Plastic shopping bags are becoming a thing of the past. We recently started using reusable bags to run our errands and are now hooked. It’s not only better for the environment, but it makes your groceries so much easier to carry. Since we live in a city and walk everywhere, we wanted to make sure we had the best and most comfortable option. We were intrigued that the BeeGreen Basic Reusable Grocery bags had straps that you could carry over your shoulders, so we took them out one Saturday to run a bunch of shopping errands and see how well they worked. Read on to see what we thought.
Design: Sling a bag or two over your shoulder
The BeeGreen Basic Reusable Grocery Bags are 100 percent polyester rip-stop cloth, which the brand states is much better in strength that ordinary polyester fabric. They measure at 15 inches wide and 16 inches high with a six-inch squared off bottom to help your items stay in place. The bags have long and wide straps that allow you to carry the bags on your shoulder. They are crafted with one whole piece of fabric. We loved that you could hold the bags on your shoulder. Living in Brooklyn, New York, we walk everywhere, so having our hands free during errands was a huge help. The bags come in a pack of five. Each bag has an integrated pouch to fold up and be easy to have on hand. And depending on your personal preference, there is a wide variety of color choices, from black to green to a multi-colored pack.
Packability: Replaces two to three typical plastic grocery bags
We took these bags out to run our weekly errands and were super pleased with how many items these bags held. According to BeeGreen, each of their bags replaces two to three typical plastic grocery bags. We only needed three bags to stored a week’s worth of groceries (for a family of three). The bagged items included milk, cereal, produce, meat, frozen items, a few cans of beans, snacks, and more. Two of the bags were pretty full, and the third was just one-quarter full. When folding the bag in on its self to stow it in its pouch, it took some trial and error to get the bag to fit nicely in the pouch. Once folded, it was ideal to fit in a diaper bag (5.3 inches x 5.3 inches).
Durability: Each bag holds up to 40 pounds
Each of the BeeGreen bags can hold up to 40 pounds. Two of the bags were pretty heavy, and there was no issue walking around the neighborhood with them. Moving forward, we definitely will be using these bags to do all of our grocery shopping since they worked so well. And if there is an issue with the bags, BeeGreen offers a one-year warranty and will give a full refund or ship a new product.
Cleaning: Bags are machine washable
If something were to spill inside the bag, these BeeGreen Basic Reusable Grocery Bags are machine washable. However, they do note it’s better to hand wash the bags and hang dry. We threw ours in the wash (just to test it out) on the delicate cycle with cold water, and they came out completely fine.
Price: An excellent price for reusable shopping bags
The BeeGreen Basic Reusable Grocery Bags 5-pack retails at $13.99, which is an excellent price for the quality of the product you get compared to the cost of other reusable shopping bags. Different brands can range from $10 to about $25 for a similar 5-pack.
BeeGreen Basic Reusable Grocery Bags vs. BagPodz Reusable Shopping Bags
Before using the BeeGreen bags, we tested out the BagPodz Reusable Shopping Bags to compare the two. Both are great, high-quality products. But a few differences make the BeeGreen bags the winner for us. The first noticeable difference was the price. BeeGreen bags are about $10 cheaper for the same amount of bags. Secondly, we had to use fewer BeeGreen bags for the same amount of groceries. We used four of the BagPodz and three of the BeeGreen. And finally, the clincher was we could wear the BeeGreen bags over your shoulders, which is super helpful when running errands around the neighborhood and freeing up our hands. The BeeGreen Basic Reusable Grocery Bags are durable, affordable, and make your groceries more comfortable to carry thanks to their sturdy shoulder straps. These are a stellar option for running your errands (and they help the environment, too).
