zip it!

When I was in Jr High, there was a girl in my class who we used to giggle at for (of all things) saving and reusing her paper lunch bag. Every day she would eat her lunch, then carefully fold up the paper sack, and take it home to be reused the next day. Had she done that now no one would have batted an eye, but back then it was one step above wearing a tin foil hat. I suppose she was just ahead of her time.

I was thinking about that girl the other day as I was standing at the kitchen sink rinsing out a couple Ziplock bags. I love the convenience of them, but because they can't be recycled, the only way that I can really justify buying them is to use and re-use each one about a million times*. Since I don't use them for meat and/or gross stuff, they literally have to be in shreds before I'll toss them. The two that I have in my lunch bag are practically ancient.

It's pretty straightforward, so I am not going to explain how to rinse out a bag (this isn't the famous instructables.com "how to refrigerate a banana" post). I will say, however, that other than using really hot water, the secret to success is all in the drying. You probably have something around the house that will work. I use a 10-arm stand that I think is supposed to be for displaying photographs. Wooden plate display racks, mitten drying stands, mini hanging clotheslines/racks, etc will all work. You could even use the empty rack in your dishwasher, but if you're like me, the dishwasher is *never* empty. Whatever you use, though, just make sure that the insides are not touching and that there is good airflow from the bottom.

Tip: if you are really going to go for it and reuse the heck out of your Ziplocks, invest in the thicker & stronger freezer bags, rather than the regular sandwich bags. They'll hold up a lot better and save you $ in the long run.


*And I am totally not exaggerating about that either. I am still on the same box of bags that I bought a year ago when I moved into my house. Some of my bags might even be older...as old as my tin-foil hat, even.