Green grocery bags - do you?

[Callisto in NC]

Turn the cat hair bags inside out to use, then outside in for cat beds at home.

Unless you worry about cat hair on your produce of course.

My problem is that I FORGET THE BAGS AT HOME when I shop.
Just like coupons.

They get the hair inside and out. I ordered some of the planet bags. Thanks for the link sattie.

 

[sattie]

They get the hair inside and out. I ordered some of the planet bags. Thanks for the link sattie.

You are soooo welcome!

 

[Callisto in NC]

You are soooo welcome!

I did the special 6 bags and two water bottles. My daughter runs Cross Country so the bottles will come in handy. No more plastic bottles that shouldn't be reused.

 

[BreezyCooking]

While I'd love to be able to do my shopping with nothing but cloth bags, I do frequently need & use those plastic grocery bags. With 4 cats & geriatric dogs, I find them invaluable for litter-box scooping (have several boxes) as well as cleaning up after the elderly canines. Adding that sort of refuse to the regular household can simply doesn't cut it, nor is it sanitary.

 

[DramaQueen]

I can recycle my plastic bags at Wal-Mart as well. Plus I use the plastic ones as trash can liners and it prevents me from buying even more plastic to put in the landfill. I wonder though, if everyone used cloth bags, if the prices of food would go down a little because the grocery store wouldn't have to pay for bags?

All of the stores I shop in give back 5 cents for every cloth bag they fill with my order.

 

[DramaQueen]

I bet they are easy to make, maybe I should go into business. ;-)

You may be joking but let me tell you that is a great idea! You can't imagine how many you might sell if the price is right. You can make them in many designs, with initials, special custom bags, etc. As long as the fabric is strong and the price is right I think you could be on to something. Get a bag from a grocery store and take a good look at how it's made (gussett width, strength of fabric, size, etc. )

I would rather have a bag that is more of a fashion statement than one that says Walmart, Safeway or whatever. Think about it. These grocery bags are becoming very popular which is why I asked the question in the first place.
This is how fortunes are made.

 

[Mel!]

I use a basket and cotton shopping bags to carry my shopping in.

 

[DramaQueen]

Just out of curiosity...how much do these bags cost? Im sure I would need quite a few!!

I pay anywhere from 99 cents to 1.09. These bags hold a lot more groceries than you think so may will only need a couple. I find that they hold almost as much as 3 plastic bags. I've had them for several months and they still look like brand new.

 

[B'sgirl]

I think I just might try making some for myself and see how they work, then maybe I really will sell them. How much would a person be willing to pay for a "designer" one, I wonder? I'm guessing durable, stylish fabric will be a little pricey. I'll have to take a trip to the craft store next week and check.

 

[Callisto in NC]

I think I just might try making some for myself and see how they work, then maybe I really will sell them. How much would a person be willing to pay for a "designer" one, I wonder? I'm guessing durable, stylish fabric will be a little pricey. I'll have to take a trip to the craft store next week and check.

Martha Stewart did a thing one time with old t-shirts where she sewed the bottom, just off the neck and sleeves and, BOOM, shopping bag.

 

[B'sgirl]

Wow. Are old t-shirts durable? I guess you can wash the cat hair off of them easily enough!

 

[Angie]

I use them. I got a Green Bag - Making a Difference at Walgreens for $1.

I got a Hy-Vee brand bag at Hy-Vee (local area grocery store) for $1.

I got a large Aldis bag at Aldis for $2.

I got a large Maurices bag that folds up and snaps shut so it's handy to put away or in your purse for $2.

I g a small Target bag that zips up into a wallet sized bag for $1. This one stays in my purse.

 

[Maverick2272]

I love my green bags too! Mine are a larger kind and I take them everywhere, no matter what store! The whole purpose is to use them, wrong name or not. I still want my raw chicken or leaky meat in a plastic bag before being put in my cloth bag.

Anyone have an alternative to this? I guess I could always use a plastic trash bag and then just use it next after getting home. Double duty, so to speak.

I do the same thing now. We picked a bunch up one day, the good strong kind that can be washed (they have a removable hard plastic bottom for when you wash them). They are pretty tough and hold up well so far even when piled high with heavy stuff.
Anything that might leak I also have wrapped in plastic bags. When I get home I wash them as I have dogs and they are good for the doggie waste bin.
Not a perfect solution but anything that serves double duty is better than single use and toss. Also our local grocery stores will take back plastic bags even if torn for recycling, so if we start to accumulate to many we take some back with us.

 

[Maverick2272]

Wow. Are old t-shirts durable?

Mine don't seem to be

However, the local Goodwill takes any clothes no matter how torn or stained they might be. The ladies in the back sort them out between which ones they can sell and which ones they can't. They then send off the ones they can't sell to be used as rags and such by some recycling company.
They also had a program where they sent off used bikes that needed too much repair to be used in third world countries (not a fair name I know) in place of electric appliances. IE they turned them into stationary bikes and peddled them to power mixers and grinders and such. Kinda cool.
Some even get hooked up to generators to re-charge batteries.

 

[DramaQueen]

I think I just might try making some for myself and see how they work, then maybe I really will sell them. How much would a person be willing to pay for a "designer" one, I wonder? I'm guessing durable, stylish fabric will be a little pricey. I'll have to take a trip to the craft store next week and check.

There's no way of knowing what you have to price the item in order to make a profit. Generally the rule is twice the cost of the items needed to make one bag, plus your time. Be realistic in your pricing and if the bag is a good quality and the design of the fabric is appealing I would pay up to $5.00. But that's me. Try asking different prices for bags that are different in the original cost. If they're well made they will last a very long time. You might want to sell them on a wholesale basis to specialty shops as well. I once owned a cat themed shop and we could have blown cat designed bags out the door. Same with my year round Christmas shop. I would love using bags with a Chirstmas pattern. Use your imagination and I hope you follow through.

 

[Jeekinz]

I use the plastic grocery bags for:

Garbage bags in the bathrooms or and small garbage can
To pound out chicken breasts for scallopini
Lunch bags
Poo bags for the dog
Wrap and tie a paint roller tray for easy cleanup. The handles wrap right around the little legs.
To give away excess tomatoes (lol)

I keep them in a drawer in my kitchen for easy access.

 

[middie]

I used both the canvas bags and the plastic bags.
I use the plastic ones for uses around the house
much like everyone else. The ones I don't use
do go to the recycling bin at my store.

 

[sattie]

This is an interesting link about plastic bags... looks like most of us try to do the responsible thing... but the use of them as handy items around the house usually means they end up in a land fill somewhere. Occasionally I end up with a plastic bag here or there, but I don't use them for anything except to take back to the store to recycle.

 

[Katie H]

I've been using heavy-duty woven nylon-coated bags for almost 25 years. Bought them back in Maryland from our Giant Food grocery chain. Liked them so much, I made three more out of rip-stop nylon. All my bags are washable and none of them show any signs of wear. The rip-stop nylon ones fold up/ball up so small they can almost fit in my pocket.

As for the plastic ones the stores use, I save a few for the purposes already mentioned. The rest, plus any produce bags, bakery bags, frozen vegetable bags, etc. all go into the recycling bin.

 

[simplicity]

Mostly I shop with canvas bags. Now and then I get plastic. The stores recycle the plastic ones.

I usually read the newspaper online. Now and then I pick up a real newspaper. A paper grocery bag is the perfect size for storing them until I have enough to recycle the whole thing.