I used to see a lady at Kroger’s from time to time that brought in her own grocery bags, but I haven’t seen her in a while. I’ve come to the conclusion that I may be the only shopper in town to bring my own reusable shopping bags – totes, really.
My understanding is that stores are either going to begin taxing the use of those god-awful plastic grocery bags or do away with them altogether and go to paper.
While paper is much better, nothing is as good as one of the shopping bags that you can buy for a buck or two.
As I have written, my granddaughter Berkley gave me three bags for Christmas and now I panic if I don’t have them.
I go to the store often, and I have found I can get $80 or $90 worth of groceries in just 2 of those bags. I ring the stuff up myself and put the heavy cans on the bottom, then fill the bags so the light stuff is on top. Often, in one of the bags, I’ll put the cold things on the bottom, all together, and it is self-insulating.
When you put the grocery bags in the back, they stay put. They don’t spill over with cantaloupes and apples playing pinball on the way home. The bread is never crushed and no eggs are ever broken.
Even if you discount the environmental factor, you are crazy not to use reusable grocery bags.
The secret is habit. Once you make three successive trips to the grocery store and use those bags, you’ll never revert to plastic. After each use, I put the bags beside the door and put them in my car so they are always in the front seat with me.
Do yourself a favor. Buy four of those bags, put them in the front seat and use them. They’re great.
