Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan Gillotte <gm AT wheatsville.coop>]

Hi folks! I hope that you're all doing well. The weather has been so lovely lately as we have a delightful spring! Yay spring!

We're in our busy season at Wheatsville and we enjoy seeing so many of you shopping each day! Keep on coming in and don't forget to talk us up with your friends!

In this e-mail:

April specials bring May specials!
May is Goat cheese month!
Yummy May deli activity!
Cinco de mayo!
Wheatsville's Earth Day Every Day activities.

Last weekend to get April Co-op Advantage Specials including: 
99¢ Clif Bars!!!
Annie's Naturals Organic Dressing for $2.69 
Annie's Homegrown Organic Pasta and Cheese 2 for $3
Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes for $1.89
Silk Organic Soymilk for $2.99
Westbrae Organic Beans for $1.19
PLUS A WHOLE LOT MORE!

Don't worry, though. We'll have a whole NEW bunch of specials starting right up on May 1st! Wow!

Fresh from the deli
Our friends at the Sacramento Natural Foods co-op in California are sharing two of their most popular recipes with us from May 1st through May 15th. 
Look for:
Yucatan Black Bean Salad
Light, simple and refreshing, we toss together black turtle beans, corn, onions, bell peppers in a light vinaigrette brightened up with fresh chopped cilantro and lime juice. Serve spooned over blackened or marinated steak or seafood entrée.

Garlic Lovers Pasta
The name says it all. Loaded with fresh chopped garlic, this popular dish combines cavatappi pasta, peas and sharp shredded cheese with a creamy mayonnaise dressing spiked up with fresh lemon juice and herbs -- A picnic-perfect pasta dish.

Super Smooth!
Beginning next week the deli will begin offering new super food smoothie extras! We will begin having Manitoba Harvest Hemp Protien Powder($1.00 per serving), Navitas Maca ($1.00 per serving) and Cacao Nibs($2.00 for an ounce serving)! These items are full of health benefits and should give you a nice boost!

Look for interesting smoothie creations including these tasty treats to help beat the heat in coming weeks!

May Featured Cheese- Goat/Chevre
Goat milk cheeses range in texture from moist and creamy to dry and semi firm, with a slightly intense, tangy flavor. Popular varieties include Montrachet and Bucheron, gourmet varieties include Purple Haze, Capra with honey and Humboldt Fog. 
Creamy chevre varieties are sold in round, pyramid or cylinder shapes and are sometimes coated in edible ash or leaves, or flavored with herbs or peppercorns. Store goat cheeses tightly wrapped in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
We've got some prize winning goat cheese from our friends at Pure Luck, too!

Try spreading chevre on grilled bruschetta brushed with olive oil and fresh garlic, then garnish with chopped chives or sun dried tomatoes for a nice outdoor appetizer.


In the meat department
Boneless pork cuts on special via coupons. Its  50 cents off the following: Boneless butterfly chops, boneless center cut chops, boneless ribs, boneless roast, and breakfast thin chops. These will be on special for 2 weeks.   


Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Wheatsville!
The deli will feature Mexican inspired favorites like enchilada and the Yucatan Black Bean salad, as well as our yummy salsas and vegan queso! The salsa of the month is Tomatillo Fire!

There aren’t any specific foods associated with Cinco de Mayo, but traditional Mexican dishes such as enchiladas, burritos, guacamole and tacos are popular. If you aren't going out, you can assemble what you need for a great celebratory feast right here!

Wheatsville has credentials
Earth Day is an everyday event at Wheatsville. We do a lot each day to make better choices for the environment. This time of year does give us a chance to reflect on the ways that we try to minimize our impact on the environment:
Throughout the store:
We recycle internally generated:
paper, glass, cardboard, plastic, glass, and  aluminum. We actually spend about $6,000 a year in order to recycle and keep items out of the wast stream.
We advocate for customers to use fewer bags by having bulk items available. 
We also give shoppers and incentive to bring their own bags through our 5¢ back for bags program at the register.
We advocate local products whenever possible and carry a wide selection. Anything that you can get closer to where it's produced is almost always an environmentally better choice than product shipped from away. Look for our "Local Product" or "Miles to Market" signs throughout the store that indicate local or regional products that you can choose.

In the deli, specifically:
Most of our plastic containers come from corn, a renewable resource.
Our paper Co-op printed material is made using vegetable-based inks and an elemental chlorine-free bleaching process.

Almost all of the ingredients used by our Bakery are organic. The main ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter, soy milk, and the chocolate chips are organic.  
Baked tofu, southern fried tofu, and the ever popular popcorn tofu are all made with organic tofu.  
Black beans and brown rice are both organic, which means that the very affordable beans and rice that you can purchase from the deli are 100% organic. 
Our kale, beets, carrots, and sweet potatoes are also organic.
The amount of organic product that we use is actually quite high and more rare than you might think. Look closely at the other delis in town, or ask them what's organic to see for yourself.

At the registers:
Our plastic bags are 60-80% recycled content.
Our paper bags are 60-65% recycled content.
We save cardboard boxes (as possible) for shopper's use.

In the aisles:
We offer better environmental choices for cleaning supplies, bodycare and other items all throughout the store.

Are you our MySpace friend? http://myspace.com/wheatsvillecoop  (Check out our new videos! I've uploaded two of our television commercials including one from a few years ago featuring our friend Toni Price!)

Need a credit card? Get the Wheatsville Co-op Credit Card through the University Federal credit Union! http://tinyurl.com/yvwvmn

Have a great week!
Dan Gillotte
Wheatsville GM and e-mail guy!