Keep 4 reusable bags in pantry at home and 3 in the trunk of the car at all times.

There - you'll never forget them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what do you use for produce bags?

I have some fine mesh bags that work for certain fruits & veggies, but they aren't great for kale or green onions.

Plus, I like to use plastic bags around the meat as it can get a little slimy.

I always plastic bag the meat -- food safety is more important than saving a bit of plastic!

I put as much produce as I can straight in the bag, with no additional bag.

For wet stuff or very delicate stuff like lettuce, I use a produce bag, and try to reuse it at home.

This is exactly what I do re: produce bags. Skip them most of the time.

I like these reusables from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073ZBYMBK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And a few of these for fun in different patterns:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZE7OKC/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are washable and the straps are long enough to fit over my shoulder.

Absolutely keep them in the car. After we unload groceries we put the empty bags next to the front door, then the next person to drive somewhere throws them back in the car.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plastic bags keep us from getting sick by things like blood from fresh meat.

Why would someone not use plastic bags for things like meat?

I have never used a plastic bag for meat and also never put my vegetables in a plastic bag, unless they are loose vegetables like bean sprouts. Most meat is packaged to death and if not, I simply have them bag the meat separate in the very very unusual and rare case that the meat is dripping with blood. Never have been sick.

Most meat is NOT packaged to death, unless you are getting frozen meat.

Any fresh meat from a butcher counter has only a thin layer of saran wrap around it and WILL have raw meat drippings, blood and residue on the outside of the packaging.

Don't be so dumb as to sacrifice basic sanitation and food safety for a trend.

Anonymous wrote:Plastic bags keep us from getting sick by things like blood from fresh meat.

Why would someone not use plastic bags for things like meat?

I have never used a plastic bag for meat and also never put my vegetables in a plastic bag, unless they are loose vegetables like bean sprouts. Most meat is packaged to death and if not, I simply have them bag the meat separate in the very very unusual and rare case that the meat is dripping with blood. Never have been sick.

Why does produce need a special bag? I just put the produce in the same cloth bags I use for everything else. If I'm buying something bruisable, sometimes I bring plastic containers to put it in (like tupperware or takeout containers).

Plastic bags keep us from getting sick by things like blood from fresh meat.

Why would someone not use plastic bags for things like meat?

Anonymous wrote:Any reccs on produce bags? I have plenty of reusable shopping bags & it’s ingrained since DC passed the bag law a few years back, but I’d like to get a couple of produce bags.

I use (and really like) this type of produce bags: https://www.amazon.com/Earthwise-Reusable-Mesh-Produce-Bags/dp/B005E2QRPG/ref=sr_1_6?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1527557880&sr=1-6&keywords=reusable+produce+bags

I'm not sure exactly what brand I have, I just grabbed a couple packs at Wegman's once. Love them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what do you use for produce bags?

I have some fine mesh bags that work for certain fruits & veggies, but they aren't great for kale or green onions.

Plus, I like to use plastic bags around the meat as it can get a little slimy.

I don't put my produce in plastic bags, unless it's loose stuff like snow please or mushrooms. Definitely not kale or onions.

Most meat is already packaged to death. I don't put an added layer on that either.

I do not find that most meat is packaged to death. It has one thin layer of plastic and unless you do self check out, the odds are it is getting put sideways on top of your produce, after the checker roughs it up (ok, I just came from the store where I had to wonder why the checker was so mad at my groceries).

Anonymous wrote:NP

If you use reusable bags for the groceries,w hat do you put your trash in? Do you buy plastic bags for that?

I used to use reusable bags, and I still do sometimes. I mostly get the regular plastic bags at the store, though, because I then use them for my trash. At least there were two good uses that way.

I live alone, and daily trash is 1-2 small plastic bags worth, max.

The small grocery bags would never work for trash for us. Especially now that they are so thin. So we buy trash bags. I admit when we had a dog, I would sometimes not use my reusable bags so we had poop bags.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what do you use for produce bags?

I have some fine mesh bags that work for certain fruits & veggies, but they aren't great for kale or green onions.

Plus, I like to use plastic bags around the meat as it can get a little slimy.

I don't put my produce in plastic bags, unless it's loose stuff like snow please or mushrooms. Definitely not kale or onions.

Most meat is already packaged to death. I don't put an added layer on that either.

+1 to all of this. I don't understand the paranoia of most people here.

Anonymous wrote:But what do you use for produce bags?

I have some fine mesh bags that work for certain fruits & veggies, but they aren't great for kale or green onions.

Plus, I like to use plastic bags around the meat as it can get a little slimy.

I dont use product bags, unless it is for loose produce such as green beans brussel sprouts. I dont understand why anyone uses them in the first place. Like why would I use a produce bag for a bunch of kale or green onions that are already held together by a twist tie or rubber band. Truly perplexing.

Any reccs on produce bags? I have plenty of reusable shopping bags & it’s ingrained since DC passed the bag law a few years back, but I’d like to get a couple of produce bags.

Anonymous wrote:I still get a few plastic bags like if the checker puts meat in a bag (which rarely ever leaks if you pick one that is not leaky to begin with). So I use those for garbage, but I've started using paper bags for garbage and I'll use the remaining plastic bags for donating stuff. Since I compost, most garbage is not wet so you don't need a plastic bag.

I used to use paper bags for my trash, but they are no longer available. Where do you get yours?

Anonymous wrote:But what do you use for produce bags?

I have some fine mesh bags that work for certain fruits & veggies, but they aren't great for kale or green onions.

Plus, I like to use plastic bags around the meat as it can get a little slimy.

I don't put my produce in plastic bags, unless it's loose stuff like snow please or mushrooms. Definitely not kale or onions.

Most meat is already packaged to death. I don't put an added layer on that either.

Californian here...you adjust when you have to, and it's not that hard. We have resuable bags everywhere. In our cars, at home. We buy paper ones if we somehow forget to have any on hand...or we don't use bags if there are few enough items.

I was also concerned about trash liners, but somehow it's worked out so far. I buy my clothes online, and stuff usually comes in plastic bags that can serve as liners for small trash cans. Now with the complete, statewide plastic bag ban, we may have fewer random plastic bags that somehow still end up in our house...but we've mostly figured it out. You can buy trash can liners if you really need to.