Reusable Bags & Reusable Storage Options for Bulk Food Items
June 14, 2008 by Jennifer
In the previous bulk food post we looked at why you should buy bulk. Now we’ll look at options for carrying your bulk food. Stores offer plastic bags and twist ties, and neither are too eco-friendly. Here’s all your options…
The small green step – plastic bags from the store:
Bulk food is an excellent eco-option. Even if you use nothing but plastic bags to store your bulk food items in, you’re still coming out ahead eco-wise in my opinion. Most food items aren’t just packaged once, but two and three times. Consider oatmeal – you’ve got the box, plus little packages of oatmeal, so it’s twice packaged. Crackers often come packaged in a box, then also plastic bags or wraps on the inside. So, even though plastic bags suck, you may be doing better by buying bulk in plastic bags. It’s a small step.
You can make this small step even better if you always reuse your bags for your next trip to the bulk food section.
A bigger green step – refillable plastic containers:
If you want to take a bigger step, you can buy a decent set of lightweight containers and use them for buying bulk. At one co-op I frequented, they even had a list of typical container weights, so at the check out, you’d say, I brought my own container for shampoo, or cereal, and they’d deduct that weight from the cost.
Some might argue that buying plastic containers is a non-eco choice. However, if you’re using them to carry bulk food, I still think it’s a pretty good choice. A decent set of plastic containers will last forever, especially if all you’re doing is carrying bulk food around in them. Also, containers, over most bags, have the advantage of no leaks. Of course if you buy items like peanut butter and honey in bulk, you’ll have no choice – bags won’t be an option, plastic is one of the only choices. You can get glass containers, but you’ll need to know the pre-filled weight, and not drop them.
Biggest green steps – eco-bulk storage options:
Burlap bags can be used to store coffee, tea, pasta, beans, and more – anything not dusty (like flour). Although, I’ve used burlap baggies for herbs, and other small grains with no problem. It’s really going to depend on the burlap bags you own. Some have tighter fibers than others.
[burlap from Garb the World]
Kootsac re-usable bulk storage bags from Kootsac at Etsy are a really great option. These bags hold everything; spices, flour, beans, coffee, and more. The bags are lightweight, strong, reusable, washable and fasten with a twist tie (although, I wouldn’t use a twist tie. Plus they come in tons of size choices. This is maybe the best option I’ve seen for bulk food.
About the twist ties:
Don’t use the twist ties from the store if you can help it. They’re a mess of materials usually, and while they’re small, a lot will add up. What I do is use stickers – just little paper stickers that you can toss in with your recycling. I use those tiny garage sale price-tag stickers; so one pack very well could last you the rest of your life.
Stay tuned for a few more eco-smart bulk food storage options…
So far the only things I buy in bulk are popcorn, sugar, flour, salt, and trail mix when I buy it. I re-use the plastic bags and have the price on them already. For my olive oil and soy sauce I have plastic bottles that I use to refill the glass ones that are in the cabinet. I hadn’t thought of using burlap bags, will have to look into that, thanks!!
We don’t have bulk liquid items at our local groceries, but there are a ton of other things. The only thing I don’t like is the clear plastic bins. I try to find the ones that look like wooden barrells.
I like zip top bags because even the cheap ones can be washed and re-used. I also store things in yogurt containers, sour cream, butter tubs, and those big gallon ice cream buckets. Those gallon buckets are great for berries, herb picking, and anything else you need a small bucket with a handle for.
Julie – the empty yougurt (etc) containers is such a great idea! I never thought about that, although you’d think I would have. I’ll add that to the next post on this topic. I don’t like ziplocks – I know you can wash them, but so many people won’t that I hate to recommend them. Also, I think there are longer lasting options.
Kisha – cool that you’re buying some bulk. I try to buy what I can in bulk before hitting the rest of the store, but my bulk section is missing some items, like cereal
If I lived near a co-op they’d have cereal in bulk for sure.
I’ve never thought about where my recycled stuff goes after the truck picks it up until today. I found out that most of our paper, plastic, and metals go to China! Our glass we have to pay for someone to store (90 miles away). Our trash goes even further to a landfill in Oregon. Disgusting.
My goal now is to work towards a zero-waste household. I found this in search for what I could use as the plastic bag alternatives in bulk bins.
Another alternative might be to use paper bags and then shred and compost them.
I think our top priorities should be 1. reducing the amount of stuff we buy and then throw away. 2. learning how to process the waste ourselves (through composting) and then 3. recycling whatever we can’t eliminate. I only wish these bags were made out of an earth-friendly material. Better than nothing though.
gosh! That is the solution for my problem, even if overhere, they still do’nt have many bulkitems, but slowly, they’re getting there. do those bags weigh a lot? they don”t seem heavy…
Reusable bags are the best. A great bag that I’ve found is at http://www.RuMeBags.com. I always see more and more people using them in the grocery stores and markets- it’s great!