Do you reuse your plastic baggies? I baked the last of my frozen cookie dough balls yesterday and decided to make another batch.
I LOVE freezing cookie dough! Not only is it great to have little dough balls of goodness in the freezer, it helps us from overeating!!
Seriously, when there’s just the two of you, it doesn’t make sense to bake an entire batch of cookies.
Anyway, this time around I decided to make a batch of my soft and creamy peanut butter cookie dough.
I was getting ready to scoop the dough balls and put them in my zip baggie when the HH walked in the kitchen and wanted to know why I was re-using my bag.
Seriously?
Why would I use a new bag? This one is perfectly fine!! Yada yada yada… He thought it was weird. I told him HE WAS the weird one.
He told me I should ask YOU if you re-use your baggies.
So… Do you re-use your plastic zip baggies?
Curious minds want to know.
~Mavis
Patti M says
I absolutely re-use the bag.
Jamie B. says
I reuse some baggies. If it had meat in it , I throw it away.
Peg says
Same!
Lindsey says
If I am going to put meat in a plastic bag, I first wrap it in wax paper liners I save from cereal boxes. Then I can recycle the plastic.
Elizabeth says
Also Same!! Don’t chance it with meat. Meat these days, even if labeled grassfed etc, may not be…cannot be too careful!!
Lynda says
Absolutely. Saving the earth, one plastic bag at a time.
Alice says
I wash all baggies with soap and water and hang to dry. Even ones that had meat in them. Once they get a nick or a hole in them (or the zipper doesn’t work) is when I throw them away. My thinking is that we wash dishes with soap and water so why not baggies.
Carrie says
Ditto! As long as they are all labeled clearly to be reused with the same food item. 🙂
Judith Johnson says
Same here. I have also recently purchased some heavy duty reusable zipper bags from Amazon. They are really nice bags, thick with a heavy zipper, easy to use and to wash.
Wendy C says
I reuse baggies until they fall apart. I do no reuse if they have contained raw meat though-all raw meat gives me the ick.
Heather in Nevada says
Same here. My husband made me a stand years ago so we can dry multiple bags at a time.
I try to use a pre-used bag for storing my repackaged raw meat.
Peggy Stone says
I often reuse.
J in OH-IO says
Yes, I usually use 1 gallon plastic bread bag or fold top sandwich bag with a twist tie to store food and then put a freezer bag over those so the insides of the freezer bags are clean and I can reuse them over and over to prevent freezer burn. I put sticky notes inside the freezer bags as labels.
Mavis Butterfield says
Sticky notes inside! Why didn’t I think of that!?
Barbie says
Unless they contained meat, I always reuse!
Tracy says
Most of them are reused until they can’t be used any more.
Mark says
Yep, unless they had raw meat in them.
Tiffany F says
Yes! Unless they were used for raw meat. Also re-use bread bags the way someone else explained.
Lesley says
YES YES YES to all of the above. We have enough microplastics in our bloodstreams for me to add more!
Elizabeth M says
I reuse baggies if they are not too dirty and I can use them again for the same type of thing, like you did with the cookie dough. I don’t wash them, though. It’s too much trouble getting them clean and dry. I prefer easily washable glass containers for most things.
eliz says
Definitely reuse. The ziplock bags are so crappy these days and seem to tear right away, but I just keep washing and reusing anyway. I just bought some bags that are more expensive, but heavier duty and I hope they will hold up better.
Full Circle Compostable Zipper Bags
Janet says
I wrap meat items in plastic wrap if not already in a package and then I put them in a bread bag or produce bag and label it with a sticker I bought on Amazon (a huge roll that will last forever) and then I put them in a freezer bag. When I use the meat I put all wrappings in the bread bag/produce bag and toss. No meat contamination in the freezer bag. I don’t do that with fruit or veggies. I wash bags until they leak. The bags stay cleaner if items are wrapped in plastic if I want to reuse the bag and the items are messy.
Ramona says
Yes, I reuse them. I also reuse aluminum foil.
Kathy in PA says
I do the same.
Mona R McGinnis says
Yes. All the time. They are washed & dried & reused. If I was really concerned about the environment, I would use an alternative.
Lynn says
Absolutely! And when done reusing several times, I recycle with my plastic bags.
Dawn says
I reuse depending on what was in them. A lot of the time I individually wrap meat and put it in a freezer bag for storage but if raw meat touched the inside I don’t.
Meg C says
Yes, we re-use baggies at my house … yes, it drives my husband crazy LOL
I do not re-use any baggies that had meat/fish in them, though.
Carla says
Sure do!! My goal is to use a plastic bag at least twice. Those that are used for raw meat do get dumped, but others get re-used over and over again. I also save the liner from the cereal boxes as wax paper (I haven’t bought wax paper in over 15 years), and bread or produce bags from the store get re-used as well until they get a hole in them. My parents grew up just after the depression and taught me well how to pinch a penny.
Annette says
All of my cereal comes in plastic bags inside the box, not waxed paper.
.
Lana says
Yes we reuse except meat. Remember the swing arm towel rack your grandmothers had screwed to the kitchen cabinet over the sink? Well you can still get those from Amazon and the bags dry great on those arms. ( And canning rings too.)
But, why keep turning on the oven and dirtying a pan for cookies? Bake them all at once and freeze them to get out a few at a time.
DebW says
For lots of things – absolutely!
Raw meats, sauce, sticky things-no
Marilyn says
I reuse the bags that had bread and cookie dough but not meat. I have your chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer right now.
Susan Williams says
Definitely re-use the plastic bags. The only time I don’t is if they had something with a high fat content that will be too time consuming to wash out.
Overall though, trying to steer away from plastic. But freezer bags don’t yet have a good non-plastic replacement option for things like cookie dough, berries, etc.
Lynne says
Reuse all the time….washing with soap and water in between uses. When they finally get a hole in them, I’ll use them for garbage. In fact, I use pretty much any plastic bag that food comes in for a garbage bag. I haven’t bought garbage bags in years. LynneinMN
Mel says
I don’t reuse them because for whatever reason they get dinged up in the freezer and leak or freezer burn the second go round. But if you do reuse them and need reusable labels, painters tape works great!
Grace says
Hate to be a Debbie downer here, but raw cookie dough frequently is the source of food poisoning due to the fact that it may contain raw eggs. The longer a bag is used the more likely it is to enhance the growth of any lingering bacteria. Be careful out there.
Jamie says
I have been using the same gallon zip top bag to store our pre-portioned cookie dough for years. I use blue painters tape and a sharpie to label the bag with the type of cookie and baking info then toss it back in the freezer. When I’m ready to refill the baggie I just peel the tape off and repeat the procedure.
Ashley B says
I save bags that are not beat up or had dry ingredients in them and reuse them for the cat box. We shop Aldi and Costco or avoid plastic bags from the grocers a lot. Re-using the bags just once is still giving them a second life before they hit the garbage.
Peggy says
I wash and reuse unless it had raw meat in it. I only reuse the quart and gallon sizes though. My mother-in-law would wash and reuse sandwich bags and I don’t think that is worth my time and effort. We don’t use very many sandwich bags though.
Luisa says
Yes I absolutely reuse. But my comment is actually about cookies. Rather than turning on the oven for just a few cookies I bake them from frozen in the air fryer. Warm and so good!
Pat Marino says
Yes I reuse plastic baggies. But I recently ordered some silicone baggies that came in three sizes which work great for storing produce, leftovers, or freezing, from Amazon. And they are dishwasher safe! So far, so good.
Jean C says
Absolutely…..unless they held something like raw meat or onions or a strong smell.
I have a stash of plastic BAGS (including produce and bread bags) that I reuse. In warm weather we freeze our stinky leftovers, bones, fish skins, etc. that would smell if left in garbage. On garbage night we take them out of freezer and put them in regular garbage so they don’t have much time to rot and smell. Used bags are perfect for that.
Ziploc bags are not cheap – I want to get as much utility out of them as possible.
SueD says
I am slowly making the transition to silicone bags, because the OH would ‘forget’ to save them when he emptied one. We shop Costco, Sam’s Club, and ALDI, so don’t get plastic grocery bags as a rule. When we do, they’re used to line the rubbish bin.
Alecia Loveless says
I would reuse bags but my wife is a bit OCD about things and will not let me.
Sheila says
I wash & reuse bags. For years I have used this handy contraption for drying after washing & rinsing the bags:
https://www.lehmans.com/product/economical-plastic-bag-holder-and-bottle-dryer/
It breaks down a bit for compact storage.
Sue S. says
Yup, sure do unless they’re knarly from overuse
Dana Shouse says
Reuse them all the time!
Julie says
Always reuse until they fall apart. And it is easy to scrub the labeling off the outside, even if was written with permanent marker!
They don’t have to always be reused for food – they are great for keeping paint brushes wet for the next day.
Dianne says
Trying to use more glass than plastic. But, I have re-used in the past, but never after meat has been in the bag.
Jules says
Yes, definitely reuse plastic baggies.
Now about cookies …. We bake the batch of cookie dough and then freeze the cookies. In the summer a frozen cookie is delicious . Or even handy to put ice cream in between
Pamela Sheppard says
I reuse them if they have been used for bread products mostly. Like if I make a batch of muffins or buy rolls and freeze them. When I run out I will reuse the same bags. I keep a stick of butter in one that I mostly use for toast. I just keep reusing that one until it needs switching out. Anything raw or messy doesn’t get saved. However I do keep a few empty ones destined for the trash in the freezer. I use these to put “yucky” things in I need to throw away.
Angela W says
Yes, I re-use my bags after washing and drying them. Tell HH, no body parts died and were recycled and put back in the freezer. Rolling my eyes! HaHa
Gayle says
We wash with hot water and Dawn all the plastic bags and reuse them until they will not hold a seal. Have for at least 10 years and no one has complained or gotten sick. Some of them are so crumpled and hazy but if they seal so what? The freezer doesn’t care. This includes meat
Mary says
I reuse unless they had meat or something oily in them. I wash and rinse them and leave to dry.
Christy Rose says
I absolutely wash and re-use my zip lock bags. Even better I have one of those vacuum sealer gizmos where you make your own bag from a roll of bagging material. Better believe I re-use those too. I make the bag a tad bigger than I need so when I cut the top off to use it there is still plenty of usable bag left for the next job, and even the next job as even tiny things need to be bagged and frozen.
Lisa says
Absolutely yes! Those who have an issue with meat or cookie dough, really? You mix cookie dough in a bowl and wash it, no difference with a plastic bag. Soap and water.
I have only purchased a box of plastic baggies (freezer) twice in the past 5 years. I try to keep plastic use down as much as possible. The silicone reusable bags work well for some items but sometimes you just need a gallon ziplock bag.
Veronica says
We wash and reuse plastic bags, including the ones that our flour tortillas come in. Once they get small holes, they are no longer used for food, but for garage stuff. When the holes get too big, we recycle them at our grocery store drop-off.