Beyond Reusable Totes

At this point reusable totes have become a way of life for most of us. I keep a couple in each of my purses for unexpected errands and have found them surprisingly useful on vacations when we decide to go on an impromptu picnic or end up needing an extra beach bag. Of course the place we all probably use them most is at the grocery store. The part that always drove me crazy about that was that I used to use paper grocery bags for recycling or art projects, so I never felt like I was wasting them. It was those plastic bags full of produce and bulk bin items that just got tossed every time. Add in ziploc bags used for food storage or snacks and that's a whole lot of wasted plastic bags (sure, you can rinse and reuse a ziploc, but they start to get pretty weak after a couple times).

All of that is why I started to explore the world beyond the reusable tote. And guess what? Most of these bags are actually better suited to their purposes and more convenient (not to mention prettier) than the plastic bags you're used to. Here are a few to consider:

Produce bags by Love for Earth and Baggu. These are ideal produce bags because the checker can easily identify what you have without opening the bag.

Bulk bin bags by Chow Chow, Elly Bags, and Wonder Thunder.

Sandwich bags by Love for Earth. These are easy to shake out or rinse out for cleaning and some are even insulated.

Snack bags by Evelyn Fields. These are great for one day use, but you wouldn't want to store food in them overnight because it will go stale.