The concept of taking your laundry basket to the grocery store is a simple one, but there are a number of reasons why it’s been so popular lately. It can save you time, reduce the number of plastic or paper bags you use, and it makes it much easier to bring your groceries inside in a single trip (which is my personal favorite benefit of this grocery hack!)
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may remember the breakfast sandwich hack I shared this past October after coming across it on TikTok. This post also comes from the “inspired by TikTok” file!
The Laundry Basket Grocery Hack: How It Works
- Toss a laundry basket in the trunk of your car before you head to the grocery store.
- Do your shopping as usual, then once you get to the checkout stand, ask the cashier to skip the bags and load the groceries back into your shopping cart. (No paper, no plastic, no bags, period.)
- When you get back to your car, empty the contents of your cart into the laundry basket. (While you’re at it, you can organize items according to where they’ll end up in your pantry or fridge, or any way that makes sense to you.)
- When you arrive home, grab your basket of groceries and carry it inside. Easy!
How the Laundry Basket Grocery Hack Saves Time
Having all your groceries loaded into a single laundry basket could save you several trips to and from the car, but that’s not the only way this grocery hack can save you time. It will also save you time before you even leave the grocery store!
Having the groceries go right back into your cart eliminates the time you’d normally have to wait for the bagging process to occur. Not only does this save you a few extra minutes at the store, but you’ll be saving everyone in line behind you some time as well.
Even if you decide you still want your groceries bagged as usual, loading a laundry basket into your trunk is still a good idea on its own. Think of it as a no-cost alternative to a trunk organizer—it will prevent your groceries from sliding around the trunk of your car and eliminate the need for multiple trips to bring everything inside.
You can use any laundry basket you happen to have at home, but I suggest grabbing one with a “hip hug” if it’s available. Laundry baskets with hip hugs have one curved side that makes it easier to both hold the basket in front of you and to prop it on your hip and carry with just one hand.
Let’s Get Social!
I love discovering new tips and tricks online that can make my life easier, and judging by the fact that you’re reading this blog post, I bet you do too! I don’t quite have the moves to justify posting on TikTok, but if you’re on Instagram or Facebook, be sure to give me a follow there!
I’m posting new things there every day, from cleaning and organizing hacks to DIY ideas to tried-and-true recipes. I also share glimpses into my day-to-day life at home, as well as behind-the-scenes looks from the OGT Studio!
Have you come across any clever hacks online lately?
YES, canvas totes can be washed in the washing machine! My oldest canvas tote that I use for grocery shopping is now over 30 years old! It has been washed and I have to replace the handles once as well. I can’t imagine having to store a laundry tote in the car! I have canvas stores as well as insulated totes–purchased at a local farmers market years ago. When I self check out, I load my bags based on whether they need refrigeration or not as well as whether they will be stored in the kitchen or in the pantry in the basement. Since I can’t carry in three or more bags that I have in my trunk when I get home because of the weight, I know I couldn’t manage the laundry basket. And think of all I can do with the $37 I amassing by continuing to use my bags!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Why not just take the basket into the store? It’s saves time from emptying the cart twice. And the basket fits right across the cart perfectly.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What a great idea, Irene! Thanks for sharing it with us! :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve been doing this for years, Jillee, and use two baskets. Those come right into the store with me. Packing groceries from the checkout line directly into the baskets goes quickly and saves the step of ‘from cart to basket.’
Please log in or create a free account to comment.It’s a good hack especially if you don’t load more than you or the basket can handle. I love laundry baskets but stopped using them even for laundry because they’re bulky to store. I use collapsable laundry totes that are washable now. So here’s another way for the groceries: Load the conveyer belt with items from heavy to light and like with like (cold/frozen, heavy, non-crushables, soft/fragile, etc.), and bring into the store foldable free standing grocery totes with reinforced bottoms. Load the totes with frozen/heavy/non-crushables on the bottom then lighter or soft/fragile on top. You get a good fill without being too heavy, customize to what you can handle. Works whether you carry in or transfer to a house cart and you don’t have to handle things multiple times to bag/rebag. And the totes go back into the car folded until they’re needed again. Of course if you live far or in a hot area you’ll want to have a cooler. Just load those things straight into your cart for the cooler. Then rebag those items for carrying or loading to a house cart. Or even just put them directly out the cooler onto the house cart. I live in a super hot area in summer, so I bring cold/frozen into the house first and put them away, before going back for the non-perishables.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.that is really a terrific idea. For my family, I feel I will need a wheelbarrow
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love how simple this tip is! It’s the perfect jumping off point for coming up with a way that works each person. I’m picking up a new basket today! Thanks for the idea!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.It doesn’t work to have one basket when you are 82 years old and cannot lift a full cart. I have plastic tubs in my car to hold the reusable bags. Then I unload them to a rolling cart and take them into the house that way. I am lucky to have a house with no barriers to cross, so it is easy to roll it in.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.As Judy said, it gets harder to lift baskets and carry them as we get older. At 75 I have found it easiest to take fabric totes along, especially at Aldi where there is a long counter where I can reorganize my groceries, repack them and get them into my car in smaller, lighter totes. In fact, in good weather I repack them at my car, especially when the repack counter is busy. I also had a ramp put in my attached two car garage. I have one car so there was room. What a blessing! I have a cart waiting there so I can unload one time and take it all into the house.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have two rolling carts in my garage. When I go to the market I fill one or both up from the back of the car and just roll them into the house and empty them. Good for a bad lower back which I have and saves multi trips from lifting a basket.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Why not go one step further and “bag” the groceries yourself (instead of expecting the cashier to do it): as she rings them through, simply remove each item from the conveyor belt and pack your basket. Saves time reloading the items from the cart.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.When l worked for a store we had a few customers who used the cardboard and covered it with fabric to make their bags more sturdy. We occasionally had customers who would put their groceries in coolers. Usually they lived out of the area and would come for doctor appointments and get groceries while they were out. They also were from small towns that didn’t have big grocery store chains.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Laundry baskets will eventually fall apart (mostly sooner than later) from the relatively heavy use for carrying groceries around. Better idea is what I did years ago. I purchased a set of 3 folding/collapsable plastic totes (sold on Amazon). They are not only far more heavy duty than any laundry basket, they take up way less room in your vehicle when not in use and folded. I keep two in the back of the car and the other one in the pickup. If I loaded up a laundry basket the same way I sometimes do my totes, the handles would rip right off the basket as soon as I lifted it up.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do bag my own. I have some great bags made out of a non woven fabric. I put a piece of cardboard in the bottoms so it stays flat. I load them heavy! I just have to be able to pick them up off their counter and put them in the back of the van. At home I have the neatest little cart. Similar to a milk crate. I got it years ago at the office supply store. It folds flat and has wheels and a handle. Opened up it has a long handle to pull it to the house. It holds a couple of those big bags full and then a couple more will sit on top of them. So quick and easy. I don’t how much it will carry but I’ve had at least six, gallon water jugs in it with some stuff on top. It’s at least 20 years old so may not be that robust in this day and age. So much better than all the half filled bags the clerks used to do.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I keep a large cooler in the back of my suv at all times. When I go out, I throw in a flat frozen plastic container meant for coolers. I never know when I might stop for groceries. I also might throw in a water or tea bottle or 3 for the day out. Or snacks. I keep several box lids in the back instead of the basket for the canned & dry goods. They are easier to carry in than the big full basket for me. The cooler is nice too in case I have one more errand to do before I get home. And the big box stores are pretty far from my home.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This is a great hack, but I have one better; At home, right from the car, I load my groceries into my garden wagon I have in my garage (I use it for moving plants and just put a garbage bag in it) and load my wagon and bring it all into my house. With hauling 20-packs of soda, it saves my back! ( wash my wheels of my wagon after using it in the garden, so it is clean). it has been a back saver! I am 62 years old and not a “spring chicken” any more. LOL
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great idea, Deborah! Thanks for sharing this. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi Christy,
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I too have Arthritis in my hands, Both. I just turned 60 last year and one of my pinkies has been hurting this winter. But I noticed that one of my pinkies, the top part is turning in ward. I don’t want to go to my dr because of the pandemic. So, when it’s under control then I will. As for right now. I cannot carry heavy things. I use canvas bags because the handles are softer on my hands. And they wash up good.
Can you wash those canvas bags? My bags are a heavy duty plastic-like material that I can spray with hydrogen peroxide spray each time I empty them, and I use a microfiber cloth with that spray to sanitize the grocery items.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.if you use rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle, it not only sanitizes the bags, but they dry faster and no bleaching residue..
That would work very well, however, the rubbing ETOH is more expensive than the H202 and I have never had bleach stains with the hydrogen peroxide. I have had bleach stains when I used to use a chlorine bleach. I save the chlorine bleach for when I clean the toilet, in between using Lysol toilet bowl cleaner. Caveat, never use those two together,
We bought the cool black collapsable crates from Sam’s club for grocery runs. I still use my own reusable bags, have to bag my stuff myself, but loading them into the crates make those runs so much easier. Also they are easy to clean and collapse for easy storage.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I bring my own bags to the supermarket, and since the store is sometimes short of staff I bag my own groceries, and do not pack the bags so that they are too heavy to bring into the house when I get home. To think that I had to lug a laundry basket full of groceries into the house would be nigh to impossible. I do sanitize my grocery bags every week with a hydrogen peroxide spray that will not leave bleach stains on my shirt.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The laundry basket idea is fine if all you need are a few items.
If I do a big marketing. I simply make 2 or 3 trips into the house with the laundry basket. That way I don’t have to carry a heavy basket and I get more steps (exercise) with multiple trips. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If it works for you, Jillee, that is great. At 84, I would much prefer to bring in several lightly packed bags, still the same exercise as I make several trips, but I do not have to unpack the laundry basket to make it lighter for trips into the house. If I only have four or five items to purchase, then perhaps the laundry basket would work out well.
I don’t think that ALL posts work for ALL people or situations. Where I live, I am still using delivery (and probably will long after the pandemic!) but at the store I go to, putting all of my items back into the cart would not be feasible for the clerk, and be standing in the cold taking $300 of groceries from a cart to a clothes basket would not be feasible for me! If I DO go to the store, I either take my reusable bags or make sure that I supervise the bagging. They are filled up as I want, like items in bags, cold items separate and together, etc. This would not work so well for me, but thank you, Jillee, for the suggestion and I am sure many will benefit from it! God bless!
And by the way, Carla, if you are still bagging your own groceries at 84, well then God must be blessin’ ya’! You go!
Thank you, Deb, I may be old but I am not out, and I do thank God, and great doctors for that.
I use rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle to sanitize my bags (that can’t be washed). Hydrogen peroxide will bleach out some items, so be careful using it…………
Please log in or create a free account to comment.WOW, what items does hydrogen peroxide bleach out? I use a hydrogen peroxide bleach in my washing machine for whites and colors and do not have a problem, in fact, the bottle says that it is safe for both whites and colors. However, fill me in on what items bleach out with H202. Thank you.
Hydrogen peroxide (and oxygen bleach) are oxidizers. They are good at breaking down organics like body fluids hence stain fighting power for blood, grass, urine, etc. Some materials and dyes have an organic component and these will “bleach out” or break down. Not too common nowadays but does still happen. Perfect example, don’t apply either of these to silk. Silk will bleach, break down, and may even dissolve.
The laundry basket for food shopping is definitely a great idea. I’d think ours would be WAY too heavy to carry inside. But, I’ll reassess. Thanks for the idea! I’d never heard of it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Why not just put the laundry basket in the cart and have them load the groceries into it at checkout?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.That’s a great idea, Toni. Some stores are still not allowing you to bring your own bags inside the store. If the grocery store you are shopping at will allow you to bring the basket or bags in, this would be a smart move. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.That’s exactly what I thought this would be about when I read the title of this entry. Reducing both plastic and paper bag usage is critical to combat pollution and climate change.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Bingo…!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I have been doing the NO BAGS for a few years now…I use cloth bags – check out http://www.greenbaglady.org. and in Florida here, it gets hot and even a 5-10 minute drive home, things can get warm and melt CHOCOLATE! I take a soft cooler with ice packs for my refrigerated/frozen items and cloth bags for other items. I do keep a large plastic bin in my car filled with my bags and use that to put items in when I get to my car.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.They sell insulated bags in some stores, but I bought mine through a catalog, called Make Life Easier. The outfit is located in California and so do not bother to call them before 9PM EST/DST, and delivery, if paying by credit card, takes about three weeks. If you are in a hurry you can pay an extra fee to have expedited delivery.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Carol, the insulated bags keep our frozen foods cold for twenty to thirty minutes which works for me.
What a great organization, Carol! Thanks for sharing this info with us. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I use the laundry basket often, or something comparable. I reuse the plastic bags that the grocery are put in for multiple things. Trash bags for small cans, clean up small messes from my dogs, “trash bowl” when prepping food, emergency gloves when needed, etc.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I set items on the belt in the order I hope to find them in the basket. Usually makes sorting easier. I also have 3 stacked baskets in the hatch to even the weight and keep refrigerated/freezer or delicate items separated.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great system, Judith!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve actually seen this a few times at work with wanting no bags. I have helped a few people out who have the baskets in their car trunks. I also tried out the pillow spray. I just used the Natures. Truth brand. I think it might work. I’m also experimenting with the orange oil. I have Arthritis in one of my pinkies. It has been acting up more because of our rainy weather pattern. I’m still waiting to see if warmer weather will make a difference with my flare ups.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I hope that warmer weather will ease your arthritis. This may not be true but my grandfather said that tomatoes made his arthritis flare up severely.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.He had osteoarthritis from his many years of climbing a ladder to paint the outside of houses, even three storey homes, and working indoors in a time when wall paper was “the in thing.” He, also, wall papered ceilings by lying on his back on the scaffold and using his stockinged feet to smooth out the wall paper on the ceilings. He worked outside until he was 70 and then only worked on the inside of houses until he was 79. He had ten years of retirement before he passed.
When I read about taking your laundry baskets when you go shopping I just have to say I’m 85 and I’ve been doing it for at least 5o years. I keep 2 of them in the trunk of my car all the time. I was happy to see that you passed it on.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi Team. First a big thank you for everything you post – a friendly great site. Your stain spray of peroxide and dawn (I use the cheapest uk substitute) is brilliant in my son’s greasy jeans.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I live. in the Uk and found I spend less time in the supermarket by placing my goods straight back into the trolley at the checkout. Like the laundry basket system it’s easier to sort into bags. Keep safe and well.
You can also use white chalk, I keep a couple of boxes of kids white chalk to treat grease stains. I just crunch it up in a baggie and apply to the stain gently working it in.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you Pat! Yes, that stain remover has saved many garments in our family! It is probably my most popular recipe on the website. For those that haven’t seen it, here is the post (*Tip: If the stain doesn’t come out on the first try, don’t give up! Sometimes it may take up to 3 spray and wash cycles.)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/how-to-make-my-ultimate-stain-remover-spray/