Good use of plastic bags. Although I don't think anything can top the rolls of garden Velcro I bought in 2001 for my tomato plants. I start with larger lengths than I need and can adjust as the branches get bigger and heavier. I bought 3 rolls at $2.37 each. I have yet to break open the 3rd roll. I just roll up the pieces at the end of the year and use them over again. It even held tight when I grew those ridiculously large tomatoes in 2009 - some of which weighed close to 2 lbs. I keep thinking the Velcro will wear out at some point, but so far so good. Who knows when I will get to the 3rd roll!

But that leads me to wonder how long it takes Velcro to break down in a landfill.

I had a bacon and tomato sandwich this morning with the last tomato of the year. :-(

They are all good ideas, but the salad spinner is INGENIOUS!!!

Jim

That reminds me that I need to tie my pitaya plant up onto the trellis that I got for it. I'm also going to have to raise the pot because the plant want to grow down. I guess I'll wait until Saturday now and have Kevin help me get blocks under the pot. Like Teresa, I use the green velcro strips for holding plants in place, but I had not thought of the landfill issue. I had the smallest tomato crop ever this year, and I had a lot of plants grow from seeds. I might skip growing them next year, but maybe some of the plants I have will produce this winter.

At my parents' house, I have used an old pillow case as a salad spinner - I had not thought of using a plastic bag and then cutting a hole in it. I won't be going back to my parents to cook ever again.

Lars

I use strips of old pantyhose with holes or runs in them to tie up plants. While I was still working at the office I had an endless supply, LOL, and I couldn't find another way to recycle them. Now I'm hoping I run out.

They're soft and stretchy, but I don't know if they break down in the landfills any better than velcro or those plastic bags. I think they all last forever. Sigh.

Annie

I also use the velcro strips and they are good.

1. With tomato plants I try not to use them because of the hard edges cause damages to the plants with the wind which can allow pathogens to enter.

2. The strips do get less "sticky" when they get dirty. I use my ultrasonic cleaner to clean them and they will be good as new.

Annie, may be I will start wearing pantyhose. LOL!

dcarch

I have been telling myself I will take the mound of bags I try not to collect but do anyway and crochet a few market bags. I have a lot of reusable canvas market bags and I usually have a few with me but I still end up with plastic grocery sacks but not as many as there once was.

Eileen

Here is a link that might be useful: Crochet market bags.

Good tricks.

Like Eileen, I have lots of reusable bags but still end up with plastic. I try to entice myself into using my reusable by having collector bags (e.g. Pikes Market, Jungle Jims, Trader Joes, Central Market, etc.). And even with the "Don't Forget Your Bag" sticker on the car window, I still do forget.

I justify by using them for kitty litter disposal.

Brilliant!

I have seen some very nice foot wiper rugs knit or crocheted from plastic grocery sacks.
There is a container at the entry of every grocery here, for recycling plastic bags.

Something like 14 years or so ago, I was in Mombasa....and the prevailing memory is not the amazing Arab architecture, nor those archtypical elephant tusk gates nor the seaside homes....but the plastic bags hanging from every tree, fence, gate, sign, bush...or anything else it could snag on. Makes me want to snag those bags and not let them loose in the garden or anywhere else!!

Linda, I'm not surprised to read of your Mombasa experience. As offshore boaters we've encountered literally hundreds of those bags 50-120 nm offshore. When we spot one, DH always brings the boat close and I grab it with the long handled fish net. Many times there have been dead critters tangled in the plastic. Those bags are horrible things.

We keep our reuseable bags in an ice chest in the car. It's a ritual - groceries are not 'put away' until the bags are back in the car.

I've never seen anything like that bag, barnmom. Very cool.

/tricia

I think it's pretty much about responsible disposal...
It's been a lot of years since I have wandered a beach. But even 30 years or so ago, there were flip flops, broken plastic toys, take out containers and such. I learned as a teen ( and that was a looong time ago!) that if you find a piece of mono filament....to follow it as far as you can because there is usually a hook on the end waiting to imbed itself into your foot!

Somewhere I have a picture of a beach on one of the Comoros Islands in the Indian ocean....at low tide.....a reef of trash....and as primitive as that place is, there was lots and lots of plastic. From their earliest memory, the people of Anjouan have tossed their garbage into the ocean to be washed away by the tides.....but in the past 30 or so years, that trash has become largely plastic.....and their reef is dying.
I wish wh could go back to paper bags....trees are a renewable resource and a crop to be farmed....not so plastic.

Sharing ideas is wonderful. The more you share the more you have. Although sometimes I am very hesitant to show new ideas here.

You can actually use the free vegetable bags for the Foodsaver machine, instead of those expensive Foodsaver bags for the freezer. I have been doing that all this time.

I just need to take the time to make a video to show how. So much to do, so little time!

Flank steaks, one out of bag and one in the bag, 4 months in the freezer, see any burns?

Yes......

Dcarch, if you start wearing pantyhose, please don't tell me! I already have a mental picture of you and it does NOT include pantyhose unless, of course, you are a professional swimmer. I think they used to wear pantyhose. (grin)

As for the Foodsaver thing, I can't get the dam*ed thing to work with regular bags meant for it, sheesh, now you're telling me yours works with disposable plastic bags.

I'm assuming your three diagrams are three separate knots for different purposes. And now you know why I never would try to build one of your inventions!

Annie

Annie, probably your Foodsaver machine's heating strip timer is not working right. It may not be giving enough time for the heating strip to heat seal the bags.

LindaC, You have very powerful X-ray eyes. So you can see that the back side of the steaks all got freezer burned. Amazing!

dcarch

Still more uses for the bags:

Speaking of bread machines, they are great for large loafs of bread, but what if you mostly need small quantities?

The bags are great for storing dough in the freezer, from one bun size dough to whatever. The nice thing with the bags is that they are totally non-stick, doesn't matter how wet the dough is.

See any freezer burs?

dcarch

{{!gwi}}

burs = burns.

Sorry.

dcarch

dcarch, it seems no matter how carefully I wrap meat in Saran wrap, etc. it starts to go brown like yours seems to be doing. Of course only you can tell us if it was past its prime before you froze it or if that happened in the freezer, but I can tell you that tends not to happen to me when I use my Foodsaver. In fact there's a carefully wrapped brown hanger steak in my freezer right now that I forgot to go back and vacuum pack. I can assure you it didn't look like that on the way in.

The picture above is just poor CFL kitchen lighting and reflection using a cell phone camera. Notice the same brownish color on the chopping board and everying else.

You do get browning of the meat sometimes because of the blood in meat coagulates, which does not mean the meat is going bad.

Here is a picture of the same flank steak with better lighting.

Freezer burn looks completely different.

dcarch

"---"---This post has inspired me to take the screen out of hood and clean!! The underside of my stove hood is GROSS... beyond cleaning. Only hope is to be able to replace the WHOLE THING sometime soon. Till then, cleaning filter will have to do!?!---"

bbstx's " Green oil " post reminds me of this:

To remove very thick gross oil/grease built-up, spray "Easy-off" on the built-up, cut open a plastic bag, and cover the spray over night. The next day the thick built-up can be easily remove.

Make sure follow direction on the "Easy Off" can.

dcarch