Summer and Bon Appétit magazine bring out the farm stand shopper in all of us…or is it just me? 

While living in New York City, one of my favorite things to do was to visit the vegetable stands on the street, where $10 would bring home far more veggies and fruits than our two person family could eat. Of course, a big haul means lugging those vegetables a number of blocks to our apartment, and usually meant a few more stops for bread and milk along the way. The solution? Reusable shopping bags.  

I may not live in the city any more, but my enthusiasm for local produce and affinity for shopping bags have not diminished. Rather, they have increased! Now, with a kid in one arm and a diaper bag on the other, the fewer shopping bags I need to carry—the better.  

We took the Bag Makers’ Therm-O-Tote on one such shopping trip to see how much we could fit into one bag. (For the photo, we took the leafy vegetables out in order to show how well the big  things fit into the Therm-O-Tote). You can see that there is plenty of headroom left for lighter groceries, and even zipped closed to prevent spilling in the car. On another trip, we didn’t bring the Therm-O-Tote to see how many plastic bags we would be given. See the results: 

Yikes! Reusable bags are not only more efficient but environmentally friendly too. Other features of the Therm-O-Tote I like are the insulation and rectangular or square-shape options, for carrying unwieldy objects. 

The verdict? Its an obvious choice to continue using the Therm-O-Tote reusable shopping bags for their ease of carry, amount of storage space, and the superior durability of the plastic bottom insert. Although I no longer need to carry my groceries home by foot, I still appreciate the help these bags afford from farm stand to home and everywhere in between.