In my ongoing effort to cut down on the use of plastic (and to keep from annoying the grocery store clerks with my piles of loose produce) I recently purchased these organic cotton mesh bags from Simple Ecology. At first, I was afraid the mesh would get caught on the rough ends of the produce…
...but his didn't prove to be a problem as the bags are very sturdy and ample size (easily fits 6 pounds of turnips with room to spare) and each has a convenient tag sewn to the outside so that the check-out clerk can credit you the weight of the bag. This is where I encountered my only problem: The woman at the counter was absolutely flummoxed by the bag and the words "tare weight." I explained it to her and she glazed over. Embarrassed by the time all this was taking, I apologized to the poor woman behind me who was probably wishing my instantaneous demise for holding up the line. The clerk went to get assistance, then had to call a manager. The manager finally just credited me fifty cents, and said that, "when more people use these, they'll just make a function button to account for them." Sigh.
It will take continued use and education for the various markets to adapt to these eco-friendly bags. I suppose using them at Farmers' Markets will be a better experience, but I usually just dump all my fruits and veg together in a big canvas bag as I move from stand to stand anyway.
I will admit that the initial expense seemed a bit steep ($14.95 for 6 bags), but if it keeps me from feeling badly for using the plastic ones at the market, I figured it was $15 well-spent. There are non-mesh canvas bags also from Simple Ecology and a similar mesh bag called the GardenSac. There are a lot of polyester mesh bags on the market, but those pretty much defeat the purpose of staying away from plastic.
How many of you have adopted reusable produce bags? Have you encountered similar issues? Have any of you made your own? I've love to see them.
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• No More Plastic Bags: Organic Cotton Produce Bags
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I'm in the process of making my own using old laundry bags, you know those cheap giveaway bags I got 6 years ago as on campus. Since I don't have a serger I am going to use some cute binding made from some calico fabric.
I'll post pics at my blog after I finish.
www.yesiwilltryit.blogspot.com
Um, why not just make a bag out of an old t-shirt, weigh it on your kitchen scale for a tare weight, and be done? You don't even need a sewing machine. It's free, it saves all the greenhouse gases emitted in shipping it 1500 miles to your house, and it's crafty. What's not to like?
I got an idea from one of my other favorite blogs. A simple re-use for onion bags.
http://unstuff.blogspot.com/2009/03/crochet-your-own-reusable-mesh-produce.html
What do you do with the veggies when you get home and have to put them in the fridge?
i use my own bags too. but our produce dept had those machines where you put in the produce code and it prints out a label. so i weigh what needs to be weighed out of the bag and then print out the ticket (which has a sticky back), and stick the corner to the handle of the basket until i print another one and just stick them back to back! i know the checkers in my area would look just as glazed over as yours did!
I really like those. I would not use them though going to a supermarket - loose produce or ones that touch the counter would get contaminated with germs.
Snack Taxi has produce bags made from nylon - they are easy to wash (air dry them, though) and come in pretty colors.
I do like this produce bag for farmer's markets. Thank you for posting this!
Oh, and if the store doesn't like it, too bad. Some of the baggers mindlessly give me plastic bags for single items even though I bring in 2X as many bags as I need and I specifically ask them, "no plastic bags, please".
Not to pick on them - they have a thankless job but I am very polite and it just annoys me that a handful of them refuse to think outside the box.
They are saving money by not having to provide a plastic sleeve, and we are saving many marine animals who starve to death after ingesting plastic. I do not support stores who give me a hard time when I'm trying to be responsible.
I have the same question as hishtafel, how well do these bags fare for storing produce at home? I don’t really use plastic produce bags while grocery shopping [we get most of our produce delivered], I’ve never really seen a need for them; we’ve always taken the purchases home and washed them before storing anyways… I am sick of hand-washing the 2gallon Ziploc bags that most items get put into though, especially since there’s no way to easily dry plastic bags that size. If these did a nice job of storing items in the fridge, I might be tempted to switch over.
I forgot to post a link to the snack taxi produce bag. The one in the photo is tied up but it looks like one big colorful sleeve when it's untied.
@Rachel - I can tell you that the nylon ones work great in the fridge or pantry. Most produce goes into our veg or fruit drawer, but messy stuff like broccoli stays in the produce bag and protects both the food and the stuff around it.
http://www.snacktaxi.com/produce-sacks.html
Thanks for all the comments!
I usually take my produce out of their bags and put them directly into the crisper in my fridge, or for the fruit and veg that don't do so well refrigerated or that I don't like to eat cold (bananas, onions, potatoes, garlic, apples, oranges), I put them in bowls in the kitchen. Keeping stuff in plastic bags usually makes them muck-up quicker anyway.
Except lettuces. I'll wash lettuce and pack the leaves between flour sack towels in airtight ziploc bags that I reuse until it's time to recycle them.
And thanks for the link, LA Stormwater!