Shopping Bags - How've you replaced yours?

I have two large bags from Carrefour supermarket. In France, they haven't been supplying free bags in most supermarkets for years. We bought these for our shopping on a SC holiday and, probably 10 years later, they're still going strong. These are for my weekly supermarket shop.

In my handbag I've got a cotton tote and a bag for life folded in case I need a bag unexpectedly.

I still have a kitchen bin that's designed for carrier bags (years old from Ikea) so now I buy a roll of carrier bags for that. Like you, I always reused the free bags previously.

I made my own some years ago and they are still going strong. I used the tutorial at https://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177482.0. They are roomy, comfortable to carry, very strong, machine washable, fold up small. I used scrap fabric (old curtains, left overs from other projects etc). Old duvet covers can be a good fabric source for shopping bags.

We have various bags we've used for quite a long time now - flexible canvas bags we got when bought shoes in a store, they are great for many shops; someone left a couple of Metro bank large canvas bags in their trolley unloved so we have been using them for months now (great for heavy items like milk), also have a series of other bags gained over the years.


Bottom line is there is no reason not to keep re-using bags until they completely fall apart. No need to buy any. When we go shopping in other stores we take a bag or two with us so we never need to buy a bag.


We also re-use ice-cream containers as they are excellent for freezing items, lunches, food left over to store in the fridge, etc - after all they are strong boxes and have good lids! (no need to buy supermarket plastic containers).

Like Maman we got ours free in a local supermarket (superU) in France and after 15 or more years of almost daily use they are still strong. We had a Tesco one (don't know where it came from) and after a year or so their cashier insisted on replacing it free because it looked very worn.


Bacman's suggestions above - highly recommended, we've also been doing that though the advertising canvas bags don't hold as much

Tesco have also started compulsory bag less home delivery.

So we will have to buy carrier bags specifically for rubbish bins now, instead of re-using supermarket ones.

I was already using my own bags most of the time before the charge came in, so I don't think I've really bought any new ones since. Apart from when I got a smaller handbag and needed a few smaller foldables as the ones I used in old handbag were too big. One was from Oxfam and used to be a sari!

I did buy a shopping trolley after the charge came in, it was the final push I needed as I had been thinking about it, which as a disabled non driver I wouldn't be without now.