AIBU to ditch trying to be eco friendly for the convenience

[GiveMeStrengthOrAHobby]

Sorry about the title, i couldnt think of a more eye catching way to word it.

Ok, i tend to buy fresh meat and poultry in bulk and then separate it into portions and freeze the portions. That way i just get 1 portion out when its just me and 2 if my son is home.

This is majorly convenient but not environment friendly as the bags i have had to do this tend to be plastic.

I want to switch the plastic for something more eco friendly that is either fully recyclable/degradeable or reuseable. I need to be able to label the contents

I have tried:

1. bpa free boxes - to bulky for my freezer and labelling is a problem.
2. silicone bags - again labelling is a problem and i find the bags bulky and inflexible and expensive to boot.

I dont want single use plastic bags at all and could really use some suggestions from the eco friendly mumnet community.

Or wibu to go back to single use plastic? ( for the aibu police)

Thanks for suggestions

I do the same and use single use bags because other things just haven't worked as well. I was thinking about trying to layer the meat into a bigger box with greaseproof paper inbetween next time.

Could you wrap them in foil or paper instead? Foil is recyclable and isn't bulky. For labelling, tie a paper label round the outside with string.

We do use big boxes and layer with greaseproof though as its easier for us.

Ikea sell some brilliant reusable freezer bags; they can go in the dishwasher between uses and allow you to portion up and reuse the bags over and over.

Greaseproof paper or foil?

Go veggie

I've got biodegradable plastic bags - trying to remember where I got them from as have thrown away the packaging... possibly Sainsbury’s? But they do exist, just have a google for them!

Compostable food caddy bags?

Buying fresh locally would be better but obviously not workable for everyone. We are lucky to have a local butchers inside our local garden centre that is great value.

Other than that the reusable bags work well for us. Yes they are stiff but soften with use. Use the string method mentioned above to fix labels

I use baking paper. Write on it with a sharpie marker.
The baking paper I use is fully compostable. I think the bacofoil baking paper in U.K. is the equivalent.

I will use foil for awkward shapes though as it is fully recyclable.

At the moment I freeze in a single layer on parchment/greaseproof or seperare in greaseproof before putting them in a single large Ziplock bag which is labelled and kept in the freezer and added to rather than taken out and defrosted in and thrown away. I'll look into the Ikea bags they sound great.

Where is everyone recycling their foil? Our council don't have it on the list to put in the recycling bin.

Compostable food bags like the ones you use in kitchen caddies? You can write on then with a sharpie.

We can put foil in the recycling bin so long as it's clean.

Oh wow so many suggestions.

I didnt think the compostable food bags could go in the freezer. Plus my council wont accept them in the food waste so they will end up in the landfill

I like the idea of greaseproof between portions in a ziplock bag. I will look into greaseproof that is biodegradable or would those beeswax sheets work? Expensive outlay though

Again i didnt think of foil and yes that is recyclable here. So that is a great idea

Thank you so much everyone

I know single use plastic is a massive issue, however so is food waste and in some cases the plastic prevents that so it's not always black and white though I've seen the helpful replies on here.

Quick question for those who use foil- how do you prevent leakage?

It's single use plastic which is the issue, not plastic full stop.

I don't see anything wrong with buying some decent quality Ziploc or similar freezer bags and using them over and over again until they fall to bits.

You are forgetting the REDUCE and REUSE parts which come before the recycle - producing tinfoil involves a huge amount of energy and resources, recycling it isn't the answer. You need to reduce your consumption of "stuff" and buying decent plastic bags which can be used hundreds of times is probably the most sustainable option.

Single use plastic bags don't have to be single use though. Just wash them. My mum did this when I was a kid - washed and hung them up and used them for our school lunches again and again. I do the same now and they last for ages

My parents were —tight— eco friendly before their time and just used to wash and reuse single use freezer bags.

Its the way we dispose of single use plastic that's the problem. Stop using it where its non essential and find out how it gets disposed of where you live.

There's nothing wrong with incinerating waste down to carbon, which can be recycled, and its much preferable to landfill.

I have normal ziplock bags that I wash out and re-use. I also reuse any take away containers until they fall apart.

We use reusable plastic boxes and label with whiteboard pen.