Friday, February 8, 2008

Show and Tell

Plastic freaks me out. I don't like what happens when it's being manufactured. I don't like keeping it in my house. I don't like the fact that it is going to outlive me...by a lot. One of my earliest stands against plastic was the plastic bag. A few readers have asked about my personal stash of bags...

Back maybe six or so years ago I started bringing my own bags to the food store. Huge, bulky canvas bags that I collected in my travels. The bags took up half of the cart. It took me a few months to start remembering to bring them regularly. Now, the bags are second nature.


Last year I found a great bag company called Envirosax. They bundle five large bags into one small pouch. Much easier to tote around than my old bags. The cashiers watch me like I'm performing a magic trick when I pull them out.


The old bags went to Freecycle and two were slated to be snow pants bags for those snowy days when the kids have to bring their snow gear to school for recess.


Just over a year ago another light bulb went off in my head. Even though I wasn't using plastic bags at the food store, I was still grabbing bags at the hardware store, pharmacy, etc. So I found the cutest bag made of mattress ticking on etsy. I keep it in my car for those quick run-in trips that I don't plan for.


Finally, my bag dreams were fulfilled this Christmas when hubby gave me lightweight, mesh produce bags. No more plastic bags for my grapefruit.





Here is the "show" of the show and tell post.




Congrats to all of those readers who remember to bring their bags to the store! Congrats to all of those who are planning to remember in the near future!

5 comments:

mamalove said...

I love the idea of mesh bags for the produce. Most of the time I just take the fruit/veggie to the check out without a bag, but the lady looks at me like I'm a freak. Where can I get these bags? Your spelling is superb, BTW.

dolphyngyrl said...

I had a thought today while I was out and about. I had an urgent and pressing need to know and it's been bugging me the whole time I've been gone.


How do you pack lunches?

Mara said...

What do you put garbage in? Sometimes I get plastic bags at the grocery and reuse them for trash, but when I use my canvas grocery bag I have to use purpose-bought can-liners. I don't know which is worse, or if there's an alternative I haven't seen yet!

Gruppie Girl said...

Mama~Superb spelling? WIll you call my seventh grade reading teacher. Please!

How do I pack lunches? A great idea for Show and Tell #2. I'll get on that one this week. Thanks Dolphyn!

Mara~ Ahhh. The trash bag question. There is no easy answer. Personally, I buy plastic trash bags with a high percentage of recycled content. We go through two or three a week. There are some plastic bags on the market that are completely biodegradable. The problem is that they are seriously pricy. Hopefully the cost will go down as more poeple buy them.

Thanks for your great comments! GG

minimalistmommy said...

Hi, came over from your comment. I have a great deal of reading to do. I do use canvas bags for groceries but I cannot find those mesh bags for produce. I saw them on TV but of course we are limited here in the Maritimes (Canada)