Customer Reviews

Debbie Meyer Green Bags

5 star:		(99)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(101)

 

 

After reading all the reviews, I'm not sure that people are using these correctly. Not their fault, the instructions are pretty bad.

There are certain types of fruits and vegetables that are going to work better than others. Greens work great. I had a head of lettuce that lasted 3 weeks in one before I ate it all. Celery, cucumbers, broccoli... all last longer. Bananas look good on the outside, but can be bad on the inside. Fruits that are sensitive to moisture (such as strawberries and peaches) should probably not be stored in them.

Second, moisture is the kiss of death in these bags. What I do is put a folded up paper towel in with the fruits/veggies, and then put them in the fridge so that the produce is resting on top of the paper towel. Replace the paper towel once a week (or more frequently if it looks moist inside the bag).

I pretty much only use it to store greens, bell peppers, squash.. Works great for me. I have to throw out less produce since I started using these. But again, it's gotta be the right produce in the right (non-moist) conditions.

I purchased these bags the same day I bought some bananas, a "bunch" of 3, 9 days ago. Normally after a few days the uneaten bananas get thrown away, even though I only normally purchase a bunch of about 4 or 5. We just don't eat them fast enough. On a whim, I purchased a box, only because of my walking 7yo infomercial. Today she ate the 3rd banana, 9 days later. Granted, it was a bit softer than usual, but not a brown on it.
I had also put a red & a green bell pepper in another bag, which has been on my countertop for about 6 days. Not a wrinkle on them. We'll be cutting them up tonight, so if I have a negative comment to post, I'll be back.
Next I'm going to try strawberries, something else that normally rots away in my fridge.
So far, I don't regret my purchase and am glad that I didn't go with my thoughts of "no way, can't work".

EDIT 05/30/08: Strawberries: rotted/molded within a few days. Peppers: did prevent wrinklage, used peppers 6 days later, peppers in great shape. Tomatoes: same as peppers. Bananas: definitely prevented the browning by more than a week, but the banana was alot softer than I would expect.
If I could change my original 4 star rating, I'd bump it down to a 2.5.
To me, it's worth it just to extend the life of my bunches of bananas.

The fruits and vegetables may look wonderful on the outside after nine days, but they are rotten inside. For instance, the picture of the bananas in the advertisements shows lovely yellow ones in the green bags and very ripened brown ones that are not in the green bags. In reality, the ones in the green bags, if they are as old as the ones that are not in the bags, are just as near rotten as the brown ones. I had the same experience with tomatoes and lettuce didn't seem to keep as long as if it was not in green bags. I gave my daughter in law and my mother in law some green bags and there experience was just as unpleasant.

I belong to a veggie co-op, and get veggies every two weeks. I never know what I'm going to get until a few days before, and so storage is important (while I figure out what to do with bok choy!). These bags work. I don't know how, I don't know what the gimmick is, or the science, but I can tell you that before I started using them, I threw out a bunch of veggies every two weeks (from the previous batch), and now, man, sometimes I can't even tell which ones are the new and which ones are the old.

I mean it - they work that well for me. Especially on greens. I have lettuce in the drawer in a green bag right now that I KNOW is over 2 weeks old, and it's still crisp and fresh. That never used to happen.

I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't started using them. And I'm not sure how one reviewer found that even though they look good, they're rotton on the inside - that has NOT happened to me at all.

I mean, it - I have month-old carrots in there that I can't tell from the ones I got today. Still crunchy and still snap when you bend them.

And I DO reuse them, and have not seen any decline in their effectiveness, even after washing several times. The only time I chuck them is if, once in a while, something does eventually go bad in them. (Hey, it happens to the best of us.) I don't reuse those - I just throw them away.

I use these bags, and I'll never stop.

Important - moisture is the enemy.
I've been using these bags for over 8 months and they really extend the
life of my produce. The important thing is to make sure you limit the amount of moisture inside the bag. I put in one or two paper towels
before closing the bag. Every now and then, I'll check to replace the
towel when it feels wet, and wipe away any condensation in the bag.
Before I learned this trick, I had some disappointing results, but now
they work great!
Edited to add:
I agree with the comments about bananas. They don't work well.

I read that someone ensures the bags absorb moisture by putting in a folded paper towel along with the produce ... well, you can wash and then cut up vegetables and put them in a plastic container or a zip lock bag and as long as you put in a folded paper towel and replace the paper towel about every 4-6 days or so, the veggies will keep as long as they do in the green bags!!

After reading the reviews, I'm not sure that people are using these correctly. Not their fault, the instructions are pretty bad.

There are certain types of fruits and vegetables that are going to work better than others. Greens work great. I had a head of lettuce that lasted 3 weeks in one before I ate it all. Celery, cucumbers, broccoli... all last longer. Bananas look good on the outside, but can be bad on the inside. Fruits that are sensitive to moisture (such as strawberries and peaches) should probably not be stored in them.

Second, moisture is the kiss of death in these bags. What I do is put a folded up paper towel in with the fruits/veggies, and then put them in the fridge so that the produce is resting on top of the paper towel. Replace the paper towel once a week (or more frequently if it looks moist inside the bag).

I pretty much only use it to store greens, bell peppers, squash.. Works great for me. I have to throw out less produce since I started using these. But again, it's gotta be the right produce in the right (non-moist) conditions.

I found in testing all types of produce that these bags do not work. A leading consumer magazine also just tested them and found that the zip top bags work better than these and that these are worthless.

I bought these about a year ago, and it is incredible how long fruits and vegetables last in these bags. I have banana's on my counter that have been there for about 8 days and still look like they did when I bought them.
These bags save me a lot of money. I never have to throw away food that rots before I can eat it anymore!! Thank you so much for these food bags!

I purchased these bags and I was not impressed in the less bit. I bought a bag of lettuce and it started turning brown after about two days. I had some ZIPLOC freezer bags and put lettuce in it and the lettuce didn't start to turn brown until almost 2 weeks. The green bags cost about $16 including shipping and handling (though I don't see how putting a few plastic bags in a flimsy envelope constitute charging five plus dollars for that).I purchased 152 ZIPLOC freezer bags from Sam's (four boxes of 38 each) for under $10. Needless to say the ZIPLOC bags worked better AND were a better buy.