What is the secret to getting those plastic produce bags open now that we can’t lick our fingers?

Try to discreetly spit on your fingers ,that should do what ya want.

Use the moisture that’s usually available from the misters in the produce section.

Or yeah, just don’t use produce bags. I tend to only use them for things like parsley or cilantro.

@Zaku I watched someone do that. Great tip!

Wipe your hand under your arm.

Were you licking your fingers? I never did that anyway.

Maybe put some lotion on your hands or buy fingertip moisturizer like what’s used to separate paper money. I found this: https://www.amazon.com/Sortkwik-Fingertip-Moisteners-3-Pack/dp/B0786V43H5/ref=asc_df_B0786V43H5/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=241940662738&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3387783168007987633&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9057278&hvtargid=pla-404185471626&psc=1

If you see a sanitizer station anywhere, put a bit on your fingertips and that should work.

I use reusable bags.

I have reusbable bags but I forget to bring them in the store. Most things I take home loose and wash at home. If I use a bag, I rub the opening between my fingers until it slides a bit open. I’ve always done that.

I never had a problem opening those bags without licking finger. Just rub the opening of the bag between thumb and forefinger.

@SQUEEKY2 that’s what I do.

I just put the bag between my palms and rub my hands together.

If there’s not enough moisture in my hands naturally, then I touch some parsley or lettuce first. Lol

“Do I even need these bags?”

Absolutely! Keep them in the holder next to your kitchen sink for use as food scrap bags. There is no reason to buy the “real” ones. These are thin but still waterproof. That is all you need.

You’ll be saving money and saving some of the Earth’s natural resources by not using a new bag.

Also, if you have little kids visiting and need an activity, you can blow one up, twist it until it it tight, and then make a knot to seal it off. Then you can stomp on it to make a loud pop. The noise is surprisingly loud.

Safety tip: Don’t do it if you live in the city near one of these: ShotSpotter.

“Do I even need those bags?”

No, generally not. Fruits like apples you’ll be washing at home anyway. Just buy them loose. For wet produce, you can get reusable produce bags online and bring them into the store.

I rarely use the plastic bags but sometimes need to. As I said, the rub between hands or fingers method works.

@LuckyGuy Why do you need food scrap bags? Is that for composting materials? We don’t do that here so food scraps get tossed in the garbage.

@janbb Why do I need food scrap bags? 2 reasons:
1) I have a septic tank and no garbage disposal so things like orange peels, coffee grounds, and food scraps washed from dishes, pasta bits that fall into the sink while draining, egg shells, etc. do not go down the drain. I throw them away in scrap bags or milk cartons.
2) I use a tall 13 gallon garbage bag for all other garbage. It sits in the most used part of the house: the kitchen. I try to put only clean, dry things in there and only change it when it is near full. That takes about a week – just in time for weekly garbage pick up. If I put food scraps in there and let them sit for a week it would get funky.

Burnable trash like: mail, tissues, paper towels, tissue boxes, candle wax, leftover cooking oil, etc. go in a paper shopping bag that gets tossed into the wood burning stove where I recycle it into heat at an equivalent heating oil savings of about 12 cents per pound.

I don’t compost. Why? I cannot grow a vegetable garden because the numerous critters would eat it. I work hard to keep animals away from the immediate area around my home. I do not want to invite any mice, voles. deer, opossum, raccoons, etc any closer than the tree line about 60 yards away.

We have three bins here. Trash, recycling and compost. The compost bin does get funky sitting out for a week. But it’s pretty satisfying how much trash it reduces.

I don’t compost or have a garbage disposal. Food scraps go in the garbage can under the sink which has a garbage bag liner and it goes out to the bins every few days. (If really smelly sooner but that doesn’t happen often.) Big bins to the curb once a week for pick up.

Paper, bottles and cans go in a mixed recycling bin that gets picked up once a week but no separate food scraps recycling.

@raum Yeah, I know you West Coasters are better at sorting waste. My niece’s house is amazingly environmentally sound. (And a great house as you know.)

Obviously, it’s much kinder on the environment to avoid all plastic bags. You could get reuseable mesh bags like these. No trouble opening those.

Unless you’re buying a lot of very soft produce (tomatoes, plums, etc), you can also just not use any bags at all. A handful of carrots is fine to sit in a cart, and then tumble around in your cloth shopping bags.

You might get funny looks with the no-bags method. Personally, I’m fine with that. It’s a small rebellion, and the planet really needs it.

@janbb It’s a work in progress. When they first rolled out the composting program, we were living in an apartment. They gave us these tiny countertop bins. Those were disgusting and attracted a ton of fruit flies. I ended up keeping it in the fridge. Which solved the smell and fruit fly problem. But took up half our fridge. :/

Whole Foods now has these compostable produce bags. (With the weirdest texture!) Wish we had those back then. Would have been awesome for small compost.

@LuckyGuy….why don’t you put that scrap food off in the woods instead of in the landfill in a nonbiodegradeable plastic bag?

@Dutchess_III Because I’m lazy and don’t want to walk 70 yards through snow to dump a kitchen drain strainer that has rice bits in it. It is more convenient to just dump it in the waste bag.

Lol! Collect it in a bucket of sorts! A coffee can or something and wait for spring!
Fly me up there. I will dump your can, man!