How can you possibly use cloth bags for shopping?

Question

First off I am 16, so if there is something I don't understand please teach me.

Anyway, we going shopping twice a months for groceries. (That's when my mom gets paid.)

We end up with the car piled full of grocers and end up spending about 200 dollars. How could we possibly use cloth bags for all that? We would need like 30 cloth bags!

In the summer we grow a garden with tomatoes, bell peppers, canteloupe, okra, eggplant, banana peppers, green beans, and sweet potatoes so we don't buy quite as much, but we still get alot.

Answer 1

You can fit a lot of food in three or four bags - and even if you only use two and the rest plastic your helping the environment.

Answer 2

another way to be eco-freindly is by re using cardboard boxes to take groceries to the car. If you shop only once a month than you probably have too much to use your own bags.

Answer 3

When I was a teen, back in the '70s, there was an ecology trend, much like today's global warming/green movement. Back then we learned about concepts that are used every day now, like recycling plastic, glass, and aluminum to make every day items.

ANY plastic/paper bag not used is still being green. At our Trader Joe's store, for every person who brings in their own bags, they have tickets for gift card raffles. Even our Albertson's major grocery sells bags made from recycled stuff for $1.

I have 5 canvas bags. My groceries use least 15 plastic bags, without the canvas bags. (Family of 4 w/ 2 teens)  I only use about 6 or 7 plastics when I use the canvas, which will hold more than a plastic.

Good for you on growing your own veggies! Healthy and green! :)

Answer 4

I use cloth bags for my groceries and you can fit a whole lot in them. I once fit five two liter bottles of soda, 2 boxes of cearel, and 2 magazines in one bag. They help soooooo much!!!!

Answer 5

It's possible and should be. In Europe people use their own boxes or bags. You can save onion bags orange bags go to restaurants and ask for cabbage bags. Used pillow cases etc. one can be creative if necessary. I live in the country and have the same problems. We also recycle plastic bags. Sometimes if you desire to use them a second trip you can double the strength by putting one inside the other. Just be creative.

Answer 6

try cutting off the things tht is not nessecary......?

Answer 7

well, being a single mother, i am definitely on a budget, but if you just start buying 3 or 4 cloth bags at a time, soon you will have enough to use all the time.  Plus most cloth bags are bigger, so wont need as many anyway.

Answer 8

What????

You just use cloth bags instead of plastic. They are reusable and you don't end up with 30 plastic bags that will end up in a landfill somewhere.

It's not exactly complicated hon.

Edited to reply to your add-on:

Just buy a couple at a time. Seriously, there is no excuse to not at least try to slowly move away from plastic bags.

Answer 9

Go to a military surplus store and get a bunch of green duffel bags. Have everyone in the family drag one each into the food market. Then you can really look stupid.

Most of the people who use cloth bags live alone and think everyone else does too.

Just do what you need to do to live your life--good luck.

Answer 10

Even Wal-Mart sell canvas bags now, I have one.  Yes, if you have to buy 30 canvas bags, oh well!  That is only 30 bucks, and you don't have to buy them all at once if you can't afford them.  Plastic is much worse than paper, so if you HAVE TO choose, choose wisely and with intent - rather than blindly and carelessly.  

My Dear child........ everyone of us HUMANS on this planet can do something to make it less stressful on the planet itself.  We take, take, and then take more, going green is our way of giving back to our MOTHER-Earth.  So, Like, yes 30 bags needed, 30 bags to buy.  It is that simple, really.

Answer 11

You don't necessarily need to "buy" new canvas bags. I have a hemp bag that I knit and can hold two weeks worth of groceries, but that also folds small enough to fit in my purse. I have another bag made out of an old money bag. It's not hard to stitch up bags out of old cloth from around home - old bed sheets, jeans and t-shirts can all make reuseable bags quite quickly - and in my opinion they look WAY more fun. That being said, yeah it's not always possibly to use cloth bags, but have you considered taking plastic bags to be reused when you shop? I also support the use of bins or cardboard boxes - because hey, they hold more stuff and that means fewere trips from the car to the house. ;)

Answer 12

you'll bring the bags...

Answer 13

The Ideal thing to do would be to use reusable cloth bags...BUT you are right-it isn't always possible and might be too much of a problem for your mom.

The perfect thing to do would be to REUSE the existing bags.   Ask for Paper bags at the store and REUSE them.  bring them with you to the store each time and fold them up for use again and again until you need to replace them.  Then just put them in your paper recycle.

That would give them many lives!

You can do the same with Plastic Bags...but inevitably plastic would end up in a landfill and take a long time to biodegrade. BUT reusing plastic bags is still a better alternative than just tossing them!

You can sometimes buy bags from your grocers (most have them for about 99 cents.)  These are usually cloth or cloth like material that can be used for a long time.  She would have to buy many of these I guess!

Whatever you do it is a step in the right direction!  I am proud of you for thinking so responsibly.

:-)

Answer 14

well you can use paper and then recycle them later

Answer 15

Well here's a question for you - how many paper/plastic bags do you use on a given shopping trip?

My wife and I also go grocery shopping about twice a month and spend ~$100 per trip.  We usually end up using 3-4 large canvas bags to carry these groceries.  The bags all fit inside eachother, so we just have to carry 1 canvas bag with the rest inside (and we just put it in the shopping cart).

So you might need something like 6-8 large canvas bags if you're buying $200 worth of groceries.

You can also try going once per week (just because she gets paid every 2 weeks doesn't mean you can't go shopping every week and spend half as much!), in which case you would need fewer bags.

But a big canvas bag will hold more than a paper grocery bag, and way more than a plastic grocery bag.  So you end up having fewer bags to carry which makes the trip much easier anyway!

Answer 16

Paper  - renewable resource

Plastic - non-renewable

The Stupermarkets I patronize - and there are several - ALWAYS choose plastic when I test them by answering  their  "Paper or Plastic?" question with, "Your choice".  

So I assume the vendors are less 'Eco-conscious' than their customers are.

This entry in YQA has, however, been a lesson for me...I'm going to lay-in a supply of cloth bags soonest,  Thanks.

Answer 17

You can't. It's an unrealistic idea.

Answer 18

you could use some cloth bags that's what we do you don't have to use all cloth but it does help the enviroment some

Answer 19

true but you could use a cardboard box

Answer 20

use paper/plastic many times, then recycle them at your teeter.

Answer 21

Cloth bags are really more reasonable for people who do a small amount of shopping once a week or so.  To stay green you can always recycle the plastic bags at the grocery store (I'm pretty sure most grocery stores will take the plastic bags back), ask for paper bags (trees are a renewable resource, unlike the petrolium used to make the plastic bags) or just make sure you reuse the plastic bags.  I keep all the plastic bags from my grocery store shopping and use them as lunch bags, trash bags, doggie p**p bags, etc.  

As long as you're doing one of the three R's (Reduce - paper and cloth bags, Reuse - reusing plastic bags , Recycle - paper or plastic bags ) I'd let your green concience rest.

Answer 22

You wouldn't be able to, you would have to make four separate trips!  The best way I have found to do it is use the plastic bags but then return them all to the store bag recycling center.  Every store has them in the front next to the exits (here in Southern California at least).  My wife wants me to use the cloth bags but its not practice.  Just recycle :)

Answer 23

You would probably use cloth bags for things like clothes and things you don't buy as much of. Food wouldn't be something i would put in a cloth bag they would heat up easily and possibly spoil the food.

Answer 24

I am not sure, but you could get those cargo type bags that go in your trunk/back of car. They fold up when you're not using them. They hold lots of stuff and sturdy too.  You could go thru the lina & put the stuff back in the buggy (no bag) and push them to the car  and then put them in the bag or take the totes in the store folded up.

Answer 25

Well, I live in Ontario, Canada, and I don't know about elsewhere, but here there are places that CHARGE YOU for plastic bags (5-10 cents per bag usually), so buying cloth bags here, is a little better if you shop at those places regularly.

ALSO, there's been talk about banning plastic bags in Ontario, because so many people think we don't need them (if it ever happens it won't be for a long time... but they do bring it up periodically).

It's very simple.  Buy ONE cloth bag (they're $1 each here), every time you go to the grocery store, and then (if you really think you need 30, although I doubt you'll need that many), in 30 shopping trips, you'll no longer need ANY plastic bags.

Not having money doesn't mean you can't do you part, it just means you do your part slowly.  Instead of some people who can afford the $30, you do it slowly.  Switching slowly is better than not switching at all.

Answer 26

Well most people dont do the mammoth shoping trips you do.  But you could build up a collection of cloth bags over time, or reuse the plastic ones.

Answer 27

What you may not realize is just how much cloth bags hold compared to plastic bags. From my own experience, the same amount of groceries that will fit into 4 plastic bags will easily fit into 1 cloth bag.

Edit: Wow. You are really making this harder than it has to be. The bags cost 50 cents each in most places and I've never seen them for more than $1 each. (my best friend made her own out of old blue jeans.)

I buy groceries once a week and it takes about 5 large cloth bags..compared to 15 to 20 plastic bags.

Edit: You are really starting to irritate me now. You don't have to wash the bags, silly. Your food is packaged so it can't possibly "sweat".

Answer 28

you can get these really great big ones from earthfare. its an enviormentally friendly grocery store, you might have one in your area.