Heather
Beauty That Moves
I feel like this post is the simplest of simple ideas. So simple in fact, that I feel a little funny sharing it. Is it even post worthy? Well, sure... why not. Sometimes the most basic ideas are the best place to start. And sometimes they are the very things that have been overlooked for too long, put on the back burner to take care of someday. Sometimes we need just the right inspiration/motivation to finally take care of that item on the list... I know I certainly do.
Ziploc bags. Most of us use them for one reason or another, very few of us throw them away. For years I wanted one of those fancy
wooden bag drying racks, but never felt like paying the price (they aren't crazy expensive, just not something I didn't want to spend money on). The round design also made me wonder where I would keep the baggie filled rack in my small kitchen. It seemed it would need to sit on the counter, precious space I cannot spare.
So, I asked my husband if he would check out our scrap wood pile for supplies to make us a rack of our own, one that was designed in a rectangular fashion rather than round. It seemed like the most practical place to dry the bags and store the rack was right over the kitchen sink, on the windowsill.
In less than an hour he delivered the rack I had waited years for (it's the little things), to my kitchen. It works perfectly for us, stays out of the way and holds plenty of bags as well as the resident guinea pig's water bottle as it drys. :)
There are of course many other ways to dry ziploc bags... please share a method that is working for you!
53 comments:
Heather,
I understand your glee, because it is often the simplest of things that can make work a little easier!
I have draped my bags on the taps in kitchen and laundry and before they have dried, I've moved them 1/2 a dozen times! Thanks for this great idea! I'm off to ask hubby for one!
I agree with the last commenter! My husband made me a bag drier much like the one you linked to. However, I didn't like the design that much for one reason or the other. I think the design your husband made looks great! I am also excited to put another project on my "honey do" list!
How do you wash them?
Why not make one yourself? This isn't a high skill wood working project.
EJ
Turn them inside out and stick
the opened end on the top of
our Sodastream machine (it's
long and skinny). (even a low
skill woodworking project is
too much required for me!).
I dry them inside out in the dishwasher (since I don't use it for washing dishes). When I need the space, I turn them rightside out and hang them from my strand of clips (for lightweight clothes) - photo in this post.
I peg them on the clothesline which is under the verandah.
Pip
I like the drier but we just hang them on the line with the laundry.
I just stick them over the utensils that are drying in the dishrack. :)
Lakeviewer: Handwash just like you would your dishes. Inside out might help, too.
~Tara
Washing & reusing ziplock bags is better than not reusing them at all, but I am trying to phase them out altogether... a tricky thing!
http://www.bag-e-wash.com/
I put them over the knives in the knife block but I am trying to phase them out.
I use magnets & attach them to the side of my refrigerator.
~Anissa
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hi everyone,
so many ways to dry these little bags!! :)
i'd love to hear how the phaser-outers (technical term) store their bread. we fall into the category of phasing out as well, but they make such great bread storage! i've yet to be able to think up a successful alternative...thoughts?
heather
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I set some wooden spoons, handle-side up, in the silverware basket of my dish drainer, and dry them on those.
Like Chile, I dry mine inside out in the dishwasher. Alternatively, I hang them upside down on the clothesline in the basement with a fan turned on low.
Judy
I love this idea Heather. Thanks for sharing it. I have a woodworking (when he has time) hubby and we've got scrap wood around and plenty of plastic bags to be dried.
Also, I love your little radio in the corner by your sink. Reminds me of my own that sits on the counter so I can listen to NPR while cooking.
What a clever idea and thanks for sharing it with us.. I too have limited counter space and one of those would be perfect. I save my plastic mayo jars for storing dried things in and they take forever to dry inside.. I could just hang them over the rods too.
Thank you
Hi Heather, I love your idea of putting the drying rack on the window sill... great space saver and the gentle breeze is great to dry/air out the bags, etc.
I use my knitting needles. I put them in a glass bottle (about 1/2 the size of the needles) and hang the bags from the needles. Works great.
Surely, I will get food poisoning. The major use for our ziplock baggies is taking homemade breads to work for lunch/breakfast. I don't wash. I use them over and over again until they rip (which they invariably do).
For freezer bags which I use for storing meat, I actually do wash them and since it is usually just one... I slip it over the tap on the sink.
I can see getting rid of the ziplock baggies for lunches but how else do I store my meat? I buy it in bulk. Throw it in to the freezer in its individual pieces on a cookie sheet. Once it has frozen enough to not all stick together, I throw it in a bag. This lets me get out the amount I need which is way less than the amount I buy it in.
When you made your rack, did you coat the wood with anything, like polyurethane, or canola oil, etc., or did you just leave it plain bare wood?
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susan,
i kept it plain (no finish), figuring that would be the safest way to go for items related to food storage.
thanks for asking!
heather
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Oh I love that! I might have to take that photo over to my husband and ask if he can make me one too. Or maybe I should drag out the drill and figure out how to make one myself. It doesn't look that complicated, might be a good 'intro to woodshop' project for me!
I had an epiphany one day...a left over bottle with a cork top (originally had sea salt in it) and a few bamboo skewers! Pushed the sharp end of the skewers through the cork and tada! I also put mine on the kitchen window sill, but mine is much wider so that wasn't an issue.
One of my son's friends made me one of the "round ones" when he saw us stacking them up all over our kitchen and hanging them on any available protrusion. I happen to have the counter space and love it. However, I too am looking for a way to not use them along with other storage problems such as covering cakes baked in 8x8 or 9x13 pans, freezing soups, freezing sweet breads (like banana bread), ground meat bought in bulk, etc. Love to see a post on these kinds of challenges.
I dry them lightly with a hand towel then hang them in our laundry room. Drying them lightly prevents anything underneath from getting soaked. Even without the dryer on, that room generates the most heat in the house. I clip multiple bags to metal hangers with clothespins right side up (only clip one side). They dry very quickly and I don't have to look at them or see them dripping in the kitchen!
I also dry produce bags this way. I bring our veggies home in string bags then transfer them to the used produce bags. They take a big longer to dry then the ziplocks.
What a clever design! Yes, we do dry ours and reuse and I just took pictures this past week to do a post!
I, too, am phasing plastic bags out, but I'm getting as much use as I can out of them, in the meantime.
I just wash, rinse, open the bag up, and put it over a quart jar or a small teapot. I haven't timed it, but drying the bags over things that keep them wide open seems to help them dry faster. When it's dry, everything gets put away in its proper place.
Your bag drying rack is nice, but if I had a specialty dryer, it would just be another thing to store when not in use.
To keep bread fresh without using a plastic bag, try a bread saver/keeper. The one I used to have was a thick, rigid plastic. One end nested inside the other (think of a flat-bottomed tube, cut in half, with one half slightly larger in diameter than the other), so I could adjust it to the length required.
If you don't want to use plastic, you might try a metal bread box.
Another thing to do would be to store the bread in a bread pan--the same one you baked it in, or another, clean one, of the same size. Cover the top with foil or cloth, depending on whether you wanted to keep the bread fresh, or just wanted to keep off insects.
Actually, bread pans come in various sizes, so you could put a slightly larger pan over the top.
I love this idea. We have tried to phase out our use of ziplocs as much as possible. You asked how to store bread without a bag. I have a couple rectangular Rubbermaid containers that I found a couple years ago. They fit a loaf of my homemade bread perfectly. My grandma stores her bread in a bread pan covered with foil that she uses over and over. I don't know what the best answer is.
I'm always so happy when I recognize a need, find the supplies at my home already, and create a product to solve my problem all without further shopping! Very nice!
this is wonderful. I'm making one. Drying them vertically is so smart.......
Heather, I'm with you on the storing bread issue of fazing out plastic bags. I make four loaves at once and freeze all but one. I don't see how I could freeze bread without a freezer bag. Actually, freezing anything...That's all I ever use plastic bags for: freezing bread, muffins, berries, leftover bananas, etc. I'd be very interested to hear what others are doing to solve those problems.
In the meantime, I'm reusing the plastic bags, and your dryer looks awesome. Love the rectangular design!
TBH, I was sort of surprised to see this topic even talked about on this blog! I thought using glass jars, Pyrex lidded glass containers, and/or decent plastic containers would be more green/ frugal than using ziplock bags, even if washing & reusing those bags?
But, my ideas, as a 'phaser-outer':
I rarely use the ziplock bags anymore, and had a few miscellaneous StayFresh bags, we were using to keep our bread in, but they have just about had it too. I won't be buying anymore, but will either find a decent bread container, or perhaps make some fabric bags?
Just like with gladwrap and baking paper... I just didn't buy anymore when it ran out. Funny how you can make do, when there isn't any in your drawer!!
Keep any jars from any food you might buy, or source them from markets/ op shops. Look for the Pyrex sets when on sale. Garage sales can be a great place to find glass containers, or if you do plastci, ranges of Tupperware-type things. Just buy good quality and check the condition. You can also buy glass storage containers with rubber seals, sometimes get second hand ones and replace the seals.
Instead of mini ziplock bags for kids snacks, I use small sized reuseable lidded containers... there are also various safe/ washable "sandwich wraps" out there too!
Instead of putting ice cube blocks of baby/ kids food in ziplock bags (to keep in freezer), I put the blocks into a freezer proof container...
Instead of putting mini muffins, muffins or slices of cake into ziplock bags to freeze, I put them in to freezer proof containers...
We eat a lot of Asian food so I dry mine zip lock bags over chopsticks in the utensil holder of the dish drainer.
To wash them, I turn them inside out and put them in the top rack of my dishwasher. I don't use the drying cycle on the dishwasher and the bags don't melt.
Great Project - I'm going to show it to my husband. In good weather we dry them outside on the line - but this would be good to have for times when we can't do that.
What a great topic, my sister and I talked about just the other night. While I try not to use them they do show up when friends and family arrive.
They are simple, wash them inside and out, pick up the dish towel and take 2 seconds to dry them, fold and put away. This way there is no messy any thing round or square hanging around.
:)
Instead of using ziploc bags, I use food grade plastic (thick plastic that the bulk foods I buy come in) and sew it onto the back of octogon shaped pieces of fabric. It all folds together nicely, and stays in place with a single piece of velcro. Bread stays fresh, and when it's cleaning time I simply open the whole thing out and wipe it down. If the fabric gets soiled it's simply a matter of washing with the dishes and leaving to dry on the dishrack. Because I'd love to phase out plastic altogether, I'm looking into making the wraps I've described above with fabric only. Putting a layer of water resistant sew-in interfacing as a layer between the inner and outer fabric pieces shows promise at working well to keeping food fresh. The fabric only wraps are very easy to wash, and can be ironed - don't try that with the plastic lined variety!
Great idea, Threads of Light... bit like the 'sandwich/ snack wraps' available at the moment from places like the Wrap-N-Mat, 4 My Earth ones, or the various WAHM stores etc... but an all fabric type one sounds good, esp. if you could use organic hemp fabric!
Forget to say before, that baby food jars are another good little storgage alternative, for spices, herbs, home made toiletries if you have a lot of them on hand, or know someone with a baby who uses jarred baby food... good alternative to zip lock bags for those little things... you could even put your coffee/ tea for work or picnics in them, or trail mix for outings, if you feel safe with glass...
Ooh, ooh, Threads of Light, have you ever made fabric covers, but instead of octagons with velcro, used a large round of fabric and put elastic on the edges... sort of like a shower cap, but to go over plates, containers etc. You can buy plastic ones like that... BUT has anyone ever made fabric ones? I might have to try that! Sorry to get excited, but I have been trying to find alternatives that are still safe and convenient, to the kitchen plastic problem!
Hey there Dixibelle, no I haven't made the round ones, but I think I will now you've given me the great idea for it!
Something I've been experimenting with is making fabric a little more impervious to liquids, like oilcloth. I've tried dipping fabric into melted wax and then ironing off the excess between sheets of newspaper, that seems to work quite well.
For those interested in extreme experimenting in the name of reducing plastics in the kitchen, I just found this link from a moscow food blog (if I did that right a hyperlink appeared; if it didn't, I apologize for the mess)
about making oilcloth sandwich wraps. I am pretty sure that some versions of linseed oil are not safe to use, so that purchase would have to be made carefully.
Thanks, interesting article! I would not say I am into extreme experimenting, LOL, but more that there must be simple (green & frugal) solutions to food storage, that existed before plastic started covering everything! I have noticed Rhonda has crocheted & bead weighted covers on her ceramic bowls/ jugs, so figure other ideas are out that are re-useable, washable, safe and convenient!
So simple!
So Green!
So Frugal!
So COOL!
I use empty wine bottle, olive oil bottles, whatever bottles, as well as my French rolling pin, which sits at a jaunty angle in a large mortar. Just today I did a batch of bags, lined the bottles up on the counter, and flipped them over as I finished them. It's not elegant. I like your little rack. I'd ask for one like yours if we had a good window sill in the kitchen. Nice job he did.
I clip my wet bags upside down to the edges of the range hood with clothes pins. They dry fast enough that they never really get in the way. I don't have ziplock bags, I just use twist ties from the bulk food store and milk bags (Canada: we get our milk in bags;-)
Toronto is phasing out plastic bags (starting in June we have to pay for them) but there are so many ways that bags get re-used that I have a hard time imagining how that's going to be. I hope someone comes up with a good bread storage idea, I'd like to know the answer to that question too.
And then there's the dog waste...
Hi,
I dry mine on Tinker Toys! It looks very similiar to yours except mine is all linked with Tinker Toys, which I got at Goodwill.
Coleen
I use metal cloths hangers--I don't use them for hanging cloths, but always have a ton hanging around. You can fold them so that they look like a swan (hook part being the neck) and fit a baggie over the "wings." Make them wider or narrower to fit different size baggies. I hang the whole thing off a shelf above the washer. The wings hold the baggies open so that air can circulate.
I found this tip in the Tightwad Gazette. :)
re: bread storage - wrap in tea towel, inside metal bread box. also? for keeping veggies fresh or putting dough in the fridge to chill? damp tea towel.
been thinking about making some sandwich wraps cause I have the old wrap n mats wi/the bad pvc liner. if I want to skip plastic liner altogether do you have any suggestions?
for freezer re: muffins etc, I use plastic tupperware and glass jars. Some ziplocks. Hard to get around plastic with freezer storage... but Beth at Fake Plastic Fish rec's these metal tiffins...
I stopped buying ziplock bags a while back and simply re-use bread sacks and the plastic bags that burrito shells come in... I just add them to my laundry drying rack while my clothes are drying.
Great idea! Even though I haven't purchased plastic bags for years, many food items I buy are packaged in them so I wash, dry and reuse them. Some of the bags are heavier than the ziplock type and they last much longer. Try this and you may be able to wean yourself off buying them saving yourself a little money and the planets resources.
I simply hot glued clothes pins to the front underside of my cabinets. They are out of sight, always there when I need them, and it keeps them off the counters!
4-pairs of chopsticks and 5 rubber bands make a temporary ziploc bag dryer. Take a pair of chopstick and wrap the each end about an inch in with rubber bands. Repeat with the second pair. Then cross the banded chopstick set and rubber band it to form an X or +. Rest the X/+ on a table. Finally at each end prior to the rubber band place one chopstick straight up. For drying gallon size bags make a longer pole by rubber banding an additional chopstick.
Takes less than 2 minutes to make!
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