Baby step: no more flimsy plastic produce & bulk food bags

"Bum, bum, bum, another one bites the dust..."

Ha! Another bad habit sent packing. I had a plastic bag breakdown a few weeks ago. There was a pile of flimsy plastic produce bags next to the sink that needed rinsing and drying, and I just. couldn't. do. it. I hate those things, and I never wanted to wash another one again. Problem was I couldn't remember to bring my own to the store, so inevitably I'd end up pulling a couple new ones off the roll. So I decided that I simply was not allowed to bring any more home, and would just have to figure out a new system. Now my shopping cart looks like this after a trip down the produce aisle:

Yes, I took a photo of my grocery cart because I am a dork.

The apples, carrots and potatoes are loose, and the wet lettuce is getting all handsy with the broccoli. So the lettuce is wet. So what? I vow to no longer bag my produce, with the exceptionof smaller items like green beans and brussel sprouts. For those, I bring my own gallon Ziplocs. Mushrooms are in the brown paper bag (which I will reuse until it disintegrates). When I get my sewing machine fixed I'll be stitching up some cloth bags from old towels so I won't even need paper or plastic, because I've discovered cloth works great for storing produce. To wit:

Doing away with plastic produce bags meant experimenting with produce storage in the fridge. For awhile I just tossed everything into the drawer without any kind of 'wrapper.' It worked fine, but it made the bottom of the drawer kind of messy, which was a pain to clean. Now, I lay a clean towel on the bottom and make a little nest for the carrots and celery. The broccoli is released from its rubber bands and laid on the other side, and the lettuce lays on top, covered with another towel so the leaves don't rip when I open the drawer. Shrooms on the side.

This system is working really, really well for me. The produce stays just as fresh as when bagged in plastic. If I run out of room in the drawer, I usually chop up the lettuce and store it in a covered glass bowl in the fridge. I cannot tell you how happy I am not having those flimsy plastic bags around anymore! Now before I head to the grocery store I stop and make sure I have a few plastic Ziploc bags along just in case. (I have lots of these I reuse year after year for freezing berries.) It is just that important to me now. Ziplocs are particularly handy for bulk items.

Just write the bin number right on the bag! The next time I fill it up at the store, I'll just scratch out the old number and write in the new one. I always transfer bulk items to glass jars when I get home, and I find I often don't even need to rinse out the Ziplocs -- just a good shake does the trick. Plus they are way easier to clean than the other bags.

The last time I was at the market I asked the cashier whether it bugged her when people don't bag their produce. Is it a pain to gather up all of those loose apples? Do you hate dealing with wet lettuce? She told me absolutely not -- she loves it when people skip the plastic. Whew. Everyone is happy now.