings has a 200-panel photovoltaic array that provides roughly 65,344-kilowatt hours per year of clean, renewable electricity. That’s enough electricity to power 10 average New England homes per year! Tree-Free’s on-site printing operation is 100% powered by the sun.
To become Climate Neutral Certified, a company must show that it is working to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from making and delivering its products and services – and compensates for all of them, every year.
We have a lot of wonderful sustainability projects and practices happening here at the Co-op, including collecting food waste, recycling, reducing plastic usage, and more. But we’re not just focused on keeping trash out of the landfill and trying to reduce our carbon footprint, we’re also actively working towards adding biodiversity to our landscaping.
You’ve probably heard about No Mow May, which lets the flowering plants in our lawns have a chance to bloom a little longer and benefit local pollinators. We’ve set aside a section of our front slope facing Bethlehem Road for this purpose, and we’ll most likely keep it un-mowed through the summer, with perhaps a little trim here or there. Eventually, we hope to incorporate additional native plants and wildflowers into the space so it becomes a wild garden full of colors and textures that change with the seasons, as well as providing a habitat for local wildlife.
Here are some photos of the area, along with a close-up of some interesting plants that are popping up. So far we’ve spotted dandelion, yarrow, plantain, chickweed, sorrel, clover, trefoil, cinquefoil, and more. An interesting patchwork of colors and textures is emerging, where once it was a plain green slope. Keep your eyes on our lawn to see what else grows!
I feel terrible about it, every time, and resolve to do better. This year, for Earth Day, I’m going to do my small part to cut back on waste.
Earth Day started in 1970, back when there was no regulation of pollution. It was perfectly legal to dump sewage in the river, or send tons of toxins up in smoke. That year, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day, and 20 million Americans came out in solidarity across the country. By that December, Congress created the EPA, and started reining in industrial polluters and protecting our air and water.
Since then, Earth Day has become an annual reminder that we still have work to do, on recycling, cleaning up our toxic industries, as well as not wasting food.
Dried up carrots, moldy nubs of cheese, and stale bread heels pile up in refrigerators across the USA, and they add up to billions of dollars in food waste. In fact, food scraps are the number one thing that goes to the landfill. According to the EPA, methane gas released from food waste in landfills accounts for 20% of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions.
We waste food at all points in the supply chain, so it’s not just your fridge that’s causing problems. At harvest, it gets damaged and tossed on the way out of the field. At the processing plant, things spoil or stick to the machinery and get rinsed down the drain. Grocery stores have to sort through and discard produce that isn’t perfect, although some of that is picked up by food shelves (a recent study found that food co-ops recycle 74% of food waste compared with a recycling rate of 36% for conventional grocers.) Out of date packaged goods have be pitched, as well. Restaurants and food service fill dumpsters with all the food we leave on our plates, combined with things that didn’t sell in time.
I am going to work to waste less this year and use more of the food I buy. If you’d like to do the same, here are a dozen tips that can help reduce your waste, and as a bonus, save you money!
1. Use those radish and carrot greens
Buying radishes or carrots by the bunch? Use the leaves to make pesto, salads (like Moroccan Carrot Radish Salad), and toss in soup. Think of them as peppery parsley.
2. Savor broccoli and cauliflower stems
Do you discard broccoli and cauliflower stems? Peel the tough skin from the stems and chop the tender cores to use in the dish, or cut in planks to eat with dip. This Creamy Broccoli soup uses the stems and florets.
3. Cook kale stems like you would celery
Do you discard kale and other greens stems? When cooking with kale, you can simply separate the leaves from the stems, chop the stems, and cook the stems first; they will cook a bit like celery. If you juice, save all your greens stems from meals you prepare, including parsley, and add to your juice for a chlorophyll boost.
4. Flavor stock and other dishes with potato peels
Do you peel potatoes? The peels make a flavorful addition to stock, and even thicken it a bit. Consider whether you even need to peel; many soups, potato salads and even mashed potatoes are more nutritious and filling with the skins left on.
5. Enjoy the flavor and nutrition of apple peels
Baking or cooking with apples? Leave the skins on and you will reap the nutrients and fiber they contain, and save time. If you do peel, add them to soup stock, for a subtle sweetness.
6. Zest your citrus and freeze for future use
Juicing a lemon or lime or eating an orange? Zest your organically grown citrus first, then you can freeze the potent zest in a freezer bag, for adding a hint of citrus to everything from muffins to pastas.
7. Peel overripe bananas and freeze for smoothies or baking
Are those bananas looking a little too brown to put in the lunch box? Peel and freeze them, then add them to smoothies (like Hidden-Spinach Berry Smoothie or Orange Dream Silken Smoothie), or thaw and puree for banana bread, muffins and cakes.
8. Puree and freeze veggies before they go bad
Do you have veggies going soft in the crisper? Cook and puree carrots, sweet potatoes, greens, cauliflower, and other veggies, then freeze. Stir the purees into pasta sauce, macaroni and cheese, soups, casseroles and meatloaf for an added veggie boost.
9. Save veggie trimmings for soup stock
Cutting up vegetables for a dish? Save and freeze the skins and trimmings from onions, carrots, celery, sweet potato, potato, parsley, spinach, and other mild veggies (peppers, cabbage and broccoli can be too strong) until you have a good amount to make Veggie Trim Stock.
10. Use up stale bread in flavorful recipes
Do you have bread going stale? Freeze the slices to use later in stuffing, croutons, or recipes such as Ribollita soup, Creamy Lentil Soup with Wheaty Croutons or Flexible Bread and Veggie Casserole. Make croutons for salads and soups, or crumbs to toss with pasta or top casseroles. Don’t forget about bread pudding and stratas, too.
11. Keep food that needs to be consumed soon front and center
Organize your refrigerator and pantry, and put foods that should be consumed sooner right in front. Switch your storage containers from opaque to clear glass, so that you will see that tasty lasagna from last night, because out of sight is out of mind.
12. Turn your vegetable scraps into fertilizer
Do you have room for a compost pile or a worm bin? Ultimately, transforming your plant waste into fertilizer is better than packing it in the landfill. Or if you don’t have the space at home, bring your food scraps to the co-op! We have a collection bin right out front for Meadowstone Farm, which takes food waste and turns it into fresh soil.
This article originally appeared on Co+op Stronger Together, and was updated by LFC Co-op staff.
