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We are testing several reusable food storage bags, including models from OXO, W&P Porter, ZipTop, and Trader Joe’s, and will publish our results in the coming months. blue garbage bags
Single-use plastics like zip-top bags and plastic wrap are everyday items in many kitchens. But while they’re convenient, they’re not great for the environment. Luckily, there are effective reusable alternatives.
We think the first step to reducing your own waste is to find ways to use the jars and bags you already have. But if you need to fill in the gaps, we tested 20 reusable food storage bags—from mesh sacks to silicone pouches—to see which ones are worth the investment.
I’ve covered everything from reusable straws to hand mixers for Wirecutter. For this guide:
There are good reasons to want to reduce your use of disposable plastics. We know that plastic is terrible for the environment, and single-use plastics are particularly bad: Not only do throwaway items like produce bags and packaging crowd landfills and litter our cities and waterways, but producing them also incurs major environmental costs. This guide focuses on reusable bags for storing food, whether you’re at the grocery store or packing lunch.
Just to be clear, you don’t have to buy more things in order to avoid single-use plastics. Usually, you can use what you already have. But if you want convenient solutions, or you don’t have much that can be reused, investing in a few essentials may help wean you off disposable items. Our picks will come in handy for grocery shopping, prepping meals, packing lunches, and storing leftovers.
These multipurpose, durable bags seal securely and can hold everything from snacks to prepped ingredients to leftovers, and they can go from fridge to freezer.
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Although you can wash and reuse disposable zip-top plastic bags, it’s not ideal to keep using them for food storage if you want to avoid eating microplastics. Instead, we recommend the Stasher Reusable Silicone Bag Multi-Pack.
They’re sturdy and dishwasher safe. These bags are durable and easy to clean, and can be put in the dishwasher. Our dishwasher successfully got rid of stains left by tomato sauce we’d stored in the bags over a weekend, which was not the case for all bags we tested. Stains remained on the re(zip) bags we tried, even after a trip through the dishwasher followed by a baking soda scrub.
The thick Stasher bags are also comfortable to hold and hand-wash because they aren’t as floppy as some thinner bags, and their wide seals were less likely to gum up with food. One of our staff members has been using their set of Stashers regularly for five years and they’re still going strong.
They’re versatile. We love that Stashers come in a wide range of sizes—pocket-size, 56-ounce capacity, and half-gallon. They come in flat versions that are useful for packing things like sandwiches, as well as bags that stand up, which are convenient for storing liquidy foods. And you have a choice of fun colors—’80s-inspired pastels, tie dye, and sea-glass green. According to a staff member who has used both the clear and colored Stashers for storing leftovers, the clear bags have the best visibility and make it easiest to take inventory of what’s in the fridge.
They’re compact. The Stasher bags stack neatly in a drawer or bin for quick access, and we’ve found it especially convenient that you don’t have to search for a matching lid as you would with a container. They’re thick enough that the bags won’t collapse if you stand them up, but they still have a slim profile.
They’re easier to stack in the fridge or freezer than plastic bags, and they take up less space than larger, rigid containers. “They are such space savers compared to Tupperware and the like,” said a staffer who likes them for food storage.
They tolerate extreme temperatures. Made from silicone, Stashers are freezer-safe, heatproof up to 400° F, and microwave- and oven-safe, so you can use them to store leftovers, reheat foods, or steam vegetables in the microwave. You can even cook sous vide in them: We made sous vide carrots with a Stasher bag and with a vacuum-sealed bag as a control. Though it was difficult to get most of the air out of the Stasher, the carrots tasted fine and were cooked through, just slightly firmer than the carrots cooked in the plastic bag.
They stay shut. The Stasher bags remained sealed as we shook them around. We wouldn’t put a bag filled with liquid in a backpack, but we would transport snacks or leftovers that way. And if you’re laying the bags flat or lining them up vertically in the fridge, you don’t have to worry about leaks; the seals popped open only when we applied pressure to the bags.
They’re great for all kinds of storage. The Stasher bags have many uses beyond food: You could use them for everything from packing toiletries in a carry-on to storing craft supplies.
They’re not cheap. At the time of writing, the Stasher bags cost about $55 for a bundle of five, and we know that’s expensive. But since we first published this guide, several staff members have been using their Stashers regularly for years, which makes us confident in recommending them as a worthy investment.
They can get schmutzy. The Stasher bags are made from silicone, which can attract dust and lint, and can retain smells and stains, especially from oily or acidic foods. Some Amazon reviewers complain that the bags also have a silicone smell, which we didn’t notice. But we did detect a slight silicone-like aftertaste to the broccoli that we steamed in a Stasher bag. When we cooked carrots sous vide at 183° F for an hour, however, they tasted fine. We recommend washing the bags before use to zap any lingering flavors.
We couldn’t remove all of the air. Despite trying to both roll out the air and to use the water-displacement method (the company’s recommendation) to get the air out of the Stashers in our sous vide tests, we still had to weigh the bag down with a metal utensil to prevent it from floating. A staff member who uses Stashers says that they also don't work well for freezing liquids (like stock) because of how difficult it is to get the air out and seal.
Washing them can be tricky. If you have a dishwasher, the Stashers are easier to clean than traditional plastic bags. But if you’re hand-washing the bags, it’s more difficult to get into every cranny, compared with a more-flexible plastic bag. Stasher advises against turning the bags inside out to clean them since this can put stress on their seams. It can also be challenging to reach into smaller Stasher bags and may require a bottle brush.
Some of our staff members who use Stashers regularly complain that you have to prop them open in the dishwasher for the insides to get fully cleaned, and must also prop them open to dry.
Tears can happen. Although these bags have received numerous positive ratings and reviews on Amazon, there are a fair number of complaints about their developing holes or tearing at the seams, mostly after foods have been cooked sous vide in them (and one after a buyer tried to turn the bag inside out to wash it). So far, none of the long term testers on our staff have experienced this with their Stashers. We also appreciate that the company has a repurposing program to reuse the silicone from damaged bags.
This set of cotton bags includes mesh and solid options for produce and bulk goods, and each bag has a cord lock and tare weights on its label.
For grocery shopping, the EcoRoots Premium Reusable Produce Bags come in the best variety of sizes and materials, and they have some extra features that make them more convenient to use than other bags we looked at.
They're convenient to use. Unlike most of the fabric bags we tested, the EcoRoots bags have a cord lock on their drawstrings, so you can cinch the bags shut.
They may be easier to use at checkout, too. Compared with other cloth bags we tested, these are the only ones that included three units for tare weights (pounds, ounces, and grams), listed in a large font on their tags. It’s a small detail, but this will help a cashier quickly ring you up if you use these bags for bulk or produce items.
They come in a variety of materials and sizes. We like that the set comes with both solid cloth and mesh bags, and the cotton mesh has a bit more stretch to it than synthetic materials do, allowing you to fit more in. The bags are machine-washable for easy cleaning, and they didn’t shrink too much in our tests. The EcoRoots bags are made from unbleached cotton and come in three sizes, with six cotton mesh bags and three solid cotton bags in a pack.
They can hold all kinds of foods. The largest size will fit a head of celery, a bunch of kale, a medium-size head of napa cabbage, or (just barely) an extremely large head of cauliflower. The mesh is fine enough to contain items like grapes, radishes, or snap peas, and it gives the bags a little more stretch so you can pack more inside them. The plain-woven bags can hold finer grains, smaller beans, nuts, or even flour.
They keep food fresh. In our tests, we didn’t notice much of a difference between cloth bags and a resealable plastic storage bag when it came to keeping foods like carrots, cilantro, and lettuce fresh for four days. But cloth bags won’t keep moisture inside like plastic will, so foods may dry out more over time. The only bag that kept foods noticeably fresher was the towel-like Vejibag, which you’re supposed to dampen before using. But the Vejibag is bulky and expensive, and we suspect you can just wrap foods in a damp towel to achieve the same effect.
Fabric is opaque. Cloth bags obscure what’s inside them and are not water resistant. If you prefer see-through storage that is better at repelling moisture, consider a set of Stashers.
The tare weights for all of the bags we tested were slightly off. But the worst-case scenario is you’ll pay a few more cents for your granola.
They shrink. The EcoRoots storage bags all shrank a little after washing and drying, which we expected since they’re cotton, but they were still usable.
The nylon drawstring bags in this set are well made and sturdy enough to transport produce or other items. They also look better than most produce bags.
The bags in the Junes Carry-All 3-Pack look nicer and feel sturdier than other mesh bags we’ve tried. They’re made from recycled plastic and have a thick, capped drawstring that won’t fray (though they don’t have a cord lock, like our pick from EcoRoots).
The Junes are machine-washable and are sewn better than most produce bags we looked at.
They’re good for groceries and other uses. Although the Junes bags’ mesh is coarser than that of other synthetic mesh bags we tried, it’s much finer than that of the EcoRoots bags. So Junes bags can contain coarser bulk goods like dried beans or nuts, and items like loose green beans won’t poke out of the bag. The Junes bags will also work as ditty bags for smaller items you need to throw into luggage.
They’ll recycle your old bag. When you’re done with your June bag, the company will process it into new yarn, and give you a 20% coupon toward a new bag.
They’re expensive. The Junes bags are pricier than any other reusable bags we tried, but we think they’ll hold up better over time.
The mesh isn’t super-fine. The holes are about the size of those on a window screen, so the bags won’t be practical for storing finer bulk foods like flour or sugar (for that, you may prefer the solid EcoRoots cotton bags).
They don’t have cord locks or tare weights. But our produce didn’t tumble out during shopping, and you can easily knot the cord for extra security. You’ll either have to weigh the bags on your own to tell the cashier since they aren’t labeled with tare weights, or eat the cost of the weight of the bag when buying produce or bulk goods.
Our testing has evolved since we first published this guide in 2019. We initially sifted through dozens of reusable kitchen items in our research, from bags to wraps to lids to reusable paper towels. More recently,, we’ve narrowed our scope to focus on the replacements we think have the most potential for daily and long-term use: bulk and produce bags, and food-storage bags.
To find good options, we searched the best-selling and best-reviewed items on Amazon, and we looked at the offerings from smaller online retailers like Life Without Plastic, Package Free, and Food52. We also visited Whole Foods, the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, and the New York City–based zero-waste stores Precycle and Package Free to see what reusable products they offered.
When picking resealable food storage bags, we paid attention to the sizes that they came in. We wanted bags that had obvious uses and would be in regular rotation, whether for packing sandwiches for lunch or storing leftovers after dinner. We also looked for bags that were dishwasher safe and easy to store.
Because most of these items are more expensive than their disposable cousins, we also considered value. We compared prices, varieties, and sizes for each product subset. And since the focus of this guide is on more sustainable gear, we also paid attention to the materials used to make each item, and the product’s longevity.
There are many useful reusable vessels for food storage that we were not able to cover here, but we do recommend in our other guides. For example, the Pyrex Simply Store 18-Piece Set and Snapware 18-Piece Total Solution Plastic Food Storage Set are excellent stackable options for food prep and storage. We like that the lidded dishes in the Pyrex Smart Essentials 8-Piece Mixing Bowl Set and the OXO Good Grips 3-Qt Glass Baking Dish with Lid make plastic wrap unnecessary. And the lightweight Standard Baggu tote is a go-to for carrying groceries, and it folds down to the size of an index card.
To test the produce bags, we stored leafy greens, herbs, and carrots in them for four days, then checked for freshness. We also put the same types of produce in a zip-top plastic bag as a control and compared the results. We then measured and weighed each produce bag to check its listed tare weights, and washed and dried them all several times to check for shrinkage. We also looked over the stitching and fabric to check for quality.
To test resealable bags, we filled them with tomato sauce and left them in the refrigerator over a weekend, then washed them in the dishwasher to see how much they stained. We also tried washing them by hand. We tested the bags for leaks by filling them with water, shaking them, and trying to pop them open by putting pressure on them with our hands. For the silicone bags, we steamed and cooked vegetables sous vide to see whether the bags imparted any flavor and whether they stayed watertight.
After making our picks, we continued to use them at home to see how they held up.
This is not a comprehensive list of everything we tested in previous iterations of this guide, just what’s still available.
The flat-bottomed, stand-up design of the Greater Goods Reusable Silicone Containers, which come four to a pack in a variety of sizes, seemed better-suited to storing leftovers than packing sandwiches. We liked how sturdy they were, but ultimately found them bulky and difficult to close.
We were impressed by the low price, but the crusty glue-like substance we noticed in the creases of the Honest Goods Silicone Food Grade Reusable Storage Bags was a dealbreaker.
We like that the Re(zip) storage bags are lightweight, transparent, and come in multiple sizes. They didn’t come clean in our tests, however, even after we scrubbed them with baking soda. They also aren’t heat-safe, and they are made from a thinner material than the Stasher bags.
The plush French terry Vejibag Fresh Vegetable Storage Bags look and feel luxurious, and they are the only produce bags we tried that kept leafy greens, herbs, and carrots fresh for days. But you can achieve the same results by wrapping clean produce in a damp towel, for a fraction of the cost. And the Vejibag Fresh bags don’t come with tare weights or any closure.
We tried a few bags from the online store Life Without Plastic: the Large Organic Cotton Mesh Produce Bag, the Medium Organic Cotton Mesh Produce Bag, and the Greens Bag. These are well made but pricey, and they don’t come with any type of closure.
The Gogooda Reusable Produce Bags don’t have a fine enough weave to contain cornmeal or other powdery foods. The tags are also smaller than those of our picks, which makes them harder to read. We do like that these bags are transparent and have a pull-tab closure.
The polyester purifyou Premium Reusable Mesh Produce Bags are nearly identical to the Gogooda bags, and they have the same issues.
We appreciate that the Simple Ecology Reusable Organic Cotton Muslin Produce Bags come in a manila envelope, to reduce plastic packaging, but these bags don’t have any closures.
We tried out several options from Eco-Bags: the Medium Organic Cloth Bulk and Produce Bag, the Large Organic Mesh Drawstring Bag, the Medium Gauze Produce Bag, and the Medium Organic Net Drawstring Bag. These bags are more expensive than our picks, and they shrank the most out of all the bags we tested.
We recently started a new round of testing of reusable silicone bags from ZipTop, W&P Porter, OXO Good Grips, Annaklin Reusable Food Bags, and Trader Joe's, and will publish the results in the coming months.
Katerina Bogatireva, founder of Precycle, in-person interview, July 9, 2019
Lauren Singer, founder of Package Free, phone interview, July 17, 2019
Erin Boyle, author of the Reading My Tea Leaves blog, phone interview, October 17, 2019
Carol Johnson, owner of Monger’s Palate, phone interview, October 17, 2019
Corey Rateau, senior category manager at Good Eggs, phone interview, October 21, 2019
Michael Robinov, co-founder of Farm to People, email interview
Anna Perling is a former staff writer covering kitchen gear at Wirecutter. During her time at Wirecutter, she reported on various topics including sports bras, board games, and light bulbs. Previously she wrote food and lifestyle pieces for Saveur and Kinfolk magazines. Anna is a mentor at Girls Write Now and a member of the Online News Association.
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ziploc bags Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).