
Have you ever gone to your local grocery store and thought about the number of bags that are used by them? Plastic is commonly provided to customers for carrying grocery items. But they can also be a huge waste, a key component to the ever-growing accumulation of the Earth’s man-made pollutants. By 2050, it is estimated that plastic waste will outnumber the combined weight of all the fish in the oceans unless worldwide human consumption of plastics is reduced.
One of the easiest ways to prevent this from occurring begins at the individual level. Reusable grocery bags are made from fabric, strong enough to hold up and last much longer than the short lifespans of bags. They can also sustain more weight, with some of them containing enough volume to hold a full carton’s worth of food. Below are seven of the best reusable grocery bags found online, made to substitute plastic bag’s strain on our environment. The Buyers Guide further down details all that you should know about reusable bags before checking out. The most recommended products from the list are announced at the summary.
Seven Reusable Grocery Bags that are Great for your Home and the Environment
Product | Material | Price | ||
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BagPodz Reusable Bag and Storage System | 5 | RipStop Nylon | 2 gallons | Check Price |
EarthWise Reusable Grocery Bags | 3 | PPNW | 5 gallons | Check Price |
Anleo Reusable Grocery Tote Bags | 6 | PPNW | 5 gallons | Check Price |
Household Essentials 2212-1 Krush Canvas | 1 | Vinyl | 5 gallons | Check Price |
BeeGreen Grocery Reusable Bags | 5 | RipStop Nylon | 4 gallons | Check Price |
BeeGreen Reusable Ripstop Fabric Bag | 6 | RipStop Polyester | 5 gallons | Check Price |
Ahyuan Ecology Reusable Grocery Bags | 3 | Cotton (100%) | 1 gallon | Check Price |
7 Best Reusable Grocery Bags Reviewed
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BagPodz Reusable Bag and Storage System – Best Overall

- Contains two pouches for storing specialty items separately from other groceries
- The cylinder-shaped bag has a carabiner for draping over buggy handles
- All pieces included with the product will fit into each other when not used
- The bags are smaller than the size of the ordinary plastic bags
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EarthWise Reusable Grocery Bags Set Shopping Box with Reinforced Bottom – People’s Choice

- All bags included will fold down the lay completely flat when not in use
- Each of the bags cardboard sides for walls, preventing them from being toppled over when standing in an upright position
- Can be cleaned easily without a machine wash (unless heavily soiled)
- No coverings added to the top of bags; nothing to prevent food from getting when walking outside during inclement weather
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Anleo Reusable Grocery Tote Bags (6 Pack, Black) – Best for Perishable Items

- A hook on the outside of the bag allows the user to suspend over a hook for storage
- Zippers featured at the top to close the bag shut
- The handle’s stitching extends all the way to the bottom of the bags, extending the entire product’s lifetime
- Plastic inserts included (easier to carry jugs and cans)
- Hard to keep the bag in an upright position unless held
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Household Essentials 2212-1 Krush Canvas Utility Tote – Best laundry carry Bag

- Strong but very lightweight
- Zippers featured at the top to close the bag shut
- The dark color makes it easy for users to style it with artwork (stickers, stitching, etc)
- Large enough to be used when not grocery shopping (laundry, cleanup, and purse alternative)
- When used initially, the bag has an irritating smell to it (goes away after a while)
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BeeGreen Grocery Reusable Bags Foldable – Best for Heavy Groceries

- Bags can be opened to a wide width (much wider than they appear)
- The handles are strong enough to be suspended over the shoulders without slipping off
- Heavy groceries will not puncture the bottom of the bag (so long as the bags are not overloaded)
- Difficult to fold and shape the bags into a pouch
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BeeGreen Reusable Ripstop Fabric Washable Durable Lightweight Bag – Best Material Quality

- The fabric is designed to prevent rips from happening (rip-resistant)
- A hook (carabiner) is on each bag that’s useful for hoisting additional bags, if needed
- Safe for machine washing
- Reinforced seams make it easy to bag when checking out groceries
- Carabiners are cheaply made and may break if too much force or weight is applied to them
- Ahyuan Ecology Reusable Cotton Mesh Grocery Bags – Best for Machine Washing

- The mesh material allows users to carry items with pointed edges without tearing apart
- Manufactured from cotton only; safe to wash by hand or machine
- The material is stretchy and conforms ergonomically to the items being carried
- Although the bag can stretch, the overall capacity is smaller than ordinary grocery tote bags
Buyer’s Guide
Choosing the Right Reusable Grocery Bag
You don’t have to overcomplicate things when looking for reusable bags. Try to focus your search on the products that conform the most to your style of shopping. For instance, if you tend to purchase items in bulk, then a reusable bag that’s wide and large would be the best fit for you. But if you’re more of a small “express lane” type of shopper, then the smaller varieties should suffice. How did you shop when you used plastic bags in the past? Did you drape them over the shopping cart? or separate meats and other perishable items from those that are non-perishable? Bags with plastic pouches in them could come in handy if you live to divide up items based on food type.
The Bag’s Strength
This is very important, and strength can vary with each bag you see. To get an idea of just how strong a bag of interest is, look at what materials it consists of. Polypropylene and nylon are some of the strongest bag materials you’ll find, and they will also prevent your food items from getting wet when the weather outside is poor. But cotton can also be strong and tends to be easier to machine wash.
Capacity and Weight
A reusable bag’s capacity is usually determined by the number of gallons that it can hold. Most average around four or five gallons, although some might hold less. But this is a measurement of volume only, and weight could be vastly different between two brands that have a five-gallon capacity but are made with contrasting materials. For example, a five-gallon cotton bag might be weaker than an all-nylon one. The nylon comparison could probably hold a combined weight of 50 pounds, whereas the cotton would max out at 40 or less.
Summary/Conclusion
If you’re ready to decide which reusable bag is best for your shopping style, take a moment to glance over any of the sections (or items) that you may have missed. The Buyers Guide will brief you on helpful pointers to consider before you check out, along with the comparison table above. But the best products overall are the first two choices from the reviews. BagPodz and EarthWise Reusable Grocery Bags have everything that you’ll need to get over the habit or dependence on plastic at the grocery counter. And when you use them, feel proud of doing your part to reduce the scale of ongoing pollution and the harm it brings to so many animals on Earth, including humans. Show them to your strangers and friends to raise awareness about the changes that can be taken to save our planet!


I did experience that irritating smell mentioned for the krush canvas utility tote but that went away after a few weeks. Now I use it a lot for other stuff. definitely recommend it.
I love reuseable bags, I’m obsessed with them!
The BeeGreen bags are so adorable. I carry a really small purse and I have never tried to use reusable bags before because they were always too big and wouldn’t fit in my bag. Now I can just throw them in my purse and not worry about it.
My favorite bag on this list is the Household Essentials. It can fit so much that most of the time I only have to use one bag for each store trip. It makes it so much easier to bring everything in from the car when it’s just one bag.
I just got my Earth Wise bags a few weeks ago and I can only imagine how many plastic bags I have saved since then. I go to the store to purchase food for a family of five about three times a week.
I have never heard of the Bag Podz! I always forget to bring my bags into the store because I put them in my trunk because they take up too much space in front of my car. Maybe with these, I can actually remember!