How To Bring Your Own Bread Bag (BYOBB)

Buying bread without a plastic bag has been two years in the works, for me. And I still have a long way to go. I’m doing a one month mason jar challenge; that means I’m collecting my garbage for a month, and trying to only fill a mason jar. During my last mason jar challenge (two years ago!), in which I collected my garbage for one week, I identified bread bags as a big contributor to my waste. Up until this month, I had made micro steps towards plastic-free bread. Those micro steps included buying a second hand bread maker, trying to make sourdough starter, and buying a bread bag. None of those things have yet panned out to plastic-free bread, though. The stars finally aligned and used my bread bag to pick up an unwrapped loaf at Metro this week. 

Bread in a Bread Bag photo by Lorraine Dolbear

Here’s How I Did It

Step 1: Buy/Repurpose a bread bag (I’ve heard pillowcases are good for this)

Step 2: Wash bread bag and let dry

Step 3: Call grocery store and ask if you can pick up an unwrapped loaf 

Step 4: Pack your bread bag and do your grocery shopping

Step 5: Go to the bakery and request you’re unwrapped loaf (I had it sliced)

Step 6: Get the bar code and pay at the check out

Step 7: Enjoy your fresh, wrapperless bread!!!

What About A Pillowcase?

I went for a second time to buy unwrapped bread from Metro and this time I brought my bread bag AND a pillowcase. Again, I called ahead and they set aside two loaves of the only bread still unwrapped. The loaves were too long for my bread bag, so it worked out well that I had the pillowcase as an alternative. They weren’t able to slice the bread for me this time, so I sliced the bread when I got home. I used my bread bag to store the slices.

Bread in a Pillowcase photo by Lorraine dolbear

Zero Waste?

Unfortunately this system is still not quite zero waste. To pay for the bread, the bakery has to print out a sticker with the barcode for each loaf (even if they’re the same loaf). I’d love to see a system with barcodes on a reusable piece of cardboard that can be scanned and returned at check out. This way, anyone buying bread without a bag can use the same barcode and return it. A system like this would eliminate garbage associated with printing out one barcode per loaf.

DIY Bread

Well, I better mention DIY bread!! So far I haven’t had the courage to go for it and make bread at home. Making bread at home is a great way to eliminate those plastic bread bags, and if you’re buying ingredients from a refill store then it truly is ZERO WASTE! Do you make bread at home? Will you try calling ahead to order plastic-free bread? Let me know via contact page.