Our area charges for bags also. It's annoying because the plastic bags are so thin that they tear apart if you put very much in them.
I do like the Trader Joe bags best, they are a plastic coated something or other, nice and big. They hold much more then what a plastic bag holds. Simplicity has some good grocery totes also. I picked up the patterns when Joanns has them for 99 cents. I use the vegetable bags to bag all my meat also. Nothing goes into the totes without a bag of some type. Then I use the veggie bags for scooping the cat's litter and for big food scraps, bones etc that I don't put down the disposal when I preparing meals.
I've seen patterns for veggie bags out of wide tulle, with a drawstring top-I've never actually seen wide tulle but I'm sure it's around someplace.
It does become second nature to carry bags in the car and into every store when you shop. I visited my parents over the summer and had my reusuable bags with me, Mom was saying , "We don't do that here. Just be normal and get the bags like everyone else."