When I lived in Mexico, all of us ladies used to carry around Mexican market bags - frankly, because "women be shoppin'," and the bags hold a ton. In the Yucatan, these bags are usually a plastic woven mesh with plaid; in Oaxaca, they're made out of a vinal-esque panel that's reinforced at the edges. Either version allows one to carry bricks a long distance without breaking the bag. I make this last comment both for emphasis, and because we actually did see construction workers use these bags for this purpose. But I digress.
While I realize that using one's own bags to bag groceries isn't a radical new idea - though, from watching others at the grocery store and market, a drastically ignored and underutilized one - it's an important one. I can fit a large shopping trip's worth of groceries into 3 bags, which is impressive to me.
I also keep one of the bags in my car at all times, to help with unplanned errands to Target, the mall, drugstores, etc. Nothing is more priceless than the look on the salesperson's face when you refuse the fancy department store bag in favor of slipping your purchases in a giant vinal bag with a side panel written in Spanish.
Just something to keep in mind as you green your lifestyles. These bags are available in all parts and markets in Mexico for anywhere between $1US and $5US, but tote bags work well. Ask any educator if you'd like to start using tote bags for these types of purposes - teachers have more access to unused tote bags than any profession I know.
Over the course of many trips to visit various areas of Mexico, I accumulated quite a quantity of market bags of various shapes and sizes...honestly, sometimes without fully realizing how many I owned. I began to use these bags as gift bags, as well as for my "teacher/work bag" to transport anything between work and home. However, a stock pile of the larger ones still remained.
When Wally and I moved here two years ago, and were having the first merge of our belongings, I found myself having to defend my need for somewhere near 85 Mexican market bags - as, to Wally's (accurate) observation, the frequency with which they were used was disproportionate to the number of bags I possessed. Yet when Wally and I were adding green components to our lifestyle, these bags naturally came back into play, particularly as we slowly rid our lifestyle and home of plastic bags, paper bags, and sandwich bags.While I realize that using one's own bags to bag groceries isn't a radical new idea - though, from watching others at the grocery store and market, a drastically ignored and underutilized one - it's an important one. I can fit a large shopping trip's worth of groceries into 3 bags, which is impressive to me.
I also keep one of the bags in my car at all times, to help with unplanned errands to Target, the mall, drugstores, etc. Nothing is more priceless than the look on the salesperson's face when you refuse the fancy department store bag in favor of slipping your purchases in a giant vinal bag with a side panel written in Spanish.
Just something to keep in mind as you green your lifestyles. These bags are available in all parts and markets in Mexico for anywhere between $1US and $5US, but tote bags work well. Ask any educator if you'd like to start using tote bags for these types of purposes - teachers have more access to unused tote bags than any profession I know.
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