For many of us, those resealable plastic baggies are the most convenient way to pack up a sandwich for lunch and snacks for later. But if you throw those bags away every time...well, that adds up to a lot of plastic baggies in the trash! Do you re-use your plastic bags?
I'll be the first to admit that washing and re-washing these plastic bags is not the most enjoyable task in the universe. We do it by turning each one inside out and washing them with a soapy sponge. Then we prop them up any way we can to make sure the bags dry out evenly. After going through a stack of dirty ones, our counter looks like it sprouted a plastic bag forest!
But for my husband and I, the annoyance of hand-washing all those bags is completely made up for by the fact that we're saving money and not wasting plastic. We've re-used the same box of sandwich sized plastic bags for about a year now, only throwing them away if the bag is obviously ripped, held raw meat, or was used to store something particularly greasy or messy. We've tried cloth bags and other eco-friendly alternatives, but we always come back to plastic as the most reliable for holding food and (ironically) easiest to clean.
Devices like the drying rack pictured above make at least the drying portion of the job a little easier! Old baby bottle drying racks also work well, or you can make your own by sticking take-out chop sticks in a flower vase or empty beer bottle.
How do you feel about re-using plastic bags?
Related: No More Plastic Bags: The Trashcan Liner Conundrum
(Image: Drying Rack, $20 from Gaiam.com)
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I definitely reuse my bags.
What about BPA concerns?
What about sandwich size Tupperware-like containers instead of using all those plastic bags? My roommates and I use and reuse those Ziploc "disposable" containers all the time and have never purchased plastic bags.
I worry about BPA, too. Although, I might use a plastic bag here or there for something dry, like pretzels. Also, I'll reuse the bag once or twice, if I'm refilling it with the same dry snacks.
Most of the time, I just use glass containers to pack the stuff for my lunch in. I have a variety of smaller sized glass pyrex containers with lids that are perfect. Plus, I have no hesitations putting these in the microwave to reheat my lunches.
Plastic containers are just as convenient to use for packing sandwiches and snacks as plastic bags, and much easier to clean and reuse dozens of times.
Having said that, I do reuse plastic baggies often, and the final use of the bag is to pick up after my dog!
Absolutely. I wash them out & use a few times, unless they've had something in them like raw meat.
I use plastic tupperware containers (for cold food) and glass Pyrex containers (for re-heating). Rarely use baggies.
I don't wash the baggies, but I do re-use my freezer bags. I worry too much about the really thin plastic interacting with hot water. :\
Definitely reuse the baggies, we don't cook meat in the house but if something in a baggie goes moldy (like that chunk of Parmesan I forgot in the back of the fridge) it goes in the garbage. We use old ones for doggy duty as well :)
We've been saving up plastic food containers we get from take-out soup/cream cheese/peanut butter and using those for lunch storage more often.
it wasn't until i moved in with my bf a year ago that i got serious about reusing plastic baggies. he's a high school math teacher and brings his lunch to school 5 days of the week. for the most part he uses glass tupperware from costco but for the items that need a baggie...well we use baggies. we wash and reuse all. in one year of living together, we're still using the same small box of baggies and the same large box of baggies.
i'm also an avid sambazon acai eater (frozen packs) and they have super cool sambazon logo ziplock backs which they come in. wa-la! more plastic bags to recycle!
Honestly, after reading about the trash and plastic islands in the pacific yesterday I feel so down on myself for using plastic. Especially since so much is not recycled and it NEVER biodegrades. Anyway, currently I use freezer bags- always reuse, some plastic wrap- my biggest weakness, and these amazing wax parchment paper bags from WF. To me, they're just as good as little baggies but they are biodegradable. So no little snack or sandwich sizes for me. Plus, I always reuse our plastic bags for pet stuff too. And I have started slowing buying nice glass portable containers with tops to take lunch, etc. That being said, I definitely want to reduce my dependance even further. Maybe a bento box?
We use very few plastic baggies...i have almost completely cut them out of the food equation. Tupperware containers work best. I have also looked into BPA concerns and am soon going to invest in some glass containers instead.
Pretty much the main place I use baggies, large or small, is to freeze stuff. Then they go in the garbage after the stuff is thawed out.
I reuse plastic bags depending on what I put in them. I also have a vacuum sealer with those heavy duty bags and I reuse those a lot! I make sure to really scrub them up with hot water and they get cleaned up very well. My drying rack is a aloe vera plant in my kitchen window. Using the vacuum sealer really cut down on the other plastic bags and it keeps the food so much better.
I'm lucky enough that I'm able to run home for lunch, so I very rarely need to use plastic bags. When I do use them I always wash them out again. As for the drying problem, I shut a bottom conner of the bag in my cupboard door and let them dry, it frees up my limited counter space
@lasalawyer - please tell us more about the whole foods parchment bags! would love to look into those.
oh, and the only thing i pack in these bags is my morning granola and some nuts. we reuse them for a week or so, but like everyone else, we are worried about plastic breakdown.
i am going to start using glass containers, but they are kind of difficult for me since i would have to pack 5 (one for my yogurt, one for my granola, one for my nuts, one for my salad, one for fruit...i eat a lot!) and that's heavy not to mention space consuming. i ride my bike to work, and have to carry that stuff on my back, along with clothes for work, a laptop, and other miscellaneous items. what's a girl to do?
It depends on what was in the bags on the first use but on balance I probably re-use mine 1/2 the time.
Like @lasawyer above, we're also big fans of using waxed paper bags! Beyond the fact that they're biodegradable, I also find that they're much easier to keep clean than plastic sandwich bags.
For packed lunches I reuse the paper bags my fruit and veg gets delivered in, unless they're dirty. Then they can go in recycling at the office.
I also reuse the plastic freezer bags I put homemade loaves in the freezer in. Because I only reuse them for bread I have to admit I don't wash them in between because they only contain frozen bread crumbs! They only last a couple of months anyway before a hole get in somewhere.
we reuse the few bags that we do use to the extent possible. however, my husband, who happens to be our "dish bitch" *loathes* the idea, let alone the practice, so i have to step in and wash the bags for reuse. i find that chopsticks in a pint glass (i.e., wide opening) works far better than something like the narrow neck of a beer bottle.
I use old bags until they are gross and not usable anymore, usually about 5 or 6 times, depending on what goes in them.
I also use Debbie Meyer's 'green bags' for all of our produce and reuse those until something gets stuck in the very back of the fridge and molds and rots in there...can't get that out. Those are supposed to be reused numerous times, and they really do work!
After watching a video about the great pacific garbage barge out in the ocean, I wince every time I throw something plastic into the trash...
http://www.abbeycatchat.com
my mom actually has a device that her father made for her--it's a long piece of wood with little branches sticking out from it (chances are it's part of a tree, though he's so crafty it's also possible that it just looks that way), all polished and varnished, that hangs on the wall over the sink; so, you wash the bag out when you're done using it, and hang it from the cleverly monikered "bag dad." i'm eagerly awaiting one of my own =)
I reuse bags all the time, and have a coathanger with clothespins on it that I use to dry them (I hang it on a potrack, cupboard door, nail- whatever is handy)...
I haven't owned plastic wrap for over a year, instead I reuse produce bags to cover large dishes (or take them back to the market with me)...
@konar: what about bento options for your multi-part lunch?
Well, I did, but then I decided to stop buying them and use plastic containers instead. Now, my next "green" task is to wean myself off plastic containers. I don't think it will be that difficult except I do need some in reserve for once a year tomato freezing...maybe I'll bin all those up and put them in the basement until September.
Thanks for letting me think out loud here!
I have multi-part lunches too. I use the ZipLoc 2 cup size round containers. I've been using the same ones for well over a year and the lids still screw on and seal nicely. I use them in the freezer, the fridge, my lunchbox, etc. The only time I use a baggie is when I have artisan bread that is freeform -- then a baggie is necessary.
I use mine again, except if they had meat or onion in them. Those get tossed. My mother and grandmother both washed out Ziploc bags when I was little, so I thought that's just what you did!
I think I have purchased 2 or 3 boxes of Ziploc bags...in my life. I"m 30. It saves money, and I have yet to run out!
My mom has that exact drying rack. I on the other hand just try to minimize use and use my reusable Gladware containers for transporting food. I rarely, if ever, have full size freezer bags, and only rarely use sandwich bags, most often I use those for freezing chicken, and I toss them afterwards.