Grocery, and produce and sandwich bags, OH MY!

A mom friend at school this morning asked me what she could use instead of plastic bags. I'm glad she asked! There are so many options. Be it for groceries, produce, packed lunches or shopping. Here is what I do.

Grocery bags: I've been using my reusable grocery bags for years. You can get them from your grocery store or heck, you probably already have bags you can use. A tote bag or anything with straps and that are easy to handle. This isn't meant to be a Trader Joe's add or anything, it's just these are the bags I use for groceries. They sometimes have a great cooler bag for transporting your refrigerator/freezer items, too. It's brilliant.

If you're handy with the sewing machine, you could even make your own grocery bags!

Produce bags: For fruits and veggies, I use a variety of things. I have mesh bags with drawstrings, but I also wash and re-use my plastic produce bags. If you have them already, use them. It's better than throwing them out. Just try avoiding bringing in or using newly acquired plastic bags. I've created a little "clothes line" with string tied between two kitchen cabinet knobs. I clip the cleaned bags upside down and inside out, with little clothes pins for them to dry 😊. These mesh bags can be found in lots of places, in stores or online.

Here is a bag drying rack you can even buy that sits on your counter. https://mightynest.com/shop/lunch-gear/snack-sandwich-bags/bag-drying-rack

Ziploc sandwich and storage bags: I don't use them. I've read recently that they are now recyclable, but it's not necessarily easy. Most curb side recycling from your home doesn't recycle. Some grocery stores have a bin inside you can turn them in. They are a form of what is called film plastic. We had a teacher who used them CONSTANTLY. Drove me nuts. I have them in the house because of this teacher. Grrr.

Here is a good article to read about it if you're interested about recycling Ziplocs. It also has links to figure out where to recycle them.
https://recyclenation.com/2014/10/recycle-ziploc-bags/

There are sooooooo many options out there to replacing using plastic baggies. I have storage containers I use for my son's lunches. He is very conscious of bringing them all home at the end of the school day, too! There are bees wax baggies, silicone storage bags, special fabric bags with Velcro or zippers, recycle unbleached paper bags. Here is a great site that sells all of these:

https://mightynest.com/shop/lunch-gear/snack-sandwich-bags  

Shopping bags: I've been using these for YEARS! I love them, envirosax. They roll up and are so easy to carry with you or in your purse.

I carry at least a couple of these in my purse. They are stylish and compact and you can use them to carry anything. There are many pretty patterns to choose from and even some solid color ones. They're for the gentlemen as well. Here is the link to their site:

https://envirosax.com/

This brand or even other similar bags can be found in some stores. DIASO sells a less expensive brand of their own. I'd say look on Amazon, but they would just send it to you in some big ol' plastic, puffy envelope, grrrr.

This is a big post! I really want to hear from people and what they use to replace plastic bags. If this was a helpful post, I want to hear about that too. Leave a comment if you can.

Thanks!
-Joy