food storage bags

Submitted by Christine on November 24, 2007 - 4:33pm
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Hi All,

I’ve been shopping at food co-ops all my adult life and have made my own big shopping bags to carry stuff home in for several years, although I often find myself at the store without them, so have taken home my share of paper bags too. Unfortunately, that same consciousness did not apply to the smaller fruit and vege bags we need to transport and store those foods in. Like most others (Americans?) I just used the handy plastic bags conveniently located in the produce section of stores. I always wanted to make my own storage bags, but my main rationalization for not doing so was I thought I had to store stuff in plastic in my refrigerator or it would deteriorate faster.

Well…our co-op sort of put the arm (gently) on people to move away from paper and plastic. So I decided it was time to sew up some little bags with drawstrings. VERY easy to do…just cut long rectangles – fold widthwise – sew up the sides – fold down the top and iron – unfold slightly at one side to sew two verticle buttonholes an inch apart at the bottom half of the fold – fold down again and sew around hem and another line of stitching near the top edge – thread drawstring cord attached to large safety pin through one buttonhole and out the other.

You could make them out of muslin, but I bought a bolt of unlabeled fabric several years ago at a bargain fabric store that has since closed. I am quite certain it is hemp, as I’ve worked with hemp before and it is the very same fabric.

Anyway…I have been very surprised and delighted to learn that storing food in this natural cloth keeps carrots, celery, lettuce and other greens FRESHER than in plastic! I do keep them in the vegetable bins as well as in the bags. I made about a dozen bags so I can rotate them from store to refrig to wash to store.

I'm getting much more sensitized to plastic, particularly soft plastic, as a significant endocrine disruptor.

Just a little tip!

Christine

granolamom

November 24, 2007 - 6:28pm

I keep meaning to make some grocery bags, but the larger size for transporting groceries to and from the store. never thought about produce bags. I don't store produce in plastic bags, its messy and turns me off from the food.
I can't see the cashiers at my local supermarket smiling when they have to pull out a carrot to type in the code when ringing it up. much easier when they can see through the plastic, kwim?
I wish we had a 'greener' place to shop nearby. closest wholefoods is 45 min away, can't justify the extra gas it would take to drive there, not to mention the time.

but you make it seem so easy to do, I just may start turning my extra fabric into bags. thanks for the push!

Christine

November 24, 2007 - 7:24pm

Oh yes…I forgot to mention that these bags are heavier than plastic, which certainly affects the food bill – especially if you are buying wild mushrooms! (Btw – mushrooms keep so well this way!) My co-op will discount 5 cents for every bag, which I think makes up for most of it, but I wouldn’t have the same warm and fuzzy feelings about giving that difference to the big chain stores. Carrots don’t deserve to be coded! lol

granolamom

November 24, 2007 - 9:01pm

http://diaperdivas.proboards57.com/index.cgi?board=sewalongstuts&action=...

I hope that works. she makes her produce bags out of tricot, you can see through them! so the surly cashier has no reason to pull out the poor carrots that deserve not to be coded!

Christine

November 24, 2007 - 9:45pm

Couldn’t get into the site without signing up (will forward the url to my daughter tho!)

Good idea…but does food keep as well in nylon? I love most the freshness of food kept in hemp :)

louiseds

November 24, 2007 - 10:41pm

Hey Christine

Well done on this idea. I have long thought that fresh produce does not like being wrapped in plastic.

I have for the past fifteen years or so kept a supply of recycled bags of different sizes in my nasty little orange and white 1970's makeup purse in my bag. When I get home from shopping I remove the produce from the plastic bags, wrap veges in old cotton teatowels and put them in a supermarket bag in the fridge, so why not just put them in the cloth bag at the supermarket in the first place???

I think I could get away with making the bags even simpler by making them out of the cheapest lightest cotton voile I can buy. It is not a good enough quality to make any clothing out of, and not fine enough for hankies, but would be very light in weight and wouldn't take up very much room in my bag. I don't think there would be any need for the draw string as long as the bags are deep enough to just fold the top down. Being cotton they wouldn't be slippery in the trolley, and try to empty themselves everywhere.

I could also scour the thrift shops for secondhand cotton garments and manchester items so I don't generate a demand for new fabric. Thrift shops rule!! I have found a few treasures in the last couple of weeks so am feeling over the moon. Now I only need to find an old electric coffe grinder for my flax seed!

Cheers

Louise

Christine

November 25, 2007 - 10:04am

Okay…so I laid on my pillow last night and visions of tricot, hemp, and tea towel bags went running through my head. Suddenly I remembered the net ‘dunking bags’ we made as Girl Scouts to wash our tin place settings in while camping.

I think I’m going to now buy a few yards of nylon net (see-through, light, and cheap) and make another set of bags to take to the store. Then when I bring the produce home I’ll put it directly into the hemp bags and into the fridge.

Three heads are better than one!

granolamom

November 25, 2007 - 11:52am

why does produce stay fresher longer in hemp than unwrapped?
and how do you think cotton/hemp french terry would work? just got some for my diapermaking obsession, but I think I could spare some for produce bags.

Christine

November 25, 2007 - 8:54pm

I dunno…I’ve only used these bags, so don’t know how cotton, linen or the terry would work. The weave is quite loose with this fabric, so I think the food can breathe, but is also protected from the desiccating effects of the frost-free fridge. Every time I've left produce unwrapped in my fridge it gets limp pretty quick. I’m sort of hung up on hemp I guess because it was my first attempt at this kind of storage. Let us know how the terry works if you try it - fancy diapers btw :)

alemama

November 26, 2007 - 7:23am

when I get home I put the produce in the fridge drawers and use the bags as bathroom garbage can liners. We eat produce so fast- so it never goes bad. one thing I do though is to toss a dish towel in the drawer with them-
I line the drawer with it-then dump the washed produce on top.

kiki

November 27, 2007 - 2:47pm

rather unfortunately in the UK nearly all the organic fruit / veg comes already plastic bags or containers, though sometimes in biodegradable trays. i used to get vegie boxes delivered, but it isn't practical at our new house--need to work on a lock box so that we can do that again.

but i do like the idea of little bags for them to live in once they come home to us...
i just hate the waste that happens as they make our way here!!!

since prolapsing i have gotten a rather lovely shopping trolley so that i don't carry any grocery bags if i don't have the buggy with me. they are becoming all the rage you know! ;-)

louiseds

November 27, 2007 - 5:45pm

Hi Kiki

I think it is in Sweden that shops have to take responsibility for packaging, and you are within your rights to leave all the packaging at the shop for them to dispose of. Can't see that happening in Oz for a while, but it would be interesting to try it. They can only arrest you I guess?

I think the veges just don't like having an impervious membrane up against them. What happens to your skin if you put a plastic cover over it? It goes soggy and yukky. Like animals, plants respire, and lose waste products through their skin. They are literally breathing. Fruits dry out after they have matured so the seed has a covering of dried out fruit flesh around it which helps with the germination process and provides a bit of early nourishment for the emerging seedling, so the breathability of the surface is important. eg if you put bananas in paper then in a plastic bag in the fridge they will not go black, and the paper absorbs the water vapour that comes off the bananas instead of it sitting on the skin. I think they just like a little space.

Cheers

Louise

kit

November 27, 2007 - 7:36pm

Your knowledge base is truly amazing! You are one smart cookie. I so enjoy reading your posts. Kit