| Bread is one of those products that is hard to | | | | 5. Taking food scraps to the compost pile. |
| buy outside of a plastic bag. You can sometimes | | | | Sometimes the compost pile isn't as convenient |
| get it in paper, or you can make it at home, but | | | | as you might like. You can buy a kitchen compost |
| bread in plastic bags is by far the most common | | | | bin, and dump that periodically into the outdoor |
| sort. | | | | compost bin, or you can use something like the |
| What to do with all those bags? | | | | old bread bag. |
| Plastic bread bags are highly reusable. They're a | | | | The advantage the bag has is that you can just |
| great size for many things. Keep the little plastic | | | | shove it into the freezer if you like. It only uses |
| fastener to have an easy way to reclose the bag | | | | up the space the scraps require, plus a tiny bit |
| when you're reusing it. | | | | more. This means you don't have to worry about |
| 1. Homemade bread storage. | | | | food scraps stinking up the kitchen until you can |
| If you sometimes buy bread at the store and | | | | get them outdoors. |
| other times make it at home, as I do, keep those | | | | 6. Take them traveling. |
| bags and use them to store the homemade | | | | You often have things you need to keep away |
| bread after it has cooled. | | | | from the rest of your stuff when you travel. |
| 2. Short term freezer bag. | | | | While modern air travel restrictions can sharply |
| While bread bags aren't ideal for preventing | | | | limit how much liquid you carry, other ways of |
| freezer burn, they are pretty good at holding | | | | traveling can mean carrying many products you'd |
| some things in the freezer. Best is if it doesn't | | | | hate to have leak onto your clothes. |
| matter too much if you get a touch of freezer | | | | Drop makeup, sunscreen, toothpaste and so forth |
| burn, such as when you're storing bones for | | | | into a plastic bread bag and close it off before |
| making broth later on. They can also hold | | | | putting them into your suitcase, even if you use |
| hamburger patties quite well. Just think of how | | | | an outer pocket or a makeup bag for them. That |
| they are packaged if you buy them at the store! | | | | extra bit of protection can save you a big cleanup |
| I wouldn't recommend using them for long term | | | | if your bag gets banged around too much and |
| storage as a general rule in the freezer simply | | | | something starts to leak. |
| because it's too hard to keep them from letting | | | | 7. Use as packing materials. |
| air in. If you want to store something for longer, | | | | Sending a package somewhere? You can use a |
| double bagging is probably a good choice to limit | | | | bunch of old bread bags as padding in the box |
| the chances for air to get into the bag and | | | | rather than buying packing materials. |
| damage the food. | | | | 8. Recycle them. |
| 3. Taking the dog for a walk. | | | | Some, but not all bread bags can be recycled. |
| Yes, these bags work great for doggie doo. | | | | They aren't all numbered, so it can be a bit hard |
| They're easy to carry along and tie off when | | | | to tell. If there's a number 7 with the recycling |
| you've cleaned up after your pet. | | | | logo, it's not recyclable. Otherwise you have a |
| 4. Clean the cat's litter box. | | | | good chance, and you can put them in with the |
| Yes, they're a great size for what kitty does too. | | | | plastic grocery bags. |