Reusable Sandwich Bag

In an email I received from www.essentialeating.com today, Janie Quinn mentioned a reusable sandwich bag available from www.reusies.com.  I thought these were a fantastic idea, although a little pricey.  I wondered how I could make my own using items I had on hand, without spending much time, and without sewing since my sewing machine is not working properly at the time.  In about a half hour, I had my simple substitute. I first took an empty coffee bag.

I cut off the bottom seam and the seam at the back of the bag.

I carefully peeled away the air seal from the middle of the bag and then cut the “fabric” into a perfect square.  After washing and drying it, I folded two opposite points to each other, overlapping slightly, forming the two sides of the bag.  I then folded a third point up, so that I now had what looked like an envelope.  I had some velcro on hand, so I hand stitched this to the top and bottom (see photo below).  I decided to hold the three folded points together with just a safety pin, reasoning that it would be easiest to clean if this was not permanently sewn together.

I now had a reusable bag that kept one coffee bag and numerous store bought plastic sandwich bags out of the landfill.