Onion Crackers and "Would you like a bag?"

Trying to get back in the groove of blogging. I haven't had much time because we just moved into a different house.

While we were moving, we bought some things to have a quick easy snack. These Onion Crackers by Ener-G were one of the products we decided to try for the first time. Surprisingly, they were quite good.



I spread almond butter or sunflower seed butter on them. They would also be good with a bowl of soup. But as it is summer, I would opt for a dairy free dip or simply some seed or nut butter!


Speaking of sunflower seed butter, these Sunbutter Crunch Snack Bars are really good. I love that there are so many nut free options now. My daughter is allergic to most nuts.

Buying those onion crackers, to me, was the equivalent of going out to eat. We don't buy much in the way of package foods, at least compared to mainstream america. We do buy things like sunflower seed butter, coconut milk and coconut water, etc. But we do have an awareness of the foods we eat, and we make an effort to eat mostly non-packaged foods. We also use reusable bags, and if we forget them, we opt for no bag and carry whatever we bought. My favorite reusable bag is the Chico Bag. It stores easily - I carry them in my purse - and they hold a lot and are durable.

I have found that the "cloth like" reusable bags that stores are offering (whole foods, target, walmart, etc) are not durable long-term. They rip easily.

Do you use reusable bags? Just think, every time you buy items and are given a plastic bag, then you are contributing to the estimated 500 billion plastic bags a year, or 1 million per minute[[reusablebags.com].

I recommend reading this article: The Real Cost of "Free"

It seems like, in the not-so-distant past, cashiers or baggers used to ask "would you like a bag?"
But then, suddenly, your items started to just be tossed into a bag regardless of whether or not you really needed one. 

I have had times where I was buying one item that could easily be carried in my hand, and the cashier put in a large plastic bag. Each time, I would either say "I don't need a bag" or take the item out myself. Sometimes, if someone was with me, I would say loudly how wasteful plastic bags are. Usually, cashiers respond with kindness when I opt for no bag, or bring my own bag. But I have had times when I would get this "what do you mean you don't want a BAG? it's EASIER" kind of look.

It seems like someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden we use plastic bags for any kind of item regardless of whether we really need them, simply because it is easier. When we used to go to the movie store, they would try to put our movies in a bag. That to me seems very strange. Why do movies need a bag?

If you use reusable bags, please share which are your favorite. We use cotton canvas bags too.


-heather