Food & Drink : Food : Reusable Food Baggies
Reusable Food Baggies

Bag Your Pardon

10.28.2009

Submitted by tmeronek on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 11:00pm.
baggies
The Bite:
Excuse us, but do you want to pack your sandwiches in something a little healthier? Apologies - we mean instead of in conventional plastic baggies. Opt for reusable food bags made with safe plastics or cotton. No problem.
The Benefits: 
  • Since they're only manufactured once, the production of one reusable bag creates fewer emissions and uses much less oil than plastic bags.
  • Stay on the safe side: While most baggies are made from relatively safe polyethylene plastic, plastic does migrate onto food. These ones are free of the hormone-disrupting BPA and phthalates found in some food containers.
  • It's forgiving for your wallet, since you can use our picks hundreds of times, making them cheaper than plastic bags.
  • Reusable bags won't quickly end up in landfills like their disposable counterparts, which are so compacted with other trash that they take thousands of years to break down.
  • You can toss these in the dishwasher or washing machine for easy cleaning.
Personally Speaking: 
We pack our lunches in an assortment of aluminum foil, reusable containers, as well as the below...occasionally giving the office at midday a grade-school cafeteria vibe.
Wanna Try: 
  • Plum Creek Mercantile Snack Bags - cotton bags with secure Velcro-type closures; good for nondrippy snacks (think pretzels); in solids, stripes, and prints; three sizes ($18/3). Enter the code IB20 during checkout to get 20% off. Offer ends Nov. 11.
  • 3greenmoms Lunch Skins - thick cotton sandwich-size bags in colorful, mod-ish prints with moisture-proof coating and Velcro-type closure for tight seal. Also: animal and fruit prints ($8-$9).
  • SnackTaxi Snack Sacks - sandwich-size, reusable cotton pouch with waterproof nylon lining; kid-friendly prints like frogs and rockets ($7-$9).
  • Wrap-N-Mat - washable, reusable sandwich wrap and place mat; with kid-friendly prints like cowboy boots and balloons ($8).
  • Acme Bags Snack Bags - organic cotton with wide, drawstring closures ($3).
  • Ziploc Evolve Sandwich Bags - if you're stuck on plastic, Ziploc's new line's made using 25% less plastic and with wind power. Packaged in 100% recycled cardboard ($3/50).

Cocktail Fact

A 2006 study found 41% of Americans admit to being so busy that they're not as polite as they'd like to be.

Bang For The Bite

If 10,000 Biters pack their sandwiches in reusable bags every day for a month, we'll keep the weight of one giant panda in sandwich bags from reaching landfills.

23 comments
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Les  on October 28, 2009 at 04:57 AM 1
can you please show us a bag that we can use when shopping for clothes? One that folds up really small and fits in a purse! thanks!
Kim G  on October 28, 2009 at 05:08 AM 2
Les: I think the Chicobag would work great for shopping for clothes. I just picked one up at Earthfare; they may carry them at Whole Foods Market as well. Or, you can order them at reusablebags.com. They fold up small and would easily fit in a purse.
Kim G  on October 28, 2009 at 05:10 AM 3
Another sandwich/lunch option I use is sending my husband his lunches in glass pyrex dishes with lids, which are sold in all of the major stores in a variety of sizes. The little custard cups with hard plastic lids are great for smaller stuff, too!
waxghost  on October 28, 2009 at 05:44 AM 4
Wouldn't good old-fashioned waxed paper work too?
Karyn Madorin  on October 28, 2009 at 06:05 AM 5
As a green personal organizer, www.extremeorganizing.com, I recommend keeping a small food container to take with when dining out. If you're someone who usually asks for a "doggie bag" this is so much better than the containers most restaurants use!!
Laura  on October 28, 2009 at 06:09 AM 6
If you're still stuck on plastic bags, or have a few more left before switching to another option, you can reuse plastic bags many many times before they truly need to be tossed. When I was a kid, my Mom would wash them out with soap and water - we probably got 50 uses out of each bag!
Amy Marella-Carpenter  on October 28, 2009 at 08:13 AM 7
I purchased a bento box like lunch box (after trying to fit reusable containers into an insulated bag) called Laptop Lunches. My son has been using it everyday for two years. I wash out the containers each evening and pack a new lunch. There's no waste to throw out and you can buy food in bulk and fill the containers. And no extra bags to purchase! Their website is http://www.laptoplunches.com/.
Chryss  on October 28, 2009 at 08:40 AM 8
Aluminum is a terrible option! Aluminum can leak into your food and has been found to cause dementia and is a neurotoxin. Please choose stainless steel, wax paper bags or non-leaching, safe plastics. Thanks.
Maggie Dillon  on October 28, 2009 at 08:41 AM 9
Another great re-usable sandwich bag option is made by eco ditty http://www.ecoditty.com/ Their bags are made from organic cotton and come in sandwich and snack sizes! Plus they're adorable!!
Zig   on October 28, 2009 at 09:04 AM 10
My dh has been taking the same insulated lunch bag to work for years. Unfortunatly it is not made from recycled products,but it had been used previously when I bought my dh something from a catalog and it had food in it. So I using it instead of using paper bags or plastic bags we are doing the right thing and keeping this out of the landfil. Zig
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