Cloth Produce Bags!
Posted by bookmama on Apr 14, 2007 · Member since Oct 2006 · 1190 posts
I am so pumped! I used my new cloth produce bags (from www.reuseablebags.com) today for the first time. It was great! And the lady at checkout didn't blink an eye. Before we went to WF, I went online to their website, found the tare weight for each size, and wrote it with a fine point Sharpie marker on the tag that's on each bag. Since it's just my DH and me, I found pretty quickly that the small size is ideal for produce for 2 or 3 people so I'm going to buy a few more of that size. The large ones work well for things like asparagus, leaf lettuce, and large/long things of that nature. :D :)
Wow... cloth produce bags seems like a great idea. I never liked reusing plastic bags because washing them is such a pain... it takes forever for them to dry somehow. Cloth would be so much easier.
2 questions...
Are they actually heavy enough that you need a tare on them???
And is that how you do it when you use re-usuable containers at a bulk market? Just write the tare on yourself, and they trust you? I have been wondering thing for YEARS but somehow can never get up the guts to ask, and then I feel like scum every time I take a plastic bag. I don't know why I am so embarrassed to ask... it must stem from the same defect in my character that makes me refuse to ask for directions. (I'm so manly that way! ;) )
The website says they are a little "heavier" than the plastic produce bags so they list the tare. If you go somewhere like Whole Foods (and probably even a regular grocery store), you can ask them to weigh your containers and they'll write the tare weight on them so you can show the cashiers. As I said, I wrote the tare on the bags myself and the cashier didn't even question me about it. I said that's what the tare weight was and she accepted it. I'm sure the weight for any container, unless it is glass or heavy plastic, isn't enough to make but pennies difference in the cost, but every little penny helps. ::)
At Whole Foods they also give you 5 cents off your bill for every bag you bring in and use, even their own plastic bags since you are reusing them. I really love not ending up with a butt-load of plastic when I get home. Seems like most places put only one or two items in a bag. My husband bags our groceries in our canvas bags while I unload the buggy and pay, so he puts many more items in each bag. Of course, the canvas bags are strong enough to hold more, too. Makes us happy to do it, too.
I hadn't thought of using cloth bags for produce, though, until JenniferHughes mentioned them and gave the name of the website where you can buy them. I had been reusing the plastic produce bags. That works, too, but I still like the idea of the cloth ones and they're easier to wash since you can just put them in the washing machine and dryer with your towels, etc.
Unfortunately, my store will not subtract the tare weight, so I can't bring my own containers for stuff like flour. I usually just throw all my produce straight into the shopping cart, but I kind of feel bad for the checker trying to get all of the zucchini on the scale without them rolling off. Maybe I'll get (or make) cloth bags. It's a great idea. Every time I get bananas, there will be a shopper next to me putting one bunch of bananas in a plastic bag. That drives me nuts!
Cute bag!
Check out Readymade's current issue, they have a pattern to make a 'beach' bag out of an old vinal tablecloth, I am making one now to use as a shopping bag! Right now I have one, but I want two.
i carry a few in my vehicle at all times! they really come in handy
I bought these for my produce:
http://www.grassrootsstore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=314
I didn't want to buy the ones at reusable bags because it didn't look like you could see through them--I'd feel bad for busy checkers who needed to know what was inside the bag to ring it up (correct me if I'm wrong and you can easily see through them). I didn't find anything quite like what I wanted online in the US, so I ordered these from Canada along with their cloth bulk bags. They work really well, although I will say that they are a little harder to put things like leafy greens into than plastic bags which is a small price to pay, of course. Everyone at the store that I shop at loves them (employees and other customers!)
Elizabeth
It's true that you cannot see through them but the checker didn't seem to mind peeking inside, fortunately. :)
I bet you those meshy laundry type bags (I'm sure they are made in smaller sizes?) would work well for produce and would probably weigh about the same tare weight wise.
This is such a great idea! Thanks for posting about the Reusable Bags website, they have so many neat products! I odered some of the mesh prodcue bags, the hemp shopping totes (they are so cute, they say "plastic bags blow" across them! ;D ), I also got reusable sandwich/snack wrappers so I don't have to use those little plastic sandwich bags everyday for work anymore 8), and a recycled cotton lunch bag! I am so excited to get my stuff & start using all of it! I'll feel a lot better because I definitely won't be creating near as much waste.