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We cloth diaper. Sometimes use cloth wipes. And don't use paper towels or napkins. But I couldn't make it work with no plastic ziplocs, I tried!!

I suggest getting rid of paper towels entirely to start. That was the only way to get my hubby out of the habit. But i do keep them in the house now for super gross stuff and bacon lol

@jennlin821: hubby really wants a bidet seat for the toilets but I'm still in the research phase

We are definitely on the zero waste spectrum—not perfect, but we have managed to cut out a lot of disposable plastic.

We use dishcloths instead of paper towels, and it was a pretty painless switch when we did it several years ago.

In terms of avoiding ziplocs and aluminum foil, we use Pyrex and wide mouth mason jars for everything—freezing, storing leftovers, taking lunch to work, etc. We honestly don’t miss them. Have you also seen the cloth beeswax wraps? They work well to cover bowls without lids.

Honestly, it’s about doing what you’re comfortable with and taking things one step at a time.

I am really making an effort to get away from single use ziplock bags, I go through a ton of them and they are very convenient. I use them a lot to keep things organized when travelling and I am making an effort to go to reusable packing bags where possible.

As far as the kitchen, my main issue is the fact that I buy some stuff in large quantities and then break it down and freeze it, using plastic bags (Foodsaver). I don't know how to get around this at the moment and would love some suggestions.

As for cloth napkins, I like the idea of this, but I am not able to keep up with the laundry as it is and this would require at least an additional load of laundry in my already stretched week.

Fwiw, I do keep plastic bags on hand, but we go through a box like once a year. Everything we're using goes into a reusable box, so I really only use them when I'm sending food home with a guest or giving out cookies or something.

@jennlin821: hahaha first off I cannot imagine using the diaper sprayer as a bidet! Ours is seriously powerful and oh man that would make a mess!! I would love a regular bidet though

We are not totally paper free, but we use cloth napkins and I have a huge supply of plain, really absorbant kitchen towels that I use. We have small flannel cloth napkins that we use to wipe of LO's face after meals. We keep a roll of paper towels out but go through it really slowly.

I also have these special cloths for cleaning that I use in the bathroom, sometimes I will use paper towels for cleaning the toilet but otherwise I use the cloths.

All these things go together and are laundered on their own. Honestly it's so easy now that I have a big enough supply of everything and only end up doing that load of wash every 2 weeks or so.

I looked into the beeswax wrap but it is expensive and I had literally just bought a couple huge rolls of plastic wrap from costco that will last us 3-4 years so I decided not to bother! We do use plastic baggies, but try to reuse and go through them very slowly. Basically only get regular use for my DH's lunch sandwiches but he keeps the same bag and uses it for a long time (it's just pb&j so doesn't get gross). I basically just haven't gotten around to buying him a reusable bag yet or he would. Otherwise we have tons of glass pyrex, and my LO uses plastic lunchbox containers for school. I also have a couple reusable bags that I use for my own snacks.

We use mason jars, glass containers and glass bowls that will last forever. We also did cloth diapers and cloth wipes. I cut up old receiving blankets in squares. I would LOVE to get rid of paper towels. My husband won't budge though which is sad. He is afraid of food poisoning and sanitation of reusing a cloth rag.

We clothed diapered with DD, and I'm all for saving the environment but when it comes to food spills especially when there could be raw meat, i just cant see a way to use cloth in my kitchen just yet. we used to use the blue reusable towels but mainly to dry up water around the sink

@yoursilverlining: I have done exactly what you're talking about and it works great. Longest I've ever left (veggie) chili in the freezer was about 6 mos in individual quart sized jars and it came out fine.

We also use the pint sized wide mouth jars for things like individual portions of leftovers (ex. one chicken thigh per jar) so that they're easier to grab and go for work lunches like a ziplock would be.

We just made the switch to microfiber shop rags for cleaning and let me tell you, compared to kitchen towels the shop towels are a game changer. They suck up so much more liquid and are infinitely better than our standard dish towels on sticky messes in particular (I'm assuming because of the texture, but idk.) DH brought a couple home from work where he uses them to clean all sorts of engineering lab goop and I am hooked. Since then we bought a 20 pack of similar rags from lowes and I use them every day.

@jennlin821: many of the cloth diaper companies make snack bags. I have some bumkins ones I like. They aren't waterproof though, most of them aren't. Stashers makes some silicone ones I really want to try but haven't yet.

I use flour sack towels mostly for kitchen towels and just bought some cloth napkins from cost plus world market, they have tons of colors and they've held up well

I also have flannel waiting to be made into unpaper towels I just haven't gotten around to it. If you don't have a serger there's tons of people who sell them on etsy if you want to go that route

We use these snack bags. They come in different sizes and are dishwasher safe. I always have one or two in my purse with snacks for my daughter and she can zip/unzip them way easier than a Ziploc bag so they don't spill as much

Planet Wise Reusable Clear Zipper Snack Bag https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZXFU80/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8e9CAbYTYFZWG

@jennlin821: I have not been liking freezing mason jars. Maybe it works better in a larger freezer, but i just dont have the space to spare. I freeze free farm milk every other week and I have lost a lot of jars in the freezing/thawing processes.