People's Food Co-Op

Published on 09/25/2008

For a while now I've been super broke and that state of being has been a blessing in disguise. For one, it has forced me to make lunches to bring to work instead of eating out all the time. So I've been more/less making the same sort of thing most days: basically rice and beans of various types with most of the following: fresh kale (donated from my friend Hillary's garden), jalapeños, corn, tomatoes, olives, salsa or hot sauce, green beans or occasionally (as today) a few of the infamous hilly dilly beans. I can't say how much I love this concoction. I look forward to lunch every day quite a bit, and enjoy making it as well. In fact, people at work are always jealous of what I bring. One co-worker actually offered to pay me to make her some too. :)

Anyway, last week I believe it was, my friend Hillary (the same one who generously brings fresh produce from her garden to our house on a regular basis) invited me to go with her to a festival at the People's Food Co-Op in Portland where she is a member and shareholder. It was a pretty sweet party and the store is amazing. I plan to shop there as much as I can. They have tons of stuff in bulk so you can bring your own containers and save on all that waste, and all the food is vegetarian or vegan, which is right up my alley. Last night I made my first shopping trip there to pick up a few things I wanted: quinoa, fresh salsa, and shampoo, all in bulk--pretty cool. Last night I put some of the quinoa in the rice cooker and used it for my lunch today in place of the brown rice. I am pretty sure this is the first time I've tried it except for possibly in some dish at Proper Eats. Anyway, it was extremely tasty. The photo here is a snapshot I took on my phone of my lunch along with a couple of tomatoes that Eileen Rueck brought in to work today from her garden. I've definitely been blessed lately with a lot of free awesome produce. Yummm!