Buying bulk items is an easy way to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging for beans, rice, and other foods . . . but you have to remember to bring something to put the food in! We recently went into Sprouts to buy bulk items: on the first attempt to buy rice, we forgot to bring a container and came home with another soft plastic bag. On the second attempt, we brought some Ball-brand canning jars to buy black beans and lentils. To avoid being charged for the weight of the jars, we took the jars to the cashier before doing our shopping (pro tip: go shopping at 9 PM on a Saturday, there’s no waiting in line!). The cashier weighed the jars (.68 lbs each) and recorded it. After filling the jars, we brought them back to the same checkout line and had no problems. Next time, we’ll need larger containers, so we’ve decided to keep some reused Greek yogurt containers in the back of our car along with our reusable shopping bags.