Tell Me About Your Reusable Shopping Bag & Win One
Posted on September 29, 2008 by
I have several reusable shopping bags. I have a few from my local chain of grocery stores, a couple of EarthWise bags, and a jute shopping bag from Simple.
Not only are reusable bags eco-friendly, but I love that my groceries don’t get packed in 18 gazillion separate bags, I have good handles to hang on to, and the flat bag bottoms keep my groceries from shifting in the car. I also love going to the grocery story and seeing other people’s grocery bags, hemp, recycled plastic, organic cotton, lightweight bags that scrunch up to fit in a purse.
It’s another way to express myself, and it’s also a little like being a part of a club, because when I see someone else carrying their groceries in a reusable bag, I think, “Oh cool! You’re in on it too!” Yeah, I know, I’m kind of dorky. But it’s nice to see other people out in the world who care enough to BYOB.
TerraCycle was kind enough to send me the grocery bag picture above. It’s made from recycled Target bags. It’s roomy, sturdy, and it’s pretty darn cute.
What does your grocery bag look like? Or if you don’t have one, let me know why you haven’t made the switch to bringing your own bag yet. Leave me a comment, and you could win the TerraCycle Target bag.
To enter, sign in with a valid e-mail address and leave a comment below. Only one comment/entry on this post per person will be counted. Check out new posts later in the week, because I’ll give you a chance to enter again and increase your chance of winning. The giveaway will close on Sunday, October 5th, at noon (Eastern), and I’ll draw a name out of a hat to determine the winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, October 6th. Comments that appear to be spam will not be counted.
Good luck!
I have so many of these things I don’t know where to stop!
My current favourite is my Cath Kidston one made from recycled plastic bottles. I wrote about it here:
http://myecoself.blogspot.com/2008/08/cath-kidston-shopping-bag.html
The one I don’t have, but wish I did, is this yellow trolley I almost bought in Paris last week - I should have done. I love it, it’s so sturdy and so yellow.
http://myecoself.blogspot.com/2008/09/yellow-fever.html
I have a whole bunch of these bags. Two from Whole Foods, two from Trader Joe’s, and a couple of totes. But I could always use one more!
I have *dozens* of reusable bags…roomy canvas totes I got on clearance at Old Navy, nylony t-shirt shaped bags I got online, freebies from all over the place. I love ‘em all. My favs are the colorful t-shirt shaped ones from Delight.com and the recycled Target one in your pic. I actually asked my kids to get it for my b’day in May! One word of advice to BYOB newbies: try to avoid the ubiquitous looks-like-fabric-but-it’s-plastic-polymer bags that you see with store logos for about 99 cents. In my experience, they’re flimsy and have to be repaired after less than a year of use. I’d bet lots of people just toss ‘em out of frustration.
Keep the bags in your car or purse. There are bags from reusablebags.com, delight.com, and chicobags.com (+more) that are specifically designed to fold or stuff into little pockets and they weigh nothing. Easy to remember and use!
I realized over the weekend that I actually have too many reusable totes. I like to do my grocery shopping in small bursts, so I rarely go through the four that I keep in my car. And then over last weekend, I gained a whole bunch more by going to the booksellers conventions. All of my totes advertise either books or publishers, and my favorite is the McGraw Hill one that is the size of an IKEA tote. (it’s huge.) I can do all my grocery shopping with that one bag alone.
I have so many but they always end up hanging on my dining room chairs instead of in my car. UGH!! I “punish” myself by not accepting bags at the store and just placing everything in my trunk and then making several trips back in to the house. I know, I have weird rules for myself! I can only look at this website after getting a ton of work done at work and can only look at my fave health site after I’ve worked out extra hard.
The one’s I have are really nothing to write about: white canvas. They have the logo of the grocery store we shop at on them but I turn the bag inwards so no one see it (I hate advertising through labels).
About a year ago Wolf and I went grocery shopping. As we stood in the check out line the teen boy who rung us up asked me “what’s this?” with every single vegetable he picked up except the potatoes. I asked him “don’t you eat veggies” and he said no. Then he commented that most of our order was veggies and fruits. He seemed way beyond perplexed.
I have lots of reusable totes and bags, and most of them live in my car. My favorite is the Acme Workhorse: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/acme-bags™-workhorse-style-1500-p-1.html
This bag is great because it’s small enough to carry in purse! It’s easy to always have one with you, and great for places where you might not think about taking your other totes…like the mall.
I love my reusable grocery bags…I have various kinds but the ones i love the most (and which happened to be my first as well) say “Neither” on them…
http://www.green-kits.com/tejrn.html
And, since this is my first comment since all of your changes I just want to let you know I think the site looks awesome! Way to go
My favorite is one of those string bags that hold an insane amount.
But I also have tons of bags that I use as grocery bags.
Since we often ride to the grocery, I go often and don’t need too many grocery bags!
Good for reusable bags and all, but I go one better: I use one of our recycling boxes to get my groceries home. But you knew that.
Just when I thought the folks at Kroger had finally gotten used to my crazy tree-huggin’ ways, today I had a new cashier (Brenda) who was very worried that my cart full of unbagged groceries would raise too much suspicion in the parking lot. She actually told the high school kid doing the (not)bagging to accompany me to my vehicle, just in case. Thankfully he ignored that idea.
(Oh, and thanks for the potential bag, but I’m happy with my box. I respectfully withdraw my name from the drawing.)
[...] don’t forget to tell me about your reusable shopping bag here for a chance to win [...]
My resusable shopping bags are:
1. A denim bag with the Canadian flag on it. I shall be retiring it for a quilt bag soon.
2. 2 bags that advertise some kind of IT business that I got at a show
3. A humongous COSTCO bag that everybody stares at. It must hold like 5 or 6 grocery bags worth. I only put lightweight things in it.
4. Two black bags that I only paid shipping for. Good thing that is all I paid for them. They are barely worth the shipping cost.
5. Cloth produce bags.
I usually fill up all of these bags when I go grocery shopping so I am not in the enviable position of having too many yet. I think I will look cooler with a matching set but for the moment… all mismatched.
My favorite bag to take to the store was made for me about 7 years ago. My mom bought a canvas bag at the craft store (it zips closed) and painted two of my favorite scenes from “Anne of Green Gables” on both sides. I absolutely love this bag! I use it at the library, the grocery store, farmers market, to lug things up & down the stairs to my car etc…Like I said, she made it for me 7 years ago and it has been washed so many times I am amazed it is still holding on.
I have several others I have picked up over the years but my “book” bag will always be my favorite.
Um, considering Target is my favorite store and I love reusable bags, I think I should win
I bought most of my bags when they first debuted at Kroger in Nashville. They were much cheaper than buying some fancy totes, although I’m finding out they don’t hold up quite as well.
I bought a Harris Teeter tote one day when I was there and realized I’d forgotten to bring a bag. It’s my favorite one because it’s huge and sturdy.
I bought another pretty cheap tote at World Market so I’d have another sturdy bag.
And for my birthday, my friend gave me a nylon bag that folds up into a pouch and fits easily into my purse for those times I forget to grab a bag out of my car trunk on the way into a store.
Oh good I’m not too late to enter.
I use a fabric bag I picked up in Berlin last October. It is not attractive in any particular way but there is something about it which works for me - just the right size, nice and soft but strong. It also means that occasionally I get approached by Germans and have the opportunity to talk auf Deutsch for a while as they recognise the name of the German shop that it advertises on its side. It needs a wash though really - let’s hope it doesn’t shrink!
I have lots of bags, but my favorites are a set that I made several years ago. They are made of designer canvas and they both have the same color scheme of fuschia, red, black and white. One pair has circles predominantly with some stripes and the other pair has stripes mostly with some circles thrown in. I use them every week!
I use one’s from my local grocery store, one from the chinese food restaurant (given free with takeout order) and one from the cruiseline we vacation with.
I have to say, by far, I am a fan of the Wholefoods bag. I hate advertising for companies, but I will say I take great pride in the fact that my bags are a dollar each and made of 80% post-consumer recycled PET plastic bottles.
That, to me, is really cool. I carry them everywhere (and oddly get compliments).
I use the large cotton and hemp totes that they sell in Target. They come is cute patterns, and can fit most of my groceries in only one or two bags. I like that they are washable, and trendy looking, as well as the fact that as a tote I can use them for other uses, like as a gym bag, or a beach bag! Re-usable bags are great, and I try to remember to use them for all of my shopping trips.
I have so many of these and love them. Most of mine came from Trader Joes, but I’d love a Target bag!
CONTEST CLOSED
The ACME workhorse bags are great due to there small size. Envirosax has some great colors and designs. I got mine from http://www.YouShouldGoGreen.com They have great prices and fast shipping!
One of our bags came from Safeway. Although we have several more that are pressed into shopping duty, this one has found its way to the barn. We daily carry cereal, carrots and supplements to our aging horse. She can find herself anywhere on our property. The reusable shopping bag covers our needs beautifully!