Celebrate Green Blog

In Part 1 of this series, I (Lynn) admitted my embarrassing addiction to shopping bags and explained my special affinity to bag systems. In this post, I’ll share one of my two favorite kits. (In Part 3, I’ll introduce you to the other, Esse.)

I fell in love with Blue Avocado (not the name, the system), the first time I saw the bags because I love primary colors and bold patterns. When I received a kit from the company, I was wowed by the practicality of this product. It felt like I’d reached shopping bag nirvana!

First of all the bags are really big! And they are sturdy. Any straps not part of the fabric itself, are well-attached. This is important since I’ve been known to catch straps not only on door knobs, but on grandkids’ arms, lawn decorations (don’t ask) and other assorted protuberances and it’s extremely annoying when a broken bag spills all my perfectly ripe organic produce all over the parking lot!

I especially love Blue Avocado’s “Chil” (not a typo) insulated bag, something I’ve not seen elsewhere. Before I send my beloved to the store, I give him a few ice packs and our frozen foods stay rock hard instead of melting all over the floor of the car. (The bag is supposed to insulate up to three hours, but we’ve never tested it for that long.)

An added plus–on the Blue Avocado site, they tell you how many bags (made from recycled materials, by the way), you save by using each kit. You can multiply that out by how much shopping you do over the course of a year and discover the incredible savings to you (and the planet when you’re not taking home plastic). And their gro-pak bags are labeled with a carbon footprint label that highlights the impact (both plastic bags and carbon emissions avoided) per trip and per year.

In summary, these are quality bags that look great and wear well.

One down side is that you may not personally be attracted to the colors and patterns (there are six or seven available options depending on which bag system you choose), or perhaps you don’t need such large bags.

Then there is the price.

Paying $80.00 for the largest kit (the Grande), may seem like overkill, but honestly, I think it’s worth it. When you realize that this system replaces 16 plastic bags each time you visit the grocery store, add up all the times you shop annually, and compute the waste in bags, it’s not a bad deal, especially because the bags are so large and this kit includes the insulated bag as well as super size produce bags.

They do of course, offer less expensive kits, but if you’re giving a greenie or wannabe greenie a gift, the Grande will outfit her completely and for a very long time.

Blue Avocado bags are made from at least 50% recycled material. Of course, we’d love them even more if that were bumped up to 100%, but we get the issues. They do take back the products when their useful life (to the buyer) ends, for recycling and use the least amount of packaging possible. As with many small companies, Blue Avocado may not be perfect, but in our opinion, they’ve made a very good start.

Note: The giveaway below is over. Using Random.org, the winner from those who commented below is “Leah.”

Now here’s an awesome bonus if you like the Blue Avocado system as much as I do: Blue Avocado and Celebrate Green! are giving away a starter kit…

plus one of Blue Avocado’s brand new lunch totes!

Total retail value-$49.98!

To enter, in the comment section below, let us know why you’re dying to win this awesome Blue Avocado combo. Be sure your email address is correct so we can notify you of the winner. We’ll choose the lucky duck using Random.org and will announce the winner on Tuesday, August 31.

U.S. residents only on this one.