Recycling and Waste Management in Germany – Is Europe really ahead of Australia?
By Yvonne Pflieger Australians always think that Germany and Europe are way ahead when it comes to recycling and waste management. But is this really the case? I investigated during my recent visit to Deggendorf, a small town in lower Bavaria close to the Austrian and...
Nothing is more spooky than Halloween, or is it?
By Chloe Brant A plastic waste ocean monster is spooky. Plastic that does not break down, harms marine life and stays in our oceans for hundreds of years. This sounds a whole lot more scary to us. This year we want to share with you tips on how to have a plastic-free...
Tsuno – Supporting Girls and Women around the World
By Chloe Brant At the Co-Op we support and encourage our community in buying organic and waste and plastic free. We stock products and produce sourced as sustainably as possible and have found a new women’s sanitary brand – Tsuno – which as a social...
Busting the Organic Pricing Myth!
By Victoria Milner Most of us know that the Co-Op has a super range of genuine, organic products, produced and packaged as sustainably as possible. What you might not know is that in addition to a wide product range, the Co-Op also offers competitive pricing....
Reusable Silicone Kitchenware
By Yvonne Pflieger Have you seen our new range of reusable silicone kitchenware and bamboo water bottles yet? We are always on the lookout for alternatives to single-use and came across these at the Beaches Markets a couple of months ago. After...
World Orangutan Day
By Chloe Brant This Sunday, August 19 is World Orangutan Day! At the Co-Op we want to celebrate how important Orangutans are to our natural environment and share the importance of avoiding palm oil, as a leading cause of the declining Orangutan population. A major...
Make your own Peanut Butter
It’s one year on from the launch of the “Save Manly Food Co-Op” campaign. An awful lot has happened since then, the latest being that the peanut butter machine finally has a hopper (thanks Colin). After 21 years you can finally make your own peanut...
DIY Beauty Workshop
A big thank you to everyone who attended our first DIY Beauty Workshop with our own Jenna Jensen and Kobi Collins. We had a great turn-out with 18 participants. Apologies to everyone who missed out, we will run another workshop soon! Here is is a bit of a look into...
Plastic-Free Beauty
By Yvonne Pflieger We all want to smell nice and look good. Advertising tells us what to buy to be our best. Excessive fancy, colourful packaging and products full of chemicals is often what is offered. Wouldn’t you prefer to know what exactly is in the products...
Plastic Free Kitchen and Reducing Food Waste
By Victoria Milner Plastic Free July is a really good time for all of us to look at how plastic comes into our lives on a day to day basis. Something we do every day is prepare food and our kitchens can be a serious source of plastic proliferation. Of course shopping...
Bulk Milk
Organic Bulk Milk is here! Bring your own bottles or containers to fill up on the delicious Country Valley Milk, owned by the Fairley family for over 150 years. For the rest of July (and maybe longer) we have an introductory offer of only $1.75 for members and $1.95...
Plastic Free Cleaning Solutions
By Chloe Brant We’re big fans of into Plastic Free July and at your Co-Op we want to help you reduce waste and be plastic free when using cleaning products. It can be a little overwhelming when faced with so many plastic packaged products. You can literally feel like...
Introducing our Teas: Japanese Hojicha Tea
By Erika Degoute Hojicha is a Japanese green tea which is roasted over charcoal, whereas green tea is typically steamed. The high roasting temperature makes the leaves of the tea turn from green to reddish-brown and gives Hojicha its beautiful warm colour and flavour....
How to avoid single-use when out and about
By Yvonne Pflieger It is usually when you are out and about that you get caught out when it comes to single-use plastic and unnecessary packaging. So being prepared is the best thing. If you are serious about reducing your waste, then preparation is key and you’ll see...
Plastic Free July
By Yvonne Pflieger What a powerful image and message: A surfer riding a wave, the wave though is made of plastic waste – to be precise 1,580kg of it to visualize the amount of plastic going into the oceans every hour! Just imagine over 1.5 tonnes of plastic...
How do you like our New Fridge?
By Yvonne Pflieger We have a new Fruit & Veg Fridge and are very excited! What do you think about our new fridge? Let us explain why we replaced our old fridge. You know that based on our values we’d want to reuse and repair as much as possible, rather than...
Co-Op Volunteers Breakfast
Here are some photos from our volunteer breakfast. What a lovely morning we had! Infinity Bakery Manly was so kind to donate their amazing croissants. Thank you so much! This was so unexpected and such a lovely gesture! ? Libby and Josephine Shakshuka Our volunteers...
Winter Immunity Talk
Mel and Fabi have kindly agreed to share one of their recipes. Natural Cough Syrup Half onion cut into small pieces Raw local honey Glass container (jam size) Place the onion pieces into the glass container and add the honey until it covers the pieces of onion...
Taste of Manly 2018
By Yvonne Pflieger Taste of Manly brought an amazing 120,000 visitors to Manly over the last weekend of May, apparently 20% more than the previous year. The weather was beautiful and we had the opportunity to be there with a stall as part of the Sustainability Hub...
We are officially Ocean Friendly!
By Yvonne Pflieger Have you heard of the Ocean Friendly certification by the Surfrider Foundation? This newly launched program certifies and promotes Australian (food) businesses who are protecting our ocean, waves and beaches. The ultimate goal is to raise awareness...
Staple Bread – Best Sourdough – Now at the Co-Op!
By Yvonne Pflieger Have you heard of Staple Sourdough Bread? James Partington’s bread has just been awarded the ‘Best Sourdough Nationally’ by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW who are the organizers of the Royal Easter Show. He was judged best...
New Member Rewards: Is the Co-Op your No. 1 Destination for your Grocery Shopping?
Monday, June 18 2018: The official rewards have ended and all winners are being contacted. But don’t despair! We will continue picking a random winner each week out of everyone who shops for at least $50 AND pays by card (EFTPOS or credit). The winner will get...
Season Change: The importance of Vitamin C
By Nanci Katra With summer over and autumn beginning, cold, flu, hayfever and allergy season is well and truly here. All of the issues that come with allergic reactions and sensitivities, as well as cold and flu, require vitamin C to help the body stay healthy. I’ve...
Back to School Giveaway – Our Winner
And we have a winner: Nora Sadler sent in the following on how to prepare healthy, zero waste lunches. One of the big secrets is to be prepared. Nora will receive a beautiful lunchbox courtesy of Love Mae. Nora invested in a dehydrator to make: Dehydrated fruit:...
Raw Cacao – The Ultimate Mood Booster
By Nanci Katra Commonly referred to as the ‘food of the Gods’, raw Cacao (not to be confused with cocoa, which is highly processed) is not only the highest food source antioxidant on the ORAC scale, but also contains the stimulating aphrodisiac theobrimine, mood...
Can we Save our Coral Reefs?
by Yvonne Pflieger “Chasing Coral” is a moving and alerting documentary about how coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. Divers, photographers and scientists set out on an ocean adventure to discover why the reefs are...
Back to School Giveaway – Enter for your chance to win a Love Mae lunchbox
The holidays are almost over and it is time to get your kids back to school. We thought we’d make this time easier for you by running a back to school giveaway! Equipping your kids with a healthy and sustainable lunch is not always easy. How do you ensure that...
2017 in Review – Part I
by Yvonne Pflieger What an eventful year it has been! After over 20 years the Manly Food Co-Op was about to close. But it is thanks to you all, our members, volunteers, supporters and the wider community that we are still open and thriving with renewed energy. Here...