oh my, how did our ancestors ever handle this mess? ;-0
seriously, people, it's no big deal.

We don't have to pay for plastic or paper bags, yet. We reuse the plastic bags for trash bags. If we didn't use them that way, we would have to buy trash bags. Why are plastic bags sold for trash or food storage use ok for the environment, but not plastic grocery bags? That doesn't make sense to me. Just sayin'. :):):)

I have heard that the bags that the stores sell for groceries (those clothy type bags with the handles) should not be used for groceries, especially vegetables. They hold bacteria and germs and washing them is not good, because they are not made for washing. I use the plastic bags to put my vegetables in (the ones you pull off the roll in the produce dept) and then I buy a box for carrying my groceries in. Our Roundy's or Cub have cardboard boxes I buy for carrying the groceries in. A box will last a couple of years if not more and works really great. I suppose if you bag your fruits and veggies in the plastic bags and then put them in those cloth bags, it may work. I don't. I have to scrub veggies enough without having to worry about a cloth bag that holds bacteria and makes me feel like I am taking coals to Newcastle. Easy-peasy for this old lady!!!!!!!! I use my cloth grocery bag for carting fabric around or taking it to Hancock or JoAnn's to bring home my sinful stash!!!!!!

At our age and with a husband with no spleen, I refuse to use anything that can hold bacteria and a depressed immune system is nothing to mess around with. You can always double a paper bag!!!!!!!! Edie

google bags made from cat food bags....easy, very strong, and you do not need to launder. I love them and have made nearly a dozen for family and friends. email me if you need more info.

Thanks for the link. :)

Thanks for all the input. WOWSER! I'll check out the links. Since my DS has a cat, the cat food bags are an appealing idea. The reason I'd like to make the bags is that some of the ones sold at the grocery store were tested. Since most of them are made in China, the laws for lead are different. The printed ones had an abundance of lead, and having been a teacher, I know all the stats on effects of lead on the brain. I dunno about the ones that look like oilcloth that are sold at the stores. So, I'm thinking that sifting through all the ideas here willl be a help. Groceries are purchased almost every day, so needing many, many bags isn't the issue. Thanks for all the help. Off to check the links. Thanks, friends!!

Oh my, oh my. This is not complicated. Of course you can wash the bags sold at Walmart and grocery stores. I have done it many many times and they come out great. As for the young lady who can't see herself going into the store with an armful of bags, as you unpack your groceries at home, fold each bag and then place all the folded bags into one bag. When you get to the store just grab it and go. The only bag that needs washing is the one with meat in it.

Check out the Morsbags website

http://www.morsbags.com/html/

I have made these to give away with a local group. There are instructions on the site to make the bag.

Have fun!

Thankfully we're not charged for plastic shopping bags... yet. I actually reuse all mine. Won't find any of them in a land fill or tangled in the fence line. But, we do live in the country and have a burn pile.

Here's a bag I made from a feed sack. It's great for hauling my quilting supplies to our weekly handquilting group.

I've made bags and I've used the 99 cent ones they sell. As cute as homemade bags are, they don't stand up to hold the groceries in the car, and if you make them so they do, they take so long and use so much stabilizer, you'd go through a whole lots of 5 cent bags before you got to the amount they cost. Why not save the 5 cent bags and reuse THEM?