Fun Monday again... and
ChrisB is hosting! This is what her curious mind is itching to know:
"Here in the UK, we are being encouraged to stop using plastic bags (except the reusable ones) so for the last couple of years, I have been developing my shopping bag collection and have become a real bag lady!I'd like to know what kind of shopping bags you favour - plastic or material? How many do you use?" There was also a question of what might be in them, but I'll skip that part...
I've visited England and Wales a few times, beginning in the early 70s, and my grandmothers
always had these net bags.
I cannot remember ever seeing a plastic bag during the times I was there when they shopped. You could say that they were way ahead of their time. My mother brought a few home with her and she used them sporadically, but I don't remember them being used extensively. There were just so many of us that the back of the car/VW bus/station wagon was always full of paper bags, then later plastic ones.
I would like to say that I am on that material bag bandwagon, but alas, I cannot. I never remember to put them back in the car (I
do have some), so I always wind up walking out of the stores looking like this.
In my defense, I do recycle them. They get used for the small bathroom trash cans and I keep one in an old kitty litter bucket and clean the litterbox out into it. Then when I'm done, I can just tie a knot in it and put it in the big trashcan outside.
The one bag I do use over and over again is this one:
Living in Florida, if you buy anything frozen, you ought to have a bag like this in your car. Otherwise, by the time you get home, your frozen goods could be defrosted (depending on how far from home you shop). My mother actually keeps a cooler in the back of her van for her trips home because she lives way out in the country.
I'm trying to be better. I think that when I put my thermal bag back in my car, I should also put in a few material shopping bags too. I don't know why I haven't thought of THAT until now!!!
Go visit
ChrisB and see what other folks do for their shopping!
17 comments:
Send a kid back out to the car, or the next time you see the bags, hang them on your doorknob, so you'll be sure to take them out (or send a kid out) with them soon!
I forget a lot of the time too, but I recycle the plastic ones.
It would be a big adjustment to switch over from plastic to reusable. One day we will have to and I have to agree, it is best for the environment. We also recylce our plastic bags. Thanks for sharing Sayre and Happy FM
The cold bags are good and that's the one I usually forget to take into the store with me. I live quite close to the supermarket and don't actually buy much frozen food so it's not a problem for me.
The net bags were very popular here at one time. I used my turtle bag today for all my fresh veg-there would have been a time when I put each variety in a plastic bag.
I forgot all about the cold foods bag! I have one just like it! It works too! I am on the same page as you, Sayre. I am so accustomed to the plastic bags, as they are quite convenient. I also have a few reusable bags too and I am going to make a conscious effort to use them.
Plastic shopping bags are awesome for kitty litter changing.
I use the plastic ones as trash bags in every room of the house. I do the Cooler thing too. Beer doesn't taste as good if it gets warm on the way back from Publix.
Even though I use the cloth bags now, I still will get the occasional plastic one. I don't know what it's like everywhere else but we can get biodegradable plastic bags in some places and I get those so I can use them to dispose of the kitty litter.
When I do forget to take my "reusables" in and end up with those plastic ones that someone break and dispense of all the contents onto the driveway, I either re-cycle them, use them as trash can liners, or very carefully place Charlie's dirty diapers in them.
My mother used to use string bags all the time, but things can fall out of them , which is why I favour the linen ones.
The only downside is that I used to recycle the plastic bags in the same way you do, ie. as garbage bags. I now find that I have to buy plastic garbage bags, which makes no sense at all.
The last time I asked for a paper bag was way back in time when my boys were younger - I would use them to cover there books for school and they could personalize them however they wanted to.
I will eventually get one of those hot cold bags.
For now I carry my "green" bags in the trunk and remember them 50% of the time.
I'm trying to do better.
I couldn't use those net bags because don't want people making value judgments about what I buy--like they haven't already in the checkout lane! :-) Could you send your son up here to teach me how to use the self-check out lanes and I could be a good recycler and no one would need to know I buy at least two kinds of ice cream. . .Those insulated bags are great if you try to do all your errands in one trip.
Hello my friend! I also saw those net/woven bags a lot in Europe. You asked about the bottom in the collapsible Publix bag, and I had every intention of checking...and totally forgot.
I have used it once for groceries so far, and didn't have a problem so - I believe it does fold out in such a way that it keeps the groceries nice and flat. Good question though! Happy FM to you!
PS Hello again! Thank you for the good thoughts re. my, um, kitchen invasion. I had no idea the little buggers seek out water - we have had a dry spell recently. It's raining today so hopefully that'll be the end of it!
I use some really great bags from Trader Joe's. I also like some plastic for my trash and stuff, but I usually used these recycled ones for the market. Yes, in some cities in the US they ban them in markets and you have to bring your own, and when I was in Curacao to visit J last year, all the markets, had no bags, you had to bring your own. I was impressed!
Thanks for volunteering to host next week.
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