My personal preference is for the Envirosax (www.envirosax.com) I buy them individually from a local store. I have about six which covers even the biggest monthly stock up trip to the supermarket.
They come in great designs and people often ask me about them- they are also incredibly strong. I have given several as gifts.
I especially like that there is no separate pouch to keep track of.
Urban Green: Reusable Shopping Bags for Folks on the Move
Photo: Andre Warchy
Trying to go green in the city? Shop frequently on foot? If so, you may be finding the freebie fabric bags with the cardboard bottom inserts a little too bulky for your pocketbook, day pack or briefcase. Speaking for myself, I sometimes forget my bags in the car or occasionally ride with someone else. Whatever your reasons for having difficulties with the traditionally styled ones, bags designed for a more intense urban lifestyle can mean the difference between walking the green line or not. To help out, I searched the internet until my eyes were bleary. Following are my top three picks for design and value, as well as some resources for the DIY crowd.
With many of the styles out there, you're lucky if they fold down at all. Hannaford bags have a decent design, and store flat in the back storage pockets of our vehicle's seat covers, and portable freezer totes. But those work well only if assuming two things. First, that it's even feasible to have a car in the city where you live. Second, that you'll remember to bring them from the car. Additionally, not every shopping trip is planned or happens when you are driving your own car. You might be walking by someplace, or carpooling with a friend. Try having a shopping bag or two that are designed to fit compactly in your purse, back pocket or messenger bag. Even soccer moms are occasionally caught without their car stash of bargain reusables.
The main purpose of this article however, is to ferret out those designs able to stand up to living in the urban jungle and perhaps meet the needs of a frequently distracted suburban blogger or two. (Who, me?) I narrowed the selection down to my top three design and value picks, and contacted the companies individually to request product samples. Next, I let them know I'd be putting the bags through their paces via field tests, and writing up the results for all of you. Without further ado, here's how it all went down.
Flip and Tumble
About the size of a peach when closed, this bag comes in fun colors with a casual yet highly functional design. The pouch remains attached to the bag and is made of a stretchier fabric than the rest of the bag, which is made of a rip-stop type of nylon. This allows for increased ease of packing when you are putting it back in your purse. (Here's a quick demonstration video.) There's also a small band of flannel sewn into the interior of the shoulder strap to assist with slippage.
The bag holds a fair amount and has enough strap room to fit over the shoulder without bulking up too much under your arm. If you are a carry-your-bag-with-your-arms-at-your-sides type of person, the flip and tumble should work fine for that as well. Since I'm vertically challenged, it drags on the ground a bit for me. Nothing that can't be solved with a wrap or two around the palm to take up the slack, though. I field tested this for smooth storage in the purse and for sturdiness when carrying canned tomato products and wine along with lighter grocery items. No straining of the seams was noticed, and the ball squishes into a flat enough state to fit in some of the narrower purse pockets. These bags are available directly from the company, and also from Amazon. The MSRP is twelve dollars. My top two favorite things about this design? No separate pieces and the no fuss pack up.
Baggu
Next on the list was the Baggu bag. These are also made of a rip-stop nylon, but with a totally different design. They have two straps instead of one, and while there's still arm room to carry a full bag over your shoulder in relative comfort, it doesn't drag on the ground for short folks like me when carried with straight arms. When field tested. It also stood up to a reasonable amount of weight and was reasonably easy to refold and put in its pouch. (Here's a video.)
If you tend to get a bit distracted with check out and cash register chaos as I do, I recommend putting the pouch in the bottom of the bag as soon as you open it. It'll be right where you need it when it comes time to fold everything back up. Not only is the storage of this bag flat enough to fit into narrower purse compartments, it's also an excellent “green for guys” design, as it can fit in whatever back pocket is not being used for your wallet. So if you're not a day pack kind of dude, you'll still be prepared. Note: trying to refold on the street in mid air isn't the easiest thing to do, as my husband found out. Most often though, you'll be repacking on your counter or table top at home where folding up is a breeze. The MSRP's range from six dollars for the baby Baggu, eight dollars for the regular, and fourteen dollars for the extra large. My top two things of note about this one were the thin, flat storage capabilities and the range of masculine and feminine colors. Available directly from the company site, or from Amazon.
RUME
A different design yet again, these bags roll up in a tube shape secured by a Velcro strap. (There's a repeating animated presentation on how to re-roll them on the front page of the web site.) This one's also a two-strapper. While not flat, it's still not exceptionally bulky either and fits easily into the front slot of my purse. This bag comes in three sizes: mini ($6.75), regular ($9.95), and macro ($11.95).
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I had the opportunity to check out all three sizes. To tell you the truth, the mini is still a pretty decent size. I took it on a Walgreen's run, and it was a comfortable size for a “just need to grab a couple of small things” trip to the store. The product features a gusseted flat bottom style and loads of color options. You can also pick them up in sets of three. As the name suggests, the bag is seriously “roomy”. Sturdily stitched and extremely comfortable to carry, this would also be an excellent bag of choice for those living in the urban jungle. These are also available from the company and Amazon. Top two things? For this one I'll have to go with the built in flat bottom design and comfort in carrying it over the shoulder.
Product Recap
All three are made of similar lightweight fabrics that still offer reasonable weight tolerance. This was one of two common elements I noticed that enables them all to store compactly. The other is the fact that none of them have the large cardboard flat-bottom insert that many of the store brand shopping bags come with. Clearly, they cost more money as well. While I can't afford to go and pick up a dozen tomorrow, I would be willing to dish out for a couple to have on hand in a purse, day pack or coat pocket. The deciding factor in this particular decision, at least for me, is the precision design factor. If greater compact storage is what it takes for me to keep at least one eco bag on hand for unplanned stops, I'm willing to go there. Also, it's a one time expense more easily absorbed than creating an extra monthly bill for consumable products I may not be able to squeeze into the budget on a regular basis.
There are other options on the market. But of all the ones I found, I felt these three offered the greatest amount of precision design combined with the best value. (For example, if a brand started out at thirty bucks a pop, I didn't even include them in the roundup.) Each brings something unique to the table when it comes to the hectic urban lifestyle. The Flip and Tumble: greatest out of the box thinking when it came to design and some serious fun factor. Baggu: Greatest unisex appeal and acknowledgement of men's shopping needs. RUME: A streamlined roll up storage most well suited to those in the “phone-keys-wallet” school of shopping prep. While certain city dwellers will find all three designs workable, others will have a unique lifestyle facet or way of doing things that makes one design fit their needs more than others. I'll leave you to make those decisions for yourself. On to the DIY portion of this article.
DIY Options
If you feel you have the time and ability to crank out something of your own, I did find a few options online for the creative urban craftster. This one minute market bag idea created from an old tank top is quite cute. The link also has some ideas for creating drawstring bags out of old T-shirts. They still have an insert though, so they might be better suited to a planned trip or stuffing in the bottom of a gym bag to at least be able to multi-task. This T-shirt bag idea is from a 10 year old who is turning them into a business. Again, not the precision design factor for light packing city dwellers, but there is no bottom insert in this one, and you can at least stuff them in your gym bag. In fact, if I can ever find time to DIY and get my sewing skills back into shape again, this may be a solution for what to do with all the old race T-shirts my husband has. The mother of all resource pages on the subject however, has got to be this one from Tip Nut. Loads of free pattern ideas are available, a few of which appear to be workable for sliding into your purse. You might even recognize the sheer curtains turned produce bags pattern I featured in a recent eco hack article.
So that's it. My best shot at a breakdown of green shopping bags for urbanites. Got another recommendation? Share the love in the usual location. Have a great day, everybody!
Best of Wise Bread
My brother gave me a Chico Bag for Christmas and I use it all the time! The pouch is attached to the bag and it fits great in my purse. It also a a tiny D-clip so you can just clip it on to you pants, etc if you were walking to the stores.
Thanks for the recommendations, guys! That D-clip option sounds like something my husband would dig.
Another vote for the ChicoBag! They are simply awesome...my wife & I have 5 between the two of us.
DebtFREEk!
My wife has some string bags that we use for groceries.
They pack up very small, so they're easy to tuck inside of whatever else you're carrying (or even a pocket), but they'll carry quite a bit.
The downside, obviously, is that they're no good for carrying loose items small enough to make their way through the openings. That's generally not a problem at the grocery store, though.
They're nice and sturdy--no problem carrying gallons of milk or bags of flour.
Hmph. I included a photo in this comment, but it's not showing up. If you're interested, you can see my image of a string bag at Flickr.
I have three acme bags that I carry in my purse at all times. I also have a set of hemp grocery bags and hemp produce bags that I take with me when I know I'm grocery shopping. I got these from reusable bags dot come and absolutely love them! I also give them out as gifts :)
Philip, that string bags looks like something we saw at Fresh Market recently, while checking out what the store has to offer. Did you order those somewhere, or figure out how to do a DIY one? Also, good to know that you make out OK with the openings. I was concerned about those when I saw them.
Nice article about compact bags, but you forget the most obvious one. Traditional plastic shopping bags can be reused many times before they develop holes. If you fold them neatly they fold down to the size of a silver dollar and fit in your wallet or purse. As soon as you empty a plastic bag, immediately fold it and stuff it back in your purse or wallet. When they get too knarly to reuse (either small holes or your pork tenderloin roast leaked all over them), re-use them a third time as a waste bin liner or slice them into strips and crochet them into a door mat. Yes ... the cloth ones are much nicer, but if you also shove a few gently used plastic bags in the bottom of your purse, you'll never get up to the cash register and feel like a turkey because you forgot to bring your own bag.
I haven't needed a new plastic bag from the store for over a year, but since the "bad" plastic ones always seem to be blowing around outside or stuck to a bush, I have no qualms about picking them up and reusing them. I think they secretly breed out there like kinky little bunny rabbits!
Also, most simple canvas bags (like the kind they give you free with a magazine subscription) fold down tight enough that you can fit 1-2 in your purse before they start taking up too much space. I made a bunch of sturdy pretty ones out of an old pair of cotton/linen blend thrift shop drapes.
The nice thing about sturdy canvas bags that neither "bad" plastic nor the new "no rip nylon" shopping bags can match is how much stuff you can shove in them. Whether 30 pounds of canned goods or an entire queen-sized comforter, you can squish it in a 12"x18" canvas bag and only have one shopping bag to sneak past the hubby, ahem, um, I mean, need to lug around.
Jackie says she bought ours at Strawberry Fields, a local natural foods store.
Yeah, anything that's packaged works fine in the string bags, as is anything that's at all large--apples, potatoes, etc. I guess I'd hesitate to put bunches of grapes in one, but that's the only thing that comes to mind as being problematic.
They certainly last. We've had ours going on 20 years now. One (out of four) developed a hole which we're hoping to fix, but haven't yet.
Safeway has a plain black bag for five dollars that you can by at the checkout line. It's a lightweight nylon type material. It's supposed to hold up to twenty pounds and folds to about the size of a men's wallet.
I don't know about twenty pounds, but it can hold 2 gallons of milk plus whatever extras fit into the bag. It fits comfortably over the shoulder. It looks very similar to that "baggu" bag.
oh yeah, and the safeway bag has a small pocket (that it folds into) with a little thing to clip your keys onto and your keys and cell phone fit neatly into while shopping (i have big keys an dno problem)
Cool info on the Safeway bag. We don't have them out here that I've seen, but for folks out west that do, that's a great tip.
I got seven Envirosax bags this Christmas and I am really happy with them. When folded, they are small enough to keep in my smallest pocketbook and they hold a whole lotta stuff. They're also quite stylish. My only complaint? They're a little pricey which is why I was very excited to get them as a gift. (Although if I do a cost per use calculation they come out to be pretty cheap...)
i have several chico bags, and even my not-so-green boyfriend and my super-stylish sister use them. i like that their pouch stays connected to the bag, and the little carabiner clip is very helpful!
Another vote for the Envirosax. I'm a bus commuter and like these best because:
1) They fold up really small but don't require a separate storage bag.
2) They're easy to open and hold a ton of groceries.
3) They hold up better than paper bags while walking the ten blocks between the grocery store and my apartment, especially if it's raining.
4) The straps are long enough to wear over a shoulder comfortably.
5) They're really cute. The next bag I get will be this one, from the Botanica collection.
I purchased my Envirosax bag about 18 months ago, and I don't think that a day has gone by when I haven't used it. As other posters have mentioned, they fold down really small, and so it fits even into a small, chic purse and not just my giant bags. Because of that, I always have it with me, no matter where I go. It fits a ton of stuff, it's cute, it wears well, the straps are comfortable....I love it! It was $10, which was more than some other bags, but given how frequently I use it, I think it was a great cost savings. My husband loves his Chicobag, but since he usually forgets it :-( I don't think that counts.
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For larger shopping trips (a week of groceries for our family), I use my Trader Joe's bags, which I carry in the car, or I load up my "old lady cart" and walk.
I bought 3 Albertson bags - $1.00/each; nice size for a 'quick trip', and they fold flat.
Then I bought 6 HUGE bags from Bed, Bath, and Beyond; they are black - white lettering; fold flat, but we have installed 2 large hooks to hold 3 bags each - right beside the door, so they go with us when we go out...just in case we decide to pick up a few items.
Also, I do have the old plastic bags I've had for 4 years; I keep those in the car for anything I think might leak or be messy; fit those items inside the plastic, and then into the canvas bags.
We gave all the Christmas gifts inside reusable bags this year; no paper to throw away - everyone loved them. It feels good to do a little something to help out with eliminating trash, doesn't it.
The price is only $1.75 each, and we sit them up in the back of the SUV when we travel; don't take luggage anymore, just the 6 bags and they hold all our needs...........
I bought a few to use as grocery bags, and still use them for that, but I also use them for several other purposes.
I bought these from Superstore (Saskatchewan, Canada) for 99 cents each. They are polyester according to the tag. These are also sturdy and would carry 2 gallons of milk plus a bit.
I use them like everyone else to carry groceries, and as a bonus the store that I bought them from gives me bonus reward points for every bag that I use each time that I shop there.
The way that I use them the most is as a purse/lunchbag. They are just the right size to hold everything I take to work with me. In there I can easily fit my lunch for the day, a makeup case, any paperwork or reading material that I have, my DS, wallet, keys, loose change, and all other bits of miscellania that one might want in a purse (and I'm sure if I were to clean it out, I would find quite the assortment).
My boyfriend makes chainmaille, and he often uses one to carry a bunch of rings, scales, pliers, tools, and samples. He likes to work on projects when we are out, and these hold everything he needs. Only once has he loaded a bag so heavy that the seam split, and this took a lot of weight (chainmaille is heavy stuff). He also uses a few for storage of certain types of rings and stuff around the house.
I have several that have been repurposed for other kinds of storage. I keep all my touques, mitts, gloves, scarves, etc in one in the summer for example.
I have also been known to use one as an overnight bag for short trips (and for longer ones have used a laundry basket), and found it just the right size for a change of clothes and a few toiletries. Also good for day trips like to the beach or somewhere.
I like that they are cheap enough that I can buy a few extras and not have to worry if I lose one, give something away in one, or have to throw one out because of a spill or something (like cat pee, grrrr).
As not everyone has a sewing machine (I didn't during several periods in my life), I came up with a no-sew option and posted a tutorial over at Instructables.com
http://www.instructables.com/id/No_Sew_Tank_Top_to_Tote_Bag/
It is very sturdy - I use this bag all of the time to take 12 pops, my lunch and any books or crafts I want to read over lunch and I also have used to when I have bought groceries and it holds as much if not more than plastic grocery bags.
Great project Kathryn, and way to go with working in the no-sew element. Thanks for sharing the link.
Great ideas from all. Kathryn, you must be from up north, we call "Soda"... pop where i come from too! It was fun to hear someone else use the same phrase! Thanks all!
I have many different bags from many companies mentioned above however my favorite by far are the tuckerbags as these have pockets to put my phone keys in and then tuck into an attached pouch. They hold more weight than I can carry and have been fantastic. I got them from www.bangalla.com and they have a lot of different ideas to keep green so we are now a very green family.
thanks for sharing these options! i totally agree with you on the precision design factor when choosing a bag. it's common for friends to complain that their green bag isn't foldable enough or it takes up space.
Baggu is an excellent choice for guys who usually have a problem with bringing those big bags around. With Baggu, they can just tuck it in their jeans' back pockets. =)
