in our mainstream grocery stores this really won't work either- at the end of the belt is the scale (also the scanner), they use that for meats and veggies/fruits and definitely not cleaned in-between - to me that is where most of the cross contamination is happening
while meats are pre-packaged most are still weighted when there are % off coupons/sales-one scale for all
None of the stores around here weigh meats on the checkout scale. I' ve never actually seen that. Meat is either prepackaged and priced or the butcher gets your pound of whatever and prints the sticker out right then, after it's wrapped up.
I shop for produce once a week at a little 'mom and pop' produce store - i once saw a young man using his big, reusable shopping bag to put all his produce in - bag free - took it all out to weigh, ring up - then put it all back in his ONE reusable shopping bag - oh to be shopping for one person!
I buy everything in multiples - i use the produce bags, even if they get a little wet or dirty - i just stash them in a drawer and bring them back to the produce store with me the next week - i wash off the produce so if the bag is dirty - its not the end of the world. Those mesh bags sound interesting though!
scan and weight all together!
yea and it gets really cruddy but all are stores have purell station at all the check outs as well
We have gotten away from using plastic produce bags as much as possible (we use paper, or no bag). But we end up with a million plastic bags in our house anyway, because of things like buying GF bread, etc. It drives me NUTS to throw away a plastic bag before it's been used & used until it's falling apart. So we wash & re-use them and have all these crazy systems for doing so. And that drives me nuts, too. I really don't want to spend my precious few "me time" minutes every evening washing out plastic bags. So it's a sort of "damned if I do, damned if I don't" situation. I wish there weren't so many dang things packaged in plastic bags.
So frustrating, huh? I often won't buy a product because it's all in unnecessary plastic. WHY do they that for every little thing?
We avoid purchasing stuff in plastic bags as much as we can, but geez, it's really hard to avoid. Especially now that DP has gone gluten free, and we have to buy special bread and stuff. I wish someone would invent a process for composting plastic bags. Didn't someone discover some microbe in the Amazon that eats petroleum products?
Like others, I try to reduce the number of bags that I use, so things like apples and such go straight to the cart. I do like the bags for lettuce and other greens, or little things like brussel sprouts.
I save all my plastic bags from bread, bagels, etc and bring them with me. These don't need to get washed out and I just shake out the crumbs over the sink. I go to a pretty mainstream grocery store and they don't really care if I use those. I just have to remember to turn them inside out or they accidentally get scanned as the original item (like the bread). Once they are wet or slimy (I hate when I let produce go bad in the fridge!) I try to wash if I have time. I have some twine strung over my sink with clothes pins where I hang dry the bags and it's not usually a big deal. But if I'm feeling lazy or the bags are looking too old, I'll just put them in the pile to get recycled.
I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for those mesh bags. Anyone have any links so I can see them?
ETA: just did a quick internet search and saw a ton of cheap options... I'm sold!
Good idea. I always think of this at the store and wonder what other people do. I can't go bagless because I'm buying at least 4-5 pounds of apples a week for my family and they need to be weighed at check out and that would take forever if they were loose.
I haven't found a perfect solution either but I do minimize the amount of bags I use by not bagging many types of produce (most fruits, tomatoes, onions...). I just place them in an organized manner in the cart and on the conveyer belt (kind of helping them stay together as they go through, so the cashiers sympathize). Greens and herbs go in bags unfortunately.
The mesh bags may be a good idea. I got some of them but I kept forgetting to take them with me to the store, so I gave up.
When they are in good state (not muddy), I turn them inside out and reuse them.
I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for those mesh bags. Anyone have any links so I can see them?
ETA: just did a quick internet search and saw a ton of cheap options... I'm sold!
I'm glad you found some on-line sources. I bought mine at an eco-friendly home store a few years ago and can't recall the brand, sorry.
We have gotten away from using plastic produce bags as much as possible (we use paper, or no bag). But we end up with a million plastic bags in our house anyway, because of things like buying GF bread, etc. It drives me NUTS to throw away a plastic bag before it's been used & used until it's falling apart. So we wash & re-use them and have all these crazy systems for doing so. And that drives me nuts, too. I really don't want to spend my precious few "me time" minutes every evening washing out plastic bags. So it's a sort of "damned if I do, damned if I don't" situation. I wish there weren't so many dang things packaged in plastic bags.
I would be really happy with less plastic packaging too. I mentioned in my first response that despite efforts to reduce the number of plastic bags we use, we always seem to end up with a few. I don't really sweat over them though. I re-use them if I can and that's good enough for my conscience.
OK, you all officially encouraged me to get some mesh bags. We have nothing in the way of stores around here, so I got some on amazon. Thanks for the idea!
I got a set of 4 mesh, drawstring bags at the dollar store. They were meant for corralling stuff in the car, but they are exactly the same size as the plastic produce bags at my grocery store.
My grandmother used to reuse EVERY plastic bag that crossed her path. Bread bags were used again to hold sandwiches in Grandpa's lunch (she closed them with a recycled twist tie), and somewhere along the line she decided that the plastic bag her newspaper was delivered in was the perfect size to take to the grocery store to hold her romaine lettuce. That used to freak me out a bit, because of the ink, but she lived well into her 80's, so I guess it was fine. When she came to visit, she always had a giant tote bag (you know those woven plastic ones most people take to the beach?) full of the food from her fridge. She didn't like to leave food in the fridge when she was going to be gone. All that food was wrapped up in old bread bags and newspaper baggies. HEAVEN HELP the person who threw one away! They had to be washed out and dried on chopsticks and reused! My grandpa put his foot down when she tried to repair torn baggies with scotch tape.
We take the plastic produce bags from the store.
If they are yucky after use (like lettuce got slimy) or torn, they get stuffed into our bag of recyclable plastic bags. Our supermarket has a bin outside that accepts produce bags as well as the shopping bags.
If they are clean and intact, we reuse them. We just tuck them into one of our big canvas shopping bags, and then when shopping for produce we dig in the canvas bags to find produce bags, taking new ones only if we don't have any old ones with us.
The store where we buy bulk foods allows you to use your own container; you weigh it and write its weight on the label, and then they subtract that from the total weight so that you pay only for your food. We use jars, etc., that other foods came in. So we take bags for bulk foods only if there's an awesome sale that we didn't know about so we don't have enough containers for it.
I know this is not exactly a response to how to reuse those plastic bags, but if you are able to just forget them all together, then here is a link to a cool idea...
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/Make-Reusable-Produce-Bags.aspx
Also, I work at a food co-op, and we carry reusable produce bags in various sizes made by mothering Mother. You can order them online, or see if your local co-op or grocer could get them in the store.
I put most produce like apples in my cart without bags. I usually use the self check out so it doesn't matter. If the bags don't get torn I use them for doggy doo doo bags. That bugs me too. Doggy doo doo (or baby poop) doen't belong in our trash in plastic bags. When I had my own house I would flush my little dog's and cat's doo doo. I scooped it into a little bucket and put in the toilet. The cat litter pan was next to the toilet with pine litter and as soon as I smelled that the cat went I would flush it. There was never kitty doo doo in the pan. Back 30 years ago we were told to try and get baby poop out of disposable diapers and flush it away. Now I hear concern about the diapers problem (not often enoug) but not so much about all the poop. Imagine how much dog doo doo is in the trash. It would be better to leave it on the ground (somewhere out of the way of people) to decompose. Oh well, off topic.
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/how-tuesday-how-to-make-plarn-crochet-an-eco-friendly-tote-b/
i think that's a cool idea.
with our states retail laws there is no way you can do here, it's your personal bag and that is the same as putting it into a purse, doesn't matter if you plan to pay for it or not
I would still try the mesh bag. If you put the veggies ~in the see-through bag~ on the belt then it is beyond obvious that you want to BUY them. If they try to call the cops so be it, just calmly explain that you are trying to reduce, reuse, etc....and if they still make a stink then call your local press and make a big deal out of it. Hell, maybe you'll start a wave of action and those mesh bags will become at least acceptable if not downright trendy!
As for bacteria and hygiene, a great trick is to bathe all your produce in a vinegar wash. I use the cheapest vinegar available and fill a big mixing bowl with water and a few splashes of vinegar and set the produce in it for about 10 minutes then rinse. No taste of vinegar remains. It removes about 99% of bacteria, some pesticide residue and kills any mold spores ~meaning volatile fruit like peaches and berries stay fresh way longer. Woohoo!
I would still try the mesh bag. If you put the veggies ~in the see-through bag~ on the belt then it is beyond obvious that you want to BUY them. If they try to call the cops so be it, just calmly explain that you are trying to reduce, reuse, etc....and if they still make a stink then call your local press and make a big deal out of it. Hell, maybe you'll start a wave of action and those mesh bags will become at least acceptable if not downright trendy!
I understand what you are saying but you can't- it's illegal and it's viewed as concealment- plain and simple- if they allowed it for fruits and veggies you could argue you should be able to do it for meats-and it would not work.
SInce so much meat is taken (I worked in my state and my neighboring state in theft prevention so I know the issue and the laws-they are the same in both)-it is a real big deal- thus clear bags all over. You may have all the good intentions you want but they will not change the law over this-it would be a hugh can of worms. You often see grocery store retail theft in our papers. Concealment is very real and they don't take kindly to it.
IF you place ANY item in your own bag/container-even if you can see it, it is still concealment- you can be stopped and charged-their argument is you are being provided with a bag-ONCE you pay that is different-not prior.
I don't buy produce at a mainstream market, I was talking about mainstream markets- smaller places frankly are worse on the issue in my area- even at the FM you don't dare put items into your own bag until you paid for them.
It really doesn't matter if you PLAN to pay or not- no one else knows that for sure- any bag, etc that is your or not provided by the store and you can't use the check-out bags either, is not something you want to do. Clear bags are not just to a make it easy to scan the stuff. When you place prior to payment it is viewed a concealing.
In my state they take retail theft as a big deal- they jail you (depending on the area) if it's even $100.00 -this state is really crazy about it
if it works in your state great-just don't try in in all states
Presumptions. Any person purposely concealing unpurchased merchandise of any store or other retail mercantile establishment, either on the premises or outside the premises of such store or other retail mercantile establishment, shall be prima facie presumed to have so concealed such merchandise with the intention of depriving the merchant of the possession, use or benefit of such merchandise without paying the full retail value thereof, and the finding of such merchandise concealed upon the person or among the belongings of such person shall be prima facie evidence of purposeful concealment; and if such person conceals, or causes to be concealed, such merchandise upon the person or among the belongings of another, the finding of the same shall also be prima facie evidence of willful concealment on the part of the person so concealing such merchandise.
No matter what state you are in, no matter what the law says - white middle-class hippie folk who are regulars at the store will not be harassed, and if they are, the manager will apologize.
Non-white, or poor, or non-familiar shoppers run a much greater risk of being harassed if they use their own bags.
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