This is an idea I have but haven't tried it. Let me know what you think?

We talk about using canvas bags for grocery shopping in place of environment destroying plastic bags, but what about using something re-usable for getting produce to the checkout counter? It would have to be something see thru enough so that the clerk could easily ring up what is inside, large enough to hold a stalk of celery or several apples and strong enough not to tear. There are large mesh grocery bags but in my opinion they aren't sufficient for protecting tender fruit and are too large for just a few things. There are also 100% cotton bags for storing produce once you get it home, for purchase on the internet, but these aren't see-thru.

So what fabric or material could be used to make bags for repeated use for purchasing produce? It would have to be washable, strong, and relatively transparent. 

 In the recycle mode, could a sheer curtain be used to cut out and then sewn into a bag , with a cord attached for tying.? Any ideas. Edey  

 Your sheer curtain bag sounds like a good idea. The fabric should have minimal weight, as that would add to the cost of the produce. When I make what we call "bird curtains," or seed catchers, from sheer fabric, they need a French seam. They usually hold up to the canaries picking at them, but they are not holding any weight. 

Here is one examle of a produce bag that Reusable bags sells.  http://www.reusablebags.com/store/organic-cotton-produce-sacks-p-747.html  With the draw string bag, it wouldn't be much of a problem to open it up for the cashier to look inside. I wonder how much weight the bag would add to the produce?

We have an eclectic mix of reusable grocery bags. I use them frequently, as most of my grocery shopping is at Alidi's, Save A Lot, and BJ's. Stand alone bags are my preference, although we have only a couple of them. When my daughter and family were in Helsinki last winter, they found that stand alone bags were what most people used after covered trolleys. 

To cut down on produce cost, and for my family, waste, the only produce I buy are onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, apples, and sometimes fruit in season. (By using frozen veggies, along with the produce I do buy, the cost is offset by the reduced waste.) Currently, I have been buying onions at BJ's which have a very nice mesh bag that could be reused. Maybe a reusable onion bag might work as well. 

Something I have seen online, but haven't found instructions for yet, is taking plastic grocery bags, cutting them into strips of some sort, and then knitting or crocheting them into bags.  They're supposed to be a LOT stronger than a plain plastic bag and last longer.  Obviously you are recycling old bags with them! 

I'd like to learn to make them and give them to people at the holidays; I have several gardners in my family, and I think they'd make good bags for gardening; they're heavy-duty while not staining from dirt, like a fabric bag.

As to vegetable bags, I have been known to put more than one thing in one bag; the cashier just takes it out, weighs it, then sticks it back in the bag and gets the next thing out.  Or, if the vegetable is not wet, I don't put it in a bag at all.  A potato is not going to hurt anything or itself by not being in a flimsy little bag.  I don't put cans of soup in bags before checking out, and a potato is no smaller in most cases. 

Gigi:

Here is one examle of a produce bag that Reusable bags sells.  http://www.reusablebags.com/store/organic-cotton-produce-sacks-p-747.html  With the draw string bag,

I checked out the link - I don't remember seeing the mesh produce bags on that site before but that is the idea I was thinking of. Now if I could find a source for the mesh fabric, there must be some place, and it would hopefully be cheaper than Reusable's $3.95 cost per bag. Edey

You can make easy bags out of old tshirts.  Martha Stewart site has instructions. seems very easy.

How about one of the laundry bags made for delicates?  The mesh is pretty close together.  I have two-- one with a zip top and one with a corded top.  I used the zip top one to wash my hairbows etc when my hair was long.  I picked them both up at yard sales for 10¢ to 25¢.

re-tired

For Christmas, mom gave both me and sis the "blink" little totes which are bags that you put in the car. Until this thread, I had never thought of using those (they are bright green so not able to miss them when using them).  

Luvd_Lioness:

"blink" little totes

That's true, you could use the little tote bags, especially if they had a flat bottom, that could then sit in the cart and be easily moved around if they had good handles. On another forum about canvas bags, someone brought up the question of the weight of the bag adding to the cost of the produce it held, but I can't see that it would make that much of a difference, fractions maybe. It would be worth it, in my opinion to cut down on the use of plastic, which everyone knows is a by-product of the oil industry at $100.+ a barrel. In making a bag you could put a strap with a snap or button that would cross the top and hold in the produce but at the same time leave it visible to the clerk ringing it up. On a ready made bag you could sew on 2 big buttons on the outside edge and use a stretchy hair band to hold it closed 

Edey

I bought a roll of tulle from the wedding department at ac moore with a 40% off coupon. It looks as though it should be the perfect width to just double.

Selkie

Tulle would be a good idea if it is on sale like you said. Otherwise it might be too expensive. That would be something that could be found on used wedding dresses in a thrift shop too, along with all the other finery that is on one dress. Edey