[frogmammy]

Aldi used to have some free bags in the bagging area and they also had some that you pay a few cents for that were stronger and bigger.

Another discount grocery I go to had the same set up.

Noticed in the last couple weeks, they are BOTH now charging for even the wimpy thin bags. No more free bags.

Mon

 

[mekasmom]

The bags are a dime a piece around here, and have been for a couple years or more. You can still pick up boxes for free though.

 

[vicki in NW OH]

Aldi in our area has never had free bags, only empty boxes that product came in.

 

[mnn2501]

Never saw free bags at Aldis, plenty of free boxes though.

 

[Oggie]

Cats are behind it, somehow.

If there are no bags, they will always be out of the bag.

 

[emdeengee]

Over one million plastic bags are used every minute. On average a family accumulates 60 bags on only 4 shopping trips to the grocery store. 100 billion bags are thrown away each year in the US. We can't afford to pollute at this rate or to use our resources at this rate. And bags are expensive so stores are passing the cost directly on to shoppers. It used to just be included in the pricing but now it is in the open. We have used cloth bags for over 20 years. Not a problem at all.

 

[Wendy]

I hate, hate, hate the plastic bags. I have plenty of reusable bags that I don't have to worry about breaking on me.

 

[MO_cows]

I got tired of "bag buildup", so started using tote bags years ago. We can re-use a few of those flimsy plastic grocery bags but not all. Discovered it's really handy always having a tote bag in the car, too. No thank you to the boxes, we don't have trash pickup and they are bulky/hard to get rid of. So reusable tote bags it is!

 

[HOTW]

Here in Canada we have green bins to ise for groceries..Love them! Had them in the US once and people kept asking where they could get them

 

[Ohio dreamer]

Been shopping at Aldi's for more then 12 years....never had free bags at any of mine (including the one in Hungry). Wonder if it was the manager there that had them from free.....and someone caught wind and put the stops to it....

 

[fordy]

...............Just wondering how many pairs of Chinese Tennis Shoes are slowly floating towards the west coast ? , fordy:yuck:

 

[lemonthyme7]

My Aldi also never had free bags - just lots of boxes. I LOVE the large, beige, Aldi cloth bags (I think they are about $1.99) I have several and use them for so many things - they hold a lot of groceries or I use them frequently to transport other things.

 

[Forcast]

I use reuse plastic grocery bags for all kinds of stuff like litter box clean out. I would be in a world of hurt without them. my sister just went to a ladies church group and they had a class on making sleep mats out of the bags for the homeless.

 

[frogmammy]

I too use the plastic bags for other things. We've had them free here...well, forever, I guess, at all the Aldi and two other "cheap" stores. They also had bags they *sold* that were bigger and stronger.

Just thought it was interesting, a bit of the "penny here, penny there" that we've been going through for the last few years....you know, the one where the price remains the same but the product shrinks?

Oh, and I didn't ask what the bags cost now. I've got tons of fabric bags in the car, I just took the cart to my car and bagged the groceries there.

Mon

 

[Marilyn]

Do you sew frogmammy? If so, you might want to check last month's Frugal Living forum. There are several posts in the last couple of pages about reusable tote bags made out feed sacks. They're great for groceries, hold a ton and never seem to wear out.

 

[CountryWannabe]

I have several reusable totes. Unfortunately, they are usually in the kitchen/garage/pantry when I am in the grocery store.

Mary

 

[Mutti]

The big reusable Aldi bags hold 10 dozen eggs for toting to sell at the farm store. I like them. Getting so the grocery store plastic bags are so thin you don't dare put your milk in glass bottle in just one. We save them just for lining the garbage pail....and we have very little of that as chickens take care of most of it.

A light in your chicken house is well worth it. We sold eggs all last winter and ended up being the only person who had them so feed store was willing to pay us at a higher rate than the other occasional suppliers. Living way in the woods on a dead end road not many customers out here!

Another frugal thing to do is spout cheap feed wheat....spouted grain more nutritious and my girls love it. I trained them to love it when they were chicks and they mob me when they see me coming in the coop with it. Another thing that gets you more eggs is not keeping a rooster if you aren't trying to raise your own chicks. Roosters just stir up the hens and they lay much better when calm and quiet.

 

[Melissa]

Our local store has never had free bags. I usually use laundry baskets. I just leave them in the back of the jeep, if you stack them they don't take up much room, then when I bring the cart out, I sort everything into the baskets. I like to put everything that is cold in one basket so I can put that stuff away quickly. I would rather carry a few baskets than a bunch of bags that can rip or spill.

 

[HermitJohn]

Boxes take up too much room and those "cloth" bags are small and have to be laundered. I also dont appreciate the advertising on side of them.

I got to just keeping some clean empty 50# grain bags in back of car. They store flat, and are very strong. I leave them full size, could cut them off shorter if you want more normal size grocery bags.

 

[newfieannie]

well that's interesting. never thought to do that. I have cloth bags and have to drag them around when I could be filling them at the car. just never came to me. learn something new here most every day. ~Georgia.