Cloth shopping bags.

Love it! I saw the article on line. Very interesting!! I will add that I think ivory, ecru . . . those hold up well colorwise with bleaching. Especially the canvas bags.

Dianne

Bravo! Mine go in the washer on a regular basis.

My biggest problem with bringing my own bags to the supermarket is the insistence of the baggers that they cannot put more than two items in any bag, so I show up with my huge canvas tote (probably the size of a VW Bug trunk -- plenty large enough to hold a week's food for one person), and when I turn around, they've put the bread and eggs in the tote and assembled 3000 plastic bags with my other purchases.

Since the net effect is to save one plastic bag (and waste those 3000 others, which they don't quite know what to do with when I empty them and hand them back), when I'm going in a friend's car (as opposed to taking the bus) I'm not as diligent at bringing my canvas bags as I should be.

I do, however, re-use the plastic bags as trash can liners, packing material, collecting recycling to be taken to the big can outside, so it's not like they're just thrown directly in the trash without a second use.

I have several bags, including a "cold bag" that I use as much as possible. Haven't thought about washing them though.

C

I always sew cloth bags , with leftovers from my regular sewing . Skirts with matching bags etc,,,, i also give cloth bags as presents, and people enjoy folding them into the other purse size bag to use when they shop ,,, All my bags go into the washing machine regulary. mirjam

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One thing that I don't think has been quite thought out are grocery deliveries. One store puts everything in boxes which are recyclable as cardboard. Another uses plastic bags. A third uses paper bags inside plastic bags. The delivery person needs bags with handles to carry them up our flights of stairs. The boxes work but they're hard to stack up and carry upstairs. I could bring canvas bags but I'd need a lot and I'd worry about not getting them in the delivery?

Thoughts?

Alison

Tell the store to call U-Haul and find out where they buy their stair-climbing handtrucks.

When WebVan was in business, they put all your groceries in large plastic totes with lids. (One color for cold stuff, another for everything else.) If they left the boxes with you, they charged a $5/each deposit, and you returned them when they delivered the next order.

The boxes worked nicely with the stair-climbing handtrucks. Corralled everything so nothing was bouncing out of bags, they could stack two or three on the handtruck, one trip up the stairs and they were done.

When WebVan went out of business, I was quite pleased to acquire the three boxes I was waiting to return. They're large enough to be really useful for storing stuff like yarn.

I have a large selection of canvas shopping bags. Some of them came "free" with a hefty donation to various good causes, then after I started using them for groceries I found lots more at various yard or estate sales - many of them brand new, never used. I keep some of them in the car, and some in the folding wheeled shopping basket I use when going to the "walking distance" stores around here.

In additon to being better for the environment than either paper or plastic, they also are easier to carry.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

All true. When I lived in the city in Pgh, I had the wheeled cart thing - not worth driving for a couple of blocks. Around here, most of the groceries sell for very cheap large mesh bags - which are a little lighter than canvas, and seem to be made of some recycled material. Some of the stores give you a few cents rebate if you use one.

ellice

DS and his SO bought hubby and me recyclable bags for Christmas last year. We love 'em. I was looking online to show y'all, and found this great resource:

are the ones we have: But look at this one. It's awesome for walkers:

Sue

Our supermarket deliver the groceries in Plastic bins , that are stackable when empty , and are easy to carry everywhere, mirjam

I LOVE this idea! I have used some of the other fabric bags, but they rae hard to fill. I think I will check with my grocery store, and see what they think of me using them!!

Gillian

Susan Hartman wrote:

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I have many canvas bags that I use for shopping. Some are now decades old and worn out from washing. Time to buy replacements!

Donna in Virginia

Hey Jim!

Have you seen the LOEB bags here in town? They are fantastic. I only have 1 but I'd like to get a couple more. They are well made and sturdy. Not to mention have a plasticized outer shell and they are enourmous! And according to the side label, they are machine washable. I've tried getting more from LOEB, but all the local LOEBs are out and are trying to get more, but they've gone over so well in all the LOEBs here in town, that they haven't managed up till now. I keep looking

Lynne

I've been making my own for literally years. And yes, some of mine are at least 10 years old. So, what I've learned:

Using my fancy old fabric blocks (100% cotton, quilting blocks) didn't work. The fabric just doesn't have the stamina to take all we dish out. We USE these things versus admire from a distance, so mine aren't fancy. Canvas is too heavy, and takes too long to dry.

Buy nylon -- think "parachute-type" material. They fold very small, have a built in strength that doesn't tear and I like them. Recently I took a picture, here:

particular one is approximately 15" by 16" (some are larger, somea bit smaller)

They are a basic block/square/rectangle. Specifically, I'm not making "sides" just fold it over, and sew up the edges. You'll note the handles attach at the top -- each handle attaches to one side. I've found that when I put my arm through it helps to have the bag against my body versus sideways.

Mistakes made: IF you're going to be carrying heavy items, you'd want to make the tops of the handles a bit wider. Mine are 1" or so, and that's not enough. I believe it would be more comfy if the shoulder part was broader. I attach the handles to the inside of the top. It might be handy to have a small sewed in zipper compartment for money, so last time Kidlet got rid of a pair of pants, I took her pockets for the next set of bags.

Once you make a few, you'll never be without. And make more than you're sure you'll ever need, as we always seem to come up with another use for ours.

"janice142" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Two additional things - if you want one for super heavy things, run handles down through the bottom and up the other side.

One can make several then give birthday or Christmas gifts 'wrapped' in a bag, ready to go. Beats fiddling with all that paper.

I did more than just look. Thanks, Sue. Carrying seems to aggravate my symptoms, but looking at similar stuff in the cheap-gift catalogues always made me wonder how they'd hold up. Since you're happy with this company's other products, I assumed this was good quality and ordered.

Here you can buy White Cotton cloth bags that are meant to cook certain vegies in the soup with them , and than take out, These bags are great for many other foods to buy ,, i have 1 or 2 folded in my Cloth bags,,,,, I also advise people to have a Crochet Ball Bag. mirjam

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Lynne and Jim:

My Sobey's and IGA here in Ajax both have large very sturdy plasticized totes which they sell for about $1.50-$2.00 (can't remember exactly right now). I've got four of them and they are really great. The only drawback is that they are so large that they can be very heavy when full.

Marg

My Sobeys has them too, the large green ones, fresh looking. Sobeys have been pretty forward with the concept, my first cloth bags back in the early 80s were Sobeys bags, those and sadly, Eaton.