My time-wasting poll: Do you use ziploc bags?

[Julie in CA]

I'm deliberately generalizing the options, and I'm not even putting in an "other" option. :D Please choose the option *closest* to what you do. If you *even some of the time* wash your ziplocs, you should vote that as a yes, you wash & reuse.

 

Thanks!

Edited November 23, 2011 by Julie in CA

[Annie G]

Always throw out after one use except that when I use one bag all week for the 'bread' we have for breakfast or dinner. If we have leftover biscuits, garlic bread, or rolls, I put them in a quart size bag. They're eaten the next day and I use the bag for whatever is left again...until the end of the week. We never have more than 2 rolls, etc. left.

 

I just realized I almost always have something left over, which the teens use for a snack. Maybe I should find a better storage solution instead of the 52 ziplocs I use per year just for that!

 

BTW- never wash the bag between uses...just use it for a week and then toss.

[LaxMom]

I don't use them. I own some, but I don't know why... Probably a project of some sort.

[Mothersweets]

I love ziplocs. I use them once and toss. Yeah, I know - not great for the environment but they are great for my sanity.

[Chelle in MO]

We use them all around the house. I wash quart and gallon sizes if they've had things in them that would be easy to wash off--bread, crackers, etc.

[MamaT]

I use them, and do not wash them. My mil does, though. It kind of grosses me out - maybe just because it brings her to mind. :001_smile:

[Chelle in MO]

I use them, and do not wash them. My mil does, though. It kind of grosses me out - maybe just because it brings her to mind. :001_smile:

 

Just so you're not grossed out next time you come to my house ;) ...I keep washed bags separate from new ones and use them only for times when food won't touch them--like for chips that are still in their original bag or a collection of tea bags that are still in paper wrappers (I make sure the bags don't smell icky)--or for things like toys, batteries, playing cards.

[Farrar]

I'm trying to use them less, but they're so darn useful. I do wash and reuse unless they're really grody.

[LAS in LA]

I was raised to wash and reuse. This was part of our religion (Mennonite). :D

[MamaT]

Just so you're not grossed out next time you come to my house ;) ...I keep washed bags separate from new ones and use them only for times when food won't touch them--like for chips that are still in their original bag or a collection of tea bags that are still in paper wrappers (I make sure the bags don't smell icky)--or for things like toys, batteries, playing cards.

 

I wouldn't be grossed out at your house! It's the bringing mil to mind that makes my stomach roll. :001_smile:

[Wheres Toto]

I use and toss them if they were used for food, especially foods that are liquid or gooey.

 

I use them over and over again (mostly without washing) if they were used to hold toys or items for projects.

[courtney.byrum]

I use and toss them if they were used for food, especially foods that are liquid or gooey.

 

I use them over and over again (mostly without washing) if they were used to hold toys or items for projects.

 

 

:iagree:That's what we do here too. They mostly get used for toy sorting, epi pen, etc. Not so often in the house for food just on trips.

[Chelle in MO]

I wouldn't be grossed out at your house! It's the bringing mil to mind that makes my stomach roll. :001_smile:

 

Well, get on over here, then! Just don't invite mil. ;)

 

My sister has a mil that would make your skin crawl, I'm sure. She sprays Raid INTO THE CABINETS--dishes, pans, the whole nine yards. I'm so glad I'll never have occasion to go to her house! Nasty!

[Desert Rat]

I use and toss. I know it's not ecologically friendly. I don't like used bags and I don't like containers for everything. Sometimes it's just gotta be a bag.

Hey! And thanks, Julie, for letting me get some time wastin' in before I have to return to the kitchen. :)

[Susan in TN]

If they've held meat, soup, or liquidy things, I throw them. Bread or double-wrapped food I'll wash and reuse. My Boy Scouts re-use for backpacking trips but they do not get washed :tongue_smilie:.

 

Speaking of MILs and pesticide, my inlaws keep rat poison EVERYWHERE in their house - even in their kitchen cupboards and pantry. I get so paranoid having my kids there and eating food that's been near the rat poison.

[LaxMom]

Well, get on over here, then! Just don't invite mil. ;)

 

My sister has a mil that would make your skin crawl, I'm sure. She sprays Raid INTO THE CABINETS--dishes, pans, the whole nine yards. I'm so glad I'll never have occasion to go to her house! Nasty!

 

:svengo: :ack2:

[MamaT]

Well, get on over here, then! Just don't invite mil. ;)

 

My sister has a mil that would make your skin crawl, I'm sure. She sprays Raid INTO THE CABINETS--dishes, pans, the whole nine yards. I'm so glad I'll never have occasion to go to her house! Nasty!

 

If I ever get to MO (never been), I will definitely stop by. :001_smile: Don't worry - mil only speaks to me twice a year, and then she's not nice (I'm still an outsider after 30 years) - I won't bring her.

[Chelle in MO]

If I ever get to MO (never been), I will definitely stop by. :001_smile: Don't worry - mil only speaks to me twice a year, and then she's not nice (I'm still an outsider after 30 years) - I won't bring her.

 

The door will be open, and oh, my gosh--her loss, I'm sure.

[Kathleen in LV]

I use ziplocs in the freezer to store open bags of frozen fruit and vegetables. If I finish a bag of fruit or vegetables, I keep the ziploc in the freezer to reuse the next time I have an open bag of that same item.

 

I also save old bread/roll bags. I clean them out & use them when I bake my own bread.

 

I just can't see the point in throwing away a perfectly good bag. And I don't consider myself "green", I just don't like to waste things.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I love ziplocs. I use them once and toss. Yeah, I know - not great for the environment but they are great for my sanity.

:iagree:

[AuntieM]

I have tried to cut down on using them, and have managed to learn to use nonconsumable containers for most things at home, but I cannot completely break the habit. They are just tooooooo convenient, especially when camping/traveling.

 

I am a single use & tosser now, but years ago when the budget was super tight, I washed and reused than.

[Shellers]

I use ziplocks and then toss.

 

My mom's ex mother-in-law would use ziplocks and then wash and reuse and she is a millionaire!

[mommaduck]

It depends upon what they are used for. Meat or oogie liquid, we will toss it after. Otherwise, wash and reuse.

 

I love to pre-chop onion, peppers, etc and freeze them. I like using ziplocks for just about everything. I have jewelry sorted in sandwich size before placed in the plastic tubs (I can't risk letting this stuff hang). I sort hairbobs, ponytail holders, barrettes, hair pins, etc in them. Flash cards and card games, yep. Fabric, yarn, needles, etc, yep. Sugar and flour bags that tend to "leak", right into the ziplock bag. <3 ziplock!

[TheReader]

Because we bring them over from the US, as the ones here are very poor quality, I do wash & reuse. I never did this when in the US, and NEVER wash & reuse ones that had raw meat in them.

 

But we often, for instance, use the gallon size freezer bags to pack Lego sets for carrying over in our suitcases. Once the Legos are out and sorted, I give a rinse and put them in the kitchen drawer. Then we use them for storing the deli meats and cheeses that do not stay wrapped properly, so they don't dry out/get all hard in the fridge. Then they will be reused for that purpose until such time as we run out of new ones and need to separate meat for the freezer, at which point I'll put meat in and once they reach that, they go in the trash.

 

If I had easy, inexpensive access to good quality ziplock bags, I would probably not rinse/reuse.

[Ellie]

You're so brave not to include an "other" option! :lol:

[DawnM]

I use and toss for the most part, unless it is for things like chips and not too greasy.

 

I also use them for scout awards for the pack. I can't think of another way to get them in individual containers that zip up so the boys don't lose them.

 

Dawn

[Amira]

Because we bring them over from the US, as the ones here are very poor quality, I do wash & reuse. I never did this when in the US, and NEVER wash & reuse ones that had raw meat in them.

 

But we often, for instance, use the gallon size freezer bags to pack Lego sets for carrying over in our suitcases. Once the Legos are out and sorted, I give a rinse and put them in the kitchen drawer. Then we use them for storing the deli meats and cheeses that do not stay wrapped properly, so they don't dry out/get all hard in the fridge. Then they will be reused for that purpose until such time as we run out of new ones and need to separate meat for the freezer, at which point I'll put meat in and once they reach that, they go in the trash.

 

If I had easy, inexpensive access to good quality ziplock bags, I would probably not rinse/reuse.

 

I'm pretty much like this too. Ziplocs are precious here and I wouldn't ever throw one away unless it was completely useless. I did wash freezer ziplocs in the US since they're thicker and easier to wash, but usually I didn't wash regular ziplocs.

 

I don't expect that I'll go back to throwing them away if I live in the US again though. They're easy to wash out and it would feel wasteful to me now to throw them away after one use.

[6packofun]

This is what I meant by voting that we wash and re-use. We do that for any bags that held NON-meat/poultry/liquid items.

 

We store tortillas, biscuits, cookies, fresh fruits and veggies, blanched veggies that are then frozen...puzzles and game pieces, all sorts of things. I'm not a real stickler about washing the bags, though.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I wash and reuse ones that did not hold meat. If I use them for food it is usually for uncooked ingredients, not for actual leftovers which go in reusable containers.

[melissel]

I use them very, very rarely, though I do own several boxes leftover from preschool activity-bag-type projects. Those will probably last me the rest of my life :lol: When I do use them, though, I wash and re-use as long as they didn't have meat or anything moldy in them.

[Julie in CA]

You're so brave not to include an "other" option! :lol:

I'm feeling like a renegade, for sure! :D

[ElizaG]

We have a cookbook from 1960 that gives some very modern, high-tech advice on the subject :D :

 

"Plastic bags are indispensable for keeping salad ingredients fresh and crisp. But the bags in which various things have been stored are often a problem to keep fresh and clean. Try putting them into the electric washing machine along with the rest of the things to be washed. Then hang them on the line by pushing the center seam up from underneath the line and fastening the bag on the line with a pinch clothespin."

[JennyD]

We have a cookbook from 1960 that gives some very modern, high-tech advice on the subject :D :

 

"Plastic bags are indispensable for keeping salad ingredients fresh and crisp. But the bags in which various things have been stored are often a problem to keep fresh and clean. Try putting them into the electric washing machine along with the rest of the things to be washed. Then hang them on the line by pushing the center seam up from underneath the line and fastening the bag on the line with a pinch clothespin."

 

I remember my grandma washing out bread bags and hanging them on the clothesline.

 

I love ziploc bags and use them frequently. I salve my conscience by washing and reusing, unless they were used for raw meat (in which case I toss). DH, however, loathes washing and drying these bags, and so I suspect that when he is on dish duty they wind up in the garbage.

[Tap]

I said wash and reuse.....but that is a 'sometimes' and not a rule.

 

I reuse bags, but not ones used for wet food like meat. I toss those.

 

I do reuse bags, like the one I put my daughters yogurt container in for daycare. I rinse the bag and ice pack daily (no food actually touches it), toss the ice pack in the zip bag and refreeze for the next day.

 

I reuse bags used to store non-food items. I have a special place for non-food bags.