Do you use your own bags at the grocery store?

[Outtahere]

I voted no but only because like others I forget my cloth bags. I do recycle the ones I get, they don't go in the trash.

 

[jazz4cash]

I don't, but I know Aldi discount stores charge 5 cents or so per bag if you use their bags.

Aldi is the best!! The other corny thing they do is make you pay .25 deposit to use thier carts. They have some new stores here in suburban DC and better selection of products. Im gonna start going there weekly.

Food Lion split thier stores in the area into high line Bloom and low line Bottom Dollar.....Bottom Dollar makes you pay for bags but provides free cardboard boxes, like Sam's Club, so it reduces thier cost to have the stuff hauled away.

I try to keep a bunch of clean used bags in the trunk when I shop at those stores, but also use them all over the house to line waste baskets and such

 

[cube_rat]

Spouse has heard that a lot of Bay Area stores charge for bags. Is this a Bay Area or a California phenomenon?

It's a San Francisco thing.

The plastic bags makes great garbage liners for our small waste baskets. Sure the grocery plastic bags aren't pretty like the white hefty bags, but they're free!

 

[pfpelican]

My DW keeps an insulated bag in the car trunk for transferring frozen stuff from store bags.
Works especially well if she is store-hopping, as is her wont.

 

[ladelfina]

Here they charge .05 euro/bag at supermarkets (most other stores free). I save all the free ones and the few we had to pay for when making an unexpected pit stop at the market, and still don't know what to do with them all; they're coming out my ears. They also sell insulated bags near the freezer section (it gets hot here).

In the States I used to take them back to be recycled at the supermarket. Here I think: "I never want to pay for another bag".. and I haven't in at least a year.

I want to get some sturdy flat-bottomed canvas ones, though, so the stuff doesn't slide all around.

No cash-back recycling like in Estonia (more's the pity). That's a GREAT way to keep bottles off the sidewalks and roadsides. Most places around us have recycling dumpsters but few people will walk the extra ten yards or bother separating their trash (no house-to-house trash pickup). We have quite a large amount of space devoted to our FOUR trash containers.

I'm glad SF is banning them: it's nasty to see them floating around the countryside and in the trees.. they end up in the water and animals choke on them, etc.

Ikea has a nice cabinet-door-mount trash container that is designed to take plastic shopping bags.

 

[Jane_Doe]

Al-

Can you please add an additional response choice:

What is a grocery store?

Have a great day!

Jane

 

[audreyh1]

Yes, we've been doing this for well over a decade!

We had some nice heavy cloth bags that lasted for years. I think I finally washed them after 10 years, and they looked brand new! When our car was broken into, these were grabbed - huh?

So we bought some of those green recycled plastic grocery bags from Whole Foods and those are good.

It's great having these bags - we avoid a lot of plastic. And you can pack so much more per bag too. They are really strong.

But we still usually have to explain at checkout that yes, we DO want the groceries packed in these bags! (Unless we're at Whole Foods Market, of course - where we get a 5 cent per bad discount and they always thank us.).

I remember in Al Gore being asked "Paper or Plastic" and answering "no idea". I was yelling at the TV - "Bring your own bags!!!".

Audrey

P.S. We don't forget our bags because they always go back in the car after we unload groceries.

 

[Texas Proud]

Very interesting topic.... I voted NO because I don't anymore...

But, when I was in London I did. Some places charged you for bags... or at least the bigger ones with handles that you would want since you were walking....

I have a soft sided 'briefcase' that expanded... I could fit a good amount of stuff in it (that is good for the UK where you don't buy a lot at any one time)... I could throw it over my shoulder and walk home without getting sore arms...

Yes, it would be a good thing to bring your own... maybe I will start to do it again... but probably won't...

 

[Celany]

it depends. I use a bag (usually Whole Foods bag) to carry my books, food, etc, to work every day. So if I stop somewhere & just buy a few things, I put everything in the bag I'm already carrying.

We also use our bags for garbage bags, and for kitty litter clean-up, so I'd never entirely stop getting them.

However, we do have quite a stockpile right now, so I'm looking into buying canvas bags to use, until we have less plastic.

this site: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/shopping-bags-c-2.html?gclid=CMiNy_fC9IsCFR1BggodHVhKaw

looks like a good possibility to buy from.

 

[Khan]

Local grocery store (Kroger) sells canvas bags with their logo.

 

[Texas Proud]

Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..

 

[sheboyganite]

I bought 4 canvas bags with handles more than 10 years ago. My husband packs the groceries (which bemuses some of the baggers) and we find that, since the bags have handles, that it's easier to transport the groceries from the car to the house. Also, the bags never tear and if they get wet, nothing falls out of them.

We've had many favorable remarks over the years from the cashiers and the baggers.

Sheboyganite

 

[justin]

Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..

Umm, hate to break the news, but that is the entire extent of their wordly possessions. They are homeless!

 

[Texas Proud]

Umm, hate to break the news, but that is the entire extent of their wordly possessions. They are homeless!

No no... I saw a number of them at the grocery store... and since it was the upper west side... the homeless are not in that store...

But, you are right that at other places... that is their whole life's possessions..

 

[Khan]

Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..

A lot of them at the local farmer's market, a block or two from the over 55 housing, a whole parade of little old ladies with pullcarts.

 

[Trek]

Almost forgot about those little old ladies in NY that have that wheeled basket they drag around behind them... fits a LOT of stuff from the store..

Those are really popular here too for the old folks that can't carry the weight anymore. They sell them at all the shops.

 

[bright eyed]

i was so tempted to get one of those carts when i lived back east and had to walk the 4 blocks from the store to my apt! i got a lot of bruises from groceries banging around my legs w/ frequent little stops in between...hehe the old ladies are smart!

 

[Dreamer]

I have three of the Aldi grocery bags that I bought for five cents each and use when I shop at Aldis. However, I also shop at Krogers and Wal-Marts and get their plastic bags. I also use them for bathroom trash can liners, taking smelly food to the garage trash cans, throwing them in suitcases for the dirty clothes, but most importantly for cleaning litter boxes for our five cats!!! I don't know what we would use if we didn't have those plastic bags. I agree, please don't take away our plastic bags.