Comments on: Reuseable Bulk Bags from Kootsac

By: Maggie

Maggie — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:53:34 +0000

I don’t think it’s a lame question at all. Unfortunately, my home scale isn’t very useful for weights less than an ounce. It’s a dial scale and neither the plastic bag nor the nylon bag do anything more than make the needle twitch.

However, I’m pretty confident that neither bag weighs more than 1/3 of an ounce, which would be 1/48 of a pound, or approximately 0.02 pounds. So if you were buying fancy spices at $30/lb, you would be paying 6 cents for the bag. Cheap bulk rice at $2/lb would have a bag cost of 0.5 cent per bag.

So I think the worst case scenario is that the nylon bag weighs 0.02 pounds more than the plastic bag, costing 6 cents per bag for higher priced items and less than a penny for lower priced items. However, it’s also possible that both bags weigh exactly the same and I just can’t tell with my scale. I’ll see if I can’t sneak over and use the co-ops scale sometime although I think they also round to the nearest 0.01 pound so it probably doesn’t make much of a difference.

By: Abby

Abby — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:41:04 +0000

Maybe this is a lame thing to be asking, but how do they compare weight-wise to the plastic bags? My grocery store doesn’t have a system to enter odd tare weights, and while paying a few extra cents here and there wouldn’t be a huge deal, it might be enough to dissuade me from using the bags on expensive per pound things like dries mushrooms and pine nuts and spices.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:05:50 +0000

I’ve been thinking of making some reusable bags for myself. I have some sheer fabric that I think would work pretty well.

The idea of re-usable sandwich bags are great, although I’m a little weirded out by the concept of flannel. Seems kinda — hairy — to me. I think some basic muslin would work though, or any simple cotton. I have to admit that prints are fun!

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:21:36 +0000

I got some pyrex dishes at Kohl’s and think they’re really great. The lids are some sort of plastic-rubber that seems to hold up pretty well. I think I have a couple different brands; one has lids that sort of stretch on to fit while the other has little flaps that fold down and snap into place. I like them both and feel much better about microwaving those than anything plasticky.

By: cinco

cinco — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:42:48 +0000

I am so glad you like them! Mom is a fan, too. But they aren’t meant for storage as they’re not airtight–your mice could get in there easily. I know how you feel about buying stuff vs. living simply, so I’m trying to only replace things. I’ve been replacing dying tupperware lately with glass and the Preserve brand (they’re in the Whole Foods near me) of recycled plastics, but I have to say I don’t like the plastic lids on the glass ones or the screw top on the Preserve ones. Woe.