Things of plastic

I am quite aware that plastic is the “evil” item of the year.  We are a green society!  A society that is making people buy tons of new products that are not made of plastic… which makes consumers throw away their plastic goods?  The latest copy of the San Diego Reader had a picture of a Target plastic bag on the cover.  I think it was promoting an article on why plastic bags are the equivalent of Satan’s treasure (or something), but it just made me sad to think they were targeting, um, Target.  I love Target.

The other day, we went out for some errand running and it was T who reminded me to bring along our reusable shopping bags.  I consider that progress.  It was also handy that he came along since he reminded me I have no more room in my shoe closet for a new pair of shoes.  Even though he conceded the new pair was, indeed, cute.  I totally would have bought them, gotten home, and been sad to discover I’d have to get rid of an old pair of shoes to make room for the new ones.  I mean, they weren’t that cute.

So, I’ve professed my love of the Reynolds Handi-Vac before.  It’s been praised and bashed on Chowhounds, but I still love it.  When T went deep sea fishing, we packaged his catch in quart and gallon-sized Handi-Vac bags.  I bought a huge bag of cheese at Costco and then portioned it out for the freezer using those bags (although, now I’m wondering if I’m going to end up with a big hunk of smushed shredded cheese when it defrosts).  I also bought a huge back of uncooked tortillas (from Costco) and put some in a gallon bag (those tortillas are awesome! but I totally don’t need 44 of them) and put those in the freezer.  Sometimes the seal holds; sometimes it doesn’t.  It seems to do a great job protecting my (Costco) steaks from freezer burn, though.

Ziploc seems to have jumped in the market with their own vacuum bags!  Their vacuum is a hand-pump – no batteries needed.  I wonder which one works better… I suppose it depends on the quality of the bag and seal point.  I would have a personal, in-depth review for you, but I was prevented from purchasing one when I saw it at Walmart.  My mom supposedly bought one for me, but it’s still in Vegas.  Maybe she will tell me how it’s working for her.  T just didn’t see the point in buying another vacuum, one that requires a different brand of bags, when the vacuum we have is working perfectly well AND we have fair stock of bags at home.  I guess I see his point.

Something that is also plastic is the salad container I take to work sometimes (because I’ve kind of gotten over the salad-is-so-fun stage).  I recently saw them in the regular plastic storage container aisle at Target.  Salad bowls, they’re not just for summer any more!  I still really like it, because I think it holds the perfect amount of salad and dressing. 

There are a lot of neat looking products coming out in the world, marketing themselves towards people who are “going green” because it’s now trendy and socially acceptable (as opposed to being tree-hugger hippiefied).  It’s a little sad because I like buying stuff, but I don’t want to end up with piles of stuff for the sake of having it.  You know?  We just went through the garage and cleaned things out because it was all taking up too much room.  And I’m starting to like all this new-found empty space.