One of my Earth Day goals is to make or buy some produce bags to bring with me to the grocery store so that I won't need to keep taking those flimsy plastic bags anymore. I haven't actually made any yet, but I did find a couple of great tutorials:
Craftzine has a link to a PDF tutorial for some gorgeous homemade produce bags designed by Betz White - made from a lightweight organic cotton gauzy material. The project is from her new book Sewing Green (which I just ordered from Amazon and can't wait to dive into!) Don't you just love the colorful, hand-stamped leaf designs? I'm thinking Christmas gifts already!
Craftstylish has another tutorial for produce bags made from inexpensive mesh material. My only question is - do they make a non-plastic version of this type of material? Or...could you make one from an upcycled onion bag?
I've made kitchen scrubbies from old onion bags...so why not a produce bag?
Well....low and behold...someone has already thought of the onion bag idea. The search terms produce bag from onion bag turned up this dandy little number: an onion bag with crocheted handles! OMG - don't you love the power of Google?!! I just might have to learn how to crochet so I can make one of these nifty little bags!
Wonderful ideas to solve a constant problem for those of us without a vegetable garden. Thank you so much for posting this and all the links.
Posted by: graceonline | April 18, 2009 at 03:43 PM
Thanks for all the links. I'm really tempted to make some but have a question. If you use these bags at a typical grocery store, or even at a farmers market, how do they weigh the produce? Do they have to take it out of the bag each time? Call me stingy but I don't want to pay extra (the weight of my bags) for not using their bags. Thanks!
Posted by: Katie | Runawayoctober | April 18, 2009 at 04:56 PM
Good question Katie - I think produce bags are typically made out of very lightweight gauze or mesh material so that the weight of the bag would not be an issue. If you use a heavier bag then you could certainly have the produce weighed separately but I'm guessing that is an extra step that most people probably don't want to bother with.
Mindful Momma
Posted by: Micaela | April 20, 2009 at 09:31 AM
My husband and I have talked about making that switch (we already have an army of big shopping totes) but he says that he likes how the plastic produce bags keep the food from spoiling a little bit longer. How well do the cloth produce bags keep food from spoiling in the refrigerator? If nothing else, I do reuse the spent plastic produce bags as backup doggie pickup bags in addition to our supply of doggie biobags. We have to pick up and bag pet waste per our HOA (and it's just good manners too.)
Posted by: Condo Blues | April 22, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Hi there. Thanks for linking to my blog! I love the other ideas for produce bags.
For Katie who has a question about weight. For the mesh onion bags, they are so lightweight they really don't amount to anything. The only extra weight would come from the type of yarn you use. I suppose this would vary depending on what you used.
If you are worried about paying for extra weight, you could weigh the empty bags and record that on a tag attached to the bag, which could then be deducted from the weight of produce.
Most of the bulk stores I go to are happy to do this with my reusable containers that I bring in.
Cheers,
Amber
Posted by: Amber | April 23, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!
Posted by: Politics Dissertation | January 13, 2010 at 04:21 AM
Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!
Posted by: Politics Dissertation | January 13, 2010 at 04:24 AM
Being healthy isn't just about eating organic. It's about persevering our environment. I think so many people litter because they don't spend time in nature. If you spent more time in nature and enjoyed it. They would respect their environment more. It only takes one person to encourage other people to do something. If you step up and stop using so many plastic bags you can encourage other people to do so as well.
Posted by: grass fed beef manitoba | April 09, 2012 at 11:12 AM
I have been making my own grocery bags for a couple of years. When I get home from the grocery store(the clerks always comment positively on the bags), I wash my lettuce and put it in my old tupperware. For long items like celery, onions, kales etc, I have started using the bags from the newspaper. Everything gets reused and recycled and stays fresh.
Posted by: arlene seckel | June 30, 2012 at 02:41 PM
Good for you Arlene - keep up the great, green work!
Posted by: Micaela | July 02, 2012 at 08:00 AM