To not use the little fruit and veg bags

[ObiJuanKenobi]

...at the super market that they provide at the end of the aisle?

DP has only just noticed I don't use them which he thinks is really weird.
I just think it's a waste of plastic if you wash your fruit and veg anyway.

Am I the only one?

The greengrocers near us only has paper bags.

Never, but I assume as the conveyor starts and stops the more spherical fruit and veg would roll around Dermymc.

That said I avoid the conveyor wherever possible and scan and pack it myself on the way round. Way less hassle than watching all that going on.

My vegetables come in paper bags from the market but I always take lots of the plastic bags from the supermarket because I put non-recyclable rubbish in them.

Honestly I care more about reducing waste than I do about what a random stranger in the supermarket might think about the extra 10 seconds they have spent in the queue. I've literally done this for over 10 years and in general no one gives a fuck.
We eat a ton of fruit and veg in this house so there is always alot on the belt. It never rolls around 😂

I am very excited about witnessing all this fruit and veg fun and games tomorrow I have to say. I might go mad and use a manned till just to watch it in action.
Which supermarket would be best? I have most within driving distance...

I usually pick one up to put my germy-ridden chicken in 😉

@Sparklingbrook I will look out for you lurking round the new potatoes tomorrow Sainsbury's is my shop of choice for rouge fruit and veg.

Anyway interesting to see people's responses to the post. DP is horrified at the rats & will be double bagging from now on and I am pleasantly surprised at how many others don't use them and love the little net bags!

Pifflewaffle it works perfectly for scan and shop. Pick up produce, weigh, print label (stick to shopping list/any other item in shopping), scan label, dump produce in shopping bag.

Whilst I'm happy to admit this might be problematic with small things like sprouts or lots of tomatoes, it works fine for most stuff.

And I do this in Waitrose Battleax!

How does that work if you get selected for a rescan? How do you remember which sticker belonged to what?

Obi no lurking. I need to see it all properly.

Why is this so confusing to people? I go to the supermarket, I want courgettes, I pick up 3 courgettes, I put them in my trolley. They go on the belt together, the checkout person assembled them and weighs. It is easy. I get a couple of onions, same thing. Six apples, easy as (delicious apple) pie.

Are you imagining I am buying 40 courgettes? 70 onions? Why is it so complicated?

I never use them, it seems like such an unnecessary waste of plastic!

Obi doesn't he wash veg? Your method obviously hasn't been doing him any harm! The vegetables are probably covered in all sorts of germs already. Maybe the bags provide a more favourable environment and he's actually incubating them. Plus the trolley handles will be grubby too so he will be contaminating everything he touches.

My local market only uses paper bags. And presumably all shops did before plastic ones became the norm. So unless vegetables have got denser I'm sure they would be fine

At my local Waitrose they reweigh all the fruit and vegetables even if they have a sticker on, so there's no delay from people having loose vegetables or not having weighed things. They always compliment my net bags. The only time I've caused ructions is when I put different coloured peppers in the same bag because they are the same price per kilo.

However I usually shop at Sainsbury's where nobody bats an eyelid. Or the local market where they just shove everything in my E. coli ridden shopping bag after they've weighed it.

I'm going shopping tomorrow (Sainsbury's) so I'll use my net bags ostentatiously in the hopes of bumping into you Sparkling :)

I always have to stop the cashiers putting them in plastic bags at the till. I’ve always thought they were so wasteful.

The spherical fruit and veg barely move, they are packed in piles with other veg so sit and ride along together.

You pay for the plastic bag if your veg gets weighed in it.

Such a waste of plastic.

it works perfectly for scan and shop. Pick up produce, weigh, print label (stick to shopping list/any other item in shopping), scan label, dump produce in shopping bag.

Nah, not going to happen with me - well done for you doing it though.

A friend was feeling very pleased with herself for only using the paper mushroom bags this week for all her veg. Til I pointed out I never used either.

To be fair, I mainly use Ocado nowadays so I need to figure out how to reduce plastic and still use them!

Ive never seen anyone not use them in the supermarket in real life. I certainly use them to keep things together and not squashed. Dont for bananas and they come already together.

They don't stop things getting squashed tho, they are literally a thin flexible layer of plastic.

On the "grubby trolley" front, DH's Macmillan nurse has advised him against using supermarket trolleys as they are so filthy (especially the handles) and never cleaned, and he's immunosuppressed. Can't quite see him carrying everything loose to the checkout, so the shopping is my bag! (See what I did there?)

I’d imagine the most grubby and problematic part of the trolley is the handle because that’s the bit everyone touches with their grubby, germ-ridden hands.

I have net bags I put my veg/fruit in, I do scan and shop and it works perfectly fine, just put the label on the outside of the bag and peel it off when home, simple.

My question too... I mean, I get your point about too much plastic, but how you keep together all these different fruits and veggies?...
I try to keep the plastic bags clean and then use them for something else, so it's not much of a waste for me, tbh,..

I don't use them. Wash the veg / fruit before using.

For the first time recently I popped some easy peelers, apples, bananas and avocados etc loose in basket.Felt a bit self conscious putting them on the conveyor,but cashier didn't bat an eyelid,weighed and popped straight in my canvas bag.Easy peasy. As for germs,we're all too obsessed .Fruit has its own packaging,just give it a good wash.Using paper mushroom bags if available is a good idea if it's something you really need to bag.I see that Iceland are leading the way vowing to cut back plastics,and more using cardboard punnets for example.Good for them if it happens.I started using M and S a lot less a while ago,for cost reasons,but also because I think they're the worst offender for over packaging. Have felt depressed by the rows and rows of little plastic boxes of food for sometime now.