Reuse Those Ziplocs

I do try and keep as much out of the landfill as possible and I am learning more and more how to do that as time goes on. One of the things that I have noticed is that what is good for the environment is also normally good for your pocketbook! I wanted to share how I reuse my ziplocs which reduces waste and saves me a ton of money over time!

With all the cooking I am doing, including a lot of batch and freeze stuff, I feel like I am using ziplocs like they are going out of style :)  I had read in Super Baby Food that she actually washes and reuses her ziplocs so I started doing the same. Now that I have been doing it for a while I have a whole system!

• Once I have used the ziploc, I wash it out with hot water and soap and use a scrubbie brush to really clean the inside. You could also use a water/ vinegar mix to make sure it is super clean. Turning the bags inside out can make it easier to clean as well. I also use my MUST HAVE pink gloves (don’t laugh) which protect my hands from the HOT water!! See.. Cody is modeling them below!

• Then I turn them upside down and hang them over my spice containers so they can dry. When Cody was younger, I used his bottle drying rack which worked quite well! You can call me crazy at this point… but they actually sell gadgets that you can hang your ziplocs on to dry!!! See… other people do it too!! :) Others say it is easier to let them dry inside out, but I have never had a problem with them drying for me this way.

• Once they are dry, I put a slash mark on the bag (this is how I keep track of how many times it has been washed). Once I have washed it 5 times, I use it for things other than food storage. For example:

1. I keep a bunch of old ziplocs in my car for dirty shoes, soiled clothes, dirty diapers when I can’t find a trash can, garbage etc.
2. I use old ones to keep a change of clothes in the car for “just in case”, I store extra diapers in them for the car for “just in case” (which totally has come in handy!), and just about anything else I can think of.

• If you are worried about cross contamination, you can label your bags with specific criteria. ie. “dry goods”, “meats”, etc. and put like things in like bags. If I have raw meat in a ziploc for whatever reason I normally reuse that for the car rather than other food storage.

I hope this helps inspire you to start reusing your ziplocs! It is good for the environment and saves a lot of money in the process!!! I would love to hear how you wash and dry your ziplocs…. fill me in!!