Target, Winco, and many public libraries make cheap, strong totebags. I think the red Target ones with the birds in the tree design are very attractive.

Seriously, a backpack is your best bet since it keeps the weight on your back and off your hands, with a couple of totes for small or breakable things you want close or not bumping up against other things. You can repurpose old boxes for dividers inside the backpack cavity. The only problem with backpacks is that I tend to get followed, as I’m young and scruffy-looking. Backpacks are often banned in stores due to theft. So if you wear a backpack, don’t steal anything.

Fending off the baggers– tell the cashier and bagger as soon as you get there that you have your own bags. Keep saying it until they get off their autopilot.

I still get plastic bags, though, particularly from the convenience store, because I use them for disposing of cat shit.

Even when you have TWENTY reusable bags, you are STILL going to end up getting plastic bags sometimes (especially when the baggers automatically wrap your meat, chemicals or frozen)

Even when bringing/using my own bags. I’ll wrap my meats and chemicals in plastic bags. I may be off, but it seems a sanitation issue. I usually bring an old messenger bag I no longer use and it carries almost all of what I purchase; but I tend to purchase just for 1-3 days at a time. I particularly want those other things bagged to protect the rest of my food.

In the eighties when I worked at a grocery store, the senior bus would stop by every Wednesday morning and the little old ladies would attack the aisles. They ALWAYS each and every one of them, brought their own bags. From string bags, to re-used plastic bags to carefully folded paper bags, canvas totes, whatever. We used to go nuts having to fit stuff in their crazy bags and they never seemed to run out of them — they’d just unfold another and thrust it into our face when one was satisfactorily full.

I think now of their prudence, which was actually borne out of their frustration with the plastic bags’ reputation of breaking under load. They also didn’t want to be bothered with taking out too much trash and so minimized creation of such. What we learn from the old folks!

As for the endless supply of plastic bags from stores? Donate them to your local thrift store, they’d be happy to have them. At least they get one more life before hitting the waste stream.

For this reason I BAG my own at the store, too, which for some reason they hate (usually).

All my reusable bags are SXSW swag. String bags are better, but there are GREAT string bags and also LAME ones, and they look exactly alilke. THe GREAT ones are thicker, materially.

I havbe finally hit on the solution to put (store) the recyclable plastic bags IN the reusable bags, so that I remember to recycle them. I have heard rumors that WHole Foods really does recycle the plastic bags but HEB just PRETENDS to, and puts them in the garbage dumpster.

Don’t know if it’s true or not. SOmething to think about.