Don’t Throw Away Your Mesh Grocery Bags
In an ideal world, we would all eat seasonal, local produce bought directly from farmers (or farmers’ markets). But this option is not for everyone (especially since there are entire areas in which there is no access to inexpensive fruits and vegetables).
So instead we buy vegetables at the grocery store, and some of them, like onions and potatoes, are often sold in reddish-orange plastic mesh bags. And while you might be tempted to throw that bag away when you run out of potatoes, you should hold on to it instead. That’s why.
How to Reuse Mesh Grocery Bags
While your food mesh bags can serve several purposes after they’ve finished harvesting tubers, we’ll start by using it as a surprisingly effective scrubber. This tip is provided by @byjillee on Instagram:
In this video, home and garden blogger Jilly rolls up the mesh bag that once held an onion and uses it to clean and season a cast iron skillet before throwing it away. But depending on how dirty and/or damaged the bag gets after cleaning, you can always rinse it and reuse it.
One way to do this is to wrap part of the bag around a new kitchen sponge, then tie off each end (or secure with a rubber band) and cut the bag to size. This tip comes from Hunker , where they also note that once you add a little dish soap, you have an improved sponge for all your cleaning needs.
In addition to cleaning up the kitchen, there are other ways to reuse mesh grocery bags :
- Lining the bottom of pots and plant containers to keep soil from seeping through the drainage holes.
- Use two suction cups to attach the bag to the tub to act as storage for baby bath toys. This will keep them all in one place and allow them to drain and dry out instead of moldy.
- Tie them around the fruits and vegetables you grow in your outdoor garden to protect them from hungry birds and other animals.