I went to the grocery store, and one of the things I bought was a big tray of steaks. They were pretty juicy, so I put a plastic bag around them. Since it was a really long tray, the plastic bag didn’t cover the whole thing, but I put it in my cart with the bag on the bottom so that any drippings would be caught in the plastic and continued my shopping. When I got home, I found that the box person had put the steaks in my reusable bag with the bag on the top. There were drippings on the bottom of the bag and on my other groceries in that same bag. I was lucky that it didn’t leak out of the bag into my car. Now I could see how bacteria could get in the bags.

So took the thick plastic liner out of the bottom of the bag, wiped it down with bleach and water, and threw the rest of the bag in the washing machine. It came out fine, still holds its shape, and life goes on.

I understand how sterile disposable products can be, but we’re creating a major environmental problem with all the stuff that we throw away, especially things that aren’t biodegradable. When I went through this process, I realized that everything I buy is already packaged – in plastic, cardboard, styrofoam and glass. What did people do before all this stuff came into common, everyday use? I think they just used good old fashioned soap and water.

I think we need to reduce our use of disposable products, even if it takes a little bit of washing to make it work. Hmmm. I wonder if my laundry detergent is biodegradable…

Then I got another piece of good news.  Ralphs gives me 5 points for each reusable bag I use – each time!  That’s a nickel for each bag each time I shop!  Cool!

The next green endeavor on my mind is solar power for my house.  This costs a lot more than my reusable bags, so I don’t think it will happen as quickly, but I’ve started my research and I’m determined to make this thing happen.  But that’s another post.

Of course I had known that I should do this for some time, but…  My problem was that the grocery stores all sell bags (at very low prices) with their advertising on them.  Well, I regularly shop at three different stores.  I don’t want to go into one store with bags from another store.  And I certainly don’t want to carry three sets of bags!  But in this blog, the author gave the addresses of websites that sell reusable bags without advertising from my local grocery stores. That plus the offer of the free bag was enough to push me off the fence. So after a little research, I bought 10 bags from Bags on the Run for about $25. Plus I got the one free bag for promising to go green.

When the bags arrived, my kids were thrilled.  It’s not easy to do something right in the eyes of your teenagers, so I considered this a major victory.

But the first time I went to the store, I forgot and left the bags in the car.  This isn’t going to be easy. Old habits die hard. But tonight I stopped at the store for ‘just a few things’ and I remembered the bags. They’re bigger than plastic grocery bags and they hold their shape better. There’s a flat panel at the bottom that helps. The cashier and the box person didn’t look twice, so I must not be the only person skipping the plastic. So I’m on my way to going green – very slowly.

And I’ll never tell my kids that when I worked at the grocery store 100 years ago I used to double bag heavy groceries – in paper.