Re-Useable Shopping Bags

[Tuckervill]

I don't use any produce bags, unless I'm getting a lot of small stuff like green beans or something. I just pile up my tomatoes on the cart and on the belt. I know there is bacteria on the cart, etc., but I wash my veggies, you know? I just think the plastic bags are a waste. I use the self-check at the grocery so I can put everything in the bags the way I like them, so I don't have to worry about the checker being upset about piles of unbagged vegetables. (And I don't have to talk to the checker--because I don't like to talk to them...or listen to them talk to their co-worker while they're ringing me out. Actually, I'm quite crumudgeonly about the grocery store!)

Karen

[FlyingScot]

I use them all the time although mine are just the plain store kind. I love them. They hold way more groceries than the plastic ones and stuff doesn't roll around and fall out of them. I love the longer handles as they allow me to put at least 2 or three on my shoulder when unloading plus the ones over my arms. It makes for quicker unloading especially because I have to walk up two flights of stairs to get to my house. A couple of mine are thermal lined and zip closed which is great for frozen things. I usually bike to the store with my cargo trailer and they make for easy loading and unloading into the trailer as well. The thermal ones kept ice cream frozen even in 90+ degree weather. I hate it when I forget them!

[smurfalicious]

I have three from Safeway that I got on my first ever shopping trip in Boulder. It felt like the thing to do. I love the Safeway ones because they're tall, but the handles are a little too long to comfortably carry at my sides. I usually end up with a collection of them at work because we have a kitchen and I bring my groceries in weekly.

At the pet store we have biodegradable bags made of corn. They suck because they're really weak, but it's Boulder so we rarely use them.

I want that green "my bag makes me better than you." That, is sooo Boulder!

[Irulan]

I have about 12, and with the exception of three I bought while traveling, I just collected various bags I had around the house anyway. Canvas bags, gym bags, freebies, commemorative..."schleppers" have always been around. Places like home shows and conventions will give them away for free, too.
Then there another dozen that I made out of scrap heavy fabric that are just waiting for handles.

I guess I find the whole "buying them" thing fairly ridiculous. I have bought just a few on vacations - I got some of the best market bags in Mexico for a couple of pesos, and another one my last trip to Bonaire... it's a great conversation starter.

I am fasciated by how few bags I have around now that I am pretty consistent in taking them with me. Training myself ( and the family) is the hardest part. By having lots, I have several in the car, and I can still have some up in the kitchen waiting to go back to the car, and I always have them when I need them.

We got a whole bunch of canvas ones embroidered with my hubby's company logo... they went like hot cakes.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have about 17 or so of them (bought for 99 cents each, a few at a time as I needed more).
I keep 12 in the car for the big supermarket trips. Used to forget to bring them in at first, but now I'm used to it and never forget anymore.

I have I think 3 in the hall closet, use them for overnights or for bringing potluck dishes to events, or for transporting a plant, etc.

Then I keep two more in my Rivendell's panniers for errands and shopping. The panniers stayed secured on the bike (they fold up flat against the bike when it's locked up) and I just take the shopping bags in with me:


My daughters borrowed a couple and got hooked on them and I got them each a few too.

I use them over and over and over.....

[Zen]

I've got loads of them and when I forget to take them in the store i just get bags out of the big recycle bin in front of the store.

I also have one of these.

[msincredible]

I have a few, sometimes I forget them but I love using them.

[badgercat]

Yesterday the checkout clerk at Whole Foods thanked me for re-using the plastic produce bags. (It was obvious since I had a collection from several stores.) Mostly a rinse is enough to get them clean; if not, they're easy enough to wash and dry on a clothesline.

I re-use produce bags too! I never use them in the first place for things like avocados or other things you don't eat the peel--but apples, pears, peppers, etc I always save the bags for next time.

A couple Christmases ago I started wrapping my gifts for family in old newspapers, and asked my parents to also do recycled/recyclable packaging for my gifts. My mom at first thought this was the most ridiculous thing she'd heard (which she tends to do, when I mention things like not leaving the water running the whole time I'm in the shower, taking the bus to go out to dinner when it would be much easier to drive, etc), but she acquiesced and just stacked my gifts in 2 reusable grocery totes from the supermarket she normally shops at. I was very pleased.

[ZenSojourner]

I have about 17 or so of them (bought for 99 cents each, a few at a time as I needed more).

Where do you get them for 99c? Every time I see them for sale, they're $7 or $8

[cylegoddess]

I have heaps, but sadly as I get my groceries delivered( no car, and no panniers big enough on bike) I keep getting more of those recyclable but annoying starch plastic bags. GRRR.
I found that the recycle bags tend to break when you fill them with more than 30 apples ( I live on apples!)
When I buy veggies and stuff, I only use them for loose beans etc also, I mean their dirty to begin with, more dirt isnt going to hurt. I just pile them on the belt.
I never worry about what check out people think - Ive been one of them , They are usually thinking,please get me out of here , my arms and feet are KILLING me.

[Ana]

I do not own a car and thus, usually make many trips to the co-op per week on my bike and then use my panniers

I do have many grocery bags to use for garbage bags and paper recycling. I use them when I catch a ride to the store with someone or go to the store when my parents are in town

[7rider]

I think it's silly to buy bags that are made in and shipped from China and call it "green." That's like buying a brand new hybrid car with a battery with a finite lifecycle and no recycleability, when you have a perfectly functonal car in the driveway, and calling that "green." The only "green" is the money given to retailers.
However, I do have a stash of bags that I have been given at various events and seminars that I will re-use for shopping. I also have a large stash of plastic grocery bags (my DH is horrible about bringing them to the store whenever he goes) in the broom closet. Those also get used and re-used.

[OakLeaf]

Yeah I suppose I could make or get some reusable cloth produce bags from natural fibers. But it's not just that beans and grains and nuts and cereal need to be contained. Greens and herbs would get completely torn up, never mind getting all my other purchases (and the bags themselves) soaking wet. Small soft fruits like tomatoes, pears, or plums would migrate to the nooks and crannies and get completely crushed between heavier items. And if I have multiple of the same item (four small zucchini, let's say), then putting them in a bag for weighing means I don't have to fish them individually out of the bottom of my cart somewhere, which takes a whole lot more time in line than saying good morning to the cashier.

As far as the self-checkout, of the four grocery stores I use, only one has self-checkout, and sure I do prefer it, but so does everyone else, so the lines are really long. Two of the stores are small and locally owned (and there's rarely any line for me to hold up), so it's a simple matter of courtesy and human interaction to chat with the owners and employees while they're ringing me out.

Y'know, as far as the overall environmental choices, obviously we shouldn't be shopping in grocery stores at all. This is more like the kind of thing that everyone was coming down on IvonaDestroi so hard about. We all have to make the choices we're able to make, and ignore the rest for our mental survival. Shopping in grocery stores before the farmer's market season begins and, when it's fourteen hilly miles, driving there in my hybrid car, are two of my choices. Owning a carbon fiber road bike made in Asia is another one of them. And if I buy yet another bike that's capable of carrying more groceries rather than an expensive and jerry-rigged conversion of my race bike into a commuter, well, that's another less than ideal choice. So sue me.

[Crankin]

I started keeping mine in my car, too. I have 5, that cost .99, too. Bought them at the local natural foods store. My DH keeps 4-5 in his car, too, because we never know who/when, etc. will be shopping. He got his at K Mart and they cost 1.00.
Usually I go to Trader Joe's once a week to buy a few things I can't get elsewhere. I get one paper bag, which I use for my newspaper recycling.
I still use the plastic vegetable bags, though. Maybe I'll stop.

[Becky]

I alternate between plastic and reusable bags. I use totes from various conferences as shopping bags most of the time, but I will ask for plastic when our stash of kitty litter bags is running low. It seems silly to me to buy bags to scoop the cat boxes when I can reuse something that the grocery store will give me for free.