Tips for Using Reusable Shopping Bags
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This is part of the Going Green series. Join me as we explore ways to make green living more convenient.
Back in my youth, I worked at a grocery store. It was my very first “real” job. I bagged groceries for two years during high school. And since I was a perfectionist, I became “expert” at packing bags.
Woe to the box boy today who tries to pack my tomatoes with my canned goods!
And I’m soooooo old that I remember when the plastic grocery bags first came out. They said that they were going to revolutionize our world. Or something close. But in reality, they were cheaper than paper.
When I was new on the job I asked customers which they would prefer. It didn’t take long before my manager called me over and told me not to give them a choice. Plastic is cheaper, so bag in plastic unless they ask otherwise.
Today, nothing drives me up a wall more than those fifty-two million plastic bags that seem to reproduce overnight in the pantry. Thankfully, reusable shopping bags are on the scene.
I first started building my collection about three years ago and I haven’t looked back. I love it that my grocery bags won’t break on me, won’t clutter up my pantry and reproduce like bunny rabbits, that they get me cash credit at the store, and that they are being reused instead of going to waste.
Using reusable shopping bags has been the number one easiest means for me to reduce waste in our home. But, it did take some getting used to. And I’ve yet to perfect it. As always, still a work in progress.
Here are some tips to make it easier for you to use reusable shopping bags:
1. Find bags you love.
I have over 20 shopping bags, accumulated over a number of years. Some were given to me. Some I bought. Some I bought again because I forgot to bring some to the store.
I have some favorites, for different reason. I’ve got durable, heavy duty bags for canned goods. I’ve got thin, easily washable cloth bags for meats and produce. I’ve got some all-purpose bags just cause.
If you like the function and fashion of something, you’re more likely to use it.
2. Keep the bags in the car.
Probably the biggest downside to using reusable bags is forgetting to bring them with you when you shop. One solution is to keep them near the front door or even in the car. If you have your bags with you all the time, you are more likely to use them. There are even bags that roll up into tight little packages to pack in your purse.
Some objections have arisen to this over the last year due to the evidence that bacteria is present in the bags and can grow at a tremendous rate in a hot car.
One solution is to make sure that items like dairy, meat, poultry, and produce are packed in washable bags. That way you can make sure to wash the bags after shopping and then return them to the car in clean condition.
3. Wash the bags regularly.
For the reasons mentioned above, it’s important to wash the bags on a regular basis. I have a small laundry basket in my kitchen for corralling wash clothes and kitchen towels. After a shopping trip, I add to this any bags that might have been contaminated by meats or dairy. They wash up easily and can be returned to their posts.
4. Designate bags for other uses as well.
We use our reusable bags for a number of uses, including toting library books to and from home, carrying picnic lunches, packing beach supplies, and anything else where a tote bag is handy. Keeping them in the car makes it easy to carry stuff around town.
In fact, since I started collecting reusable shopping bags, transportation of stuff has been simplified manifold. Not only am I reducing clutter in my kitchen as well as in the local landfills, but my life is made a little bit easier.
Carrying groceries in from the car is made easier because I know the bag is not going to break. And I make fewer trips back and forth since more can fit in a reusable bag than it can in a plastic one.
How do reusable shopping bags help your life as MOM?
This is part of the Going Green series. Stay tuned all week for daily giveaways and ideas for small ways to go green.
I just bought some today, I’m currently at college and with no car, my only way back and forth to the grocery store is walking. Plastic bags are too flimsy to make the trip back to my apartment with heavier items The reusable bags save me space and are sturdy enough to make carrying packs of water or canned goods simple.
I’ve been using the bags for years now and have quite the collection. The best recent idea I read was to use one of these bags in place of a paper gift bag when wrapping a present. It’s actually less expensive to buy and the recipient gets another gift.
I read through the comments here to find eco-friendly replacements for those stiff plastic sheets found at the bottom of reusable bags. One person posted that she cuts inexpensive place mats in half to make two. I’m just wondering if anyone had any other ideas???
I know this is late to the party, but I absolutely love the big blue ikea bags for laundry bags. One holds our exact washer load of clothes, and they are super easy to store when we are done with laundry. I used to have the whole foods better bags, but mine are pretty much dead. As soon as you’d get the groceries out of it, the cat would come flying out of nowhere, jump into the bag and slide it right off the table (cat inside still) then put his back legs out the back and race the bag around…. until you empty the next bag and the game starts again. I had to give up on using them at all once we got a puppy though. Now the cat drags them off the table rocket style and then the pug puppy chases him around barking her fool head off. Eventually, they both try to fit in the bag. This led to the eventual destruction of almost all of our better bags. 🙁
I am a long time proponent of reusable shopping bags. I have no problem using them at the grocery store or a clothing store. They just make sense. When I began on this journey, I kept forgetting my bags in the car. Rather than having my groceries bagged at checkout, I would have the bagger just put everything back in the cart and I would bag all the groceries at my car — with my reusable shopping bags. This way my forgetfulness “punished” me and not the earth. It didn’t take long before I started remembering to grab my bags before entering the store.
Great idea!
I have been creating cloth items for years. When I started making totes and purses, it was when our economy crashed. Recently, I have started making re-usable shopping bags, based on the simple plastic shopping bag from the local retail and grocery stores. It is a one piece pattern and I can stitch them up in approx. 45 min. I am using old sheets that have been washed many times, so the fabric is not only preshrunk and easy to work with, it is being green, recycling what I have on hand.
I still make my other bags, however this is a more economical way to contribute to elimination of the plastic and possibly bring in a bit of cash.
I had read somewhere that to help you remember your reusable bags you should write it at the top of your grocery list! This has worked for me really well.
I guess I’m going to be the lone “earth killer” and admit that I rarely use my resusable bags. 🙂 Oh, I have ’em, but I purposefully leave them at home these days. Why? Well, what else do you clean up dog poop with if not a plastic grocery bag?? Seriously, my husband asked me yesterday if I needed to go to the grocery store because we were completely out of plastic bags. 🙂
I too love my bags. I found an unexpected convenient use for them while on vacation in DisneyWorld this past year. We put all the stroller “stuff” (sweatshirts, snacks, etc.) into one and put the whole bag into the basket under the stroller seat. When we had to quickly fold up the stroller for anything (security, buses, etc.) it was SO quick and easy to just grab the bag vs. picking out all the loose items.
I have a few reusable bags that I seem to forget about more than I remember – even if they are in my car. More often than not, they end up getting used for “project” bags for storing and toting my crochet or knitting projects.
For groceries, I think I’m actually going to make some to use. Especially now that they have discovered some of those inexpensive store bags to contain unhealthy levels of lead!!