Same for sugar, it’s really annoying that so many things have switched to plastic. Gram crackers, Ritz and Saltines all used to be in waxed paper when I was a kid and were fine.
Now they switch to plastic, but make sure it’s tinted to mimic the old paper versions.
Downvoting isn’t for disagreement. If you think the conversation is valuable you can upvote for visibility while disagreeing in a comment. This is important subject matter that needs to be hashed out!
There might be a desire from those that were looking for the top response to let it ride for visibility. I wish most things were as practically packaged as flour.
Edit: Can we do coffee next? I drink a lot of the stuff, and unless I roast my own, there is absolutely no environmentally friendly option. I tried roasting my own. I set off the smoke detector, upset the dogs, and made my house smell bad.
I think it's because a lot of people's (myself included) knee-jerk reaction is "yeah, those bags do suck", then they look at the comments and either realize the tide is against them or end up agreeing with the points in the comments upon reflection.
Hey remember the phase like 10 years ago when shower gel companies were selling shower gel with fucking little plastic balls in it as an exfoliant?! Can you fucking believe that was a thing that really happened fml
My bag of flour is in a Ziploc bag as we speak. As was the previous bag. The choice between environmentalism and a pantry without flour everywhere is unfortunately an easy one to make for me.
Seconded. Pretty much minimum waste for the amount you get. Buy a four jar or snap container that will keep the air out. Reusable, keeps four fresh longer, easier to scoop from, less mess.
I bought a set of containers for stuff like that that is just too small. The bigger tubs hold about 4.8 pounds of flour so if I buy a 5 pound bag I have to wait until I make something to transfer it to the tub.
Much easier for shoplifting, yeah. Just stick a knife in the bag and inconspicuously drain it into your fanny pack while pretending to browse other baking items. Walk on out and you've got 1.5 lb of that all-purpose grain glitter and no one is the wiser.
Why not a recyclable cardboard tube like oats come in sometimes? Probably easier for logistics too when packaging (of course retooling all the equipment from like 1988 wouldnt be easy but its one and done)
The bags aren't much better in this regard, but anything that easily topples over is going to add likeliness of spills. Also, those tubes are probably more expensive than the bags or the plastic.
You want them to use plastic?
Then later complain about runaway plastic pollution?
The same kind of circular logic applied to politics leads people to not vote, arguing that bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe and never make the connection that their chronic apathy and fickleness is what caused the mess the are apathetic about, only now with more cynicism.
Flour isn't stored in sanitary conditions. It's just giant piles in warehouses. This is the real reason that raw cookie dough isn't safe to eat. The eggs are usually fine, it's the flour that's riddled with disease. If you heat it to about 160°F you can eat all the cookie dough you want.
Heat-treat the flour: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment, add the flour and spread it into a thin layer. Bake flour for 5 minutes (see Tip). Cool flour completely.
I wish the shop just had each beand of flour in massive barrels and you could bring your own containers and fill them up. This would eliminate the need for packaging altogether. This should be the case for everything tbh. Soap, milk, detergents
"What ever you do, do not breath in the concrete dust. We also packaged it in a flimsy paper bag allowing all the dust spill out and enter the air."
On one hand I get why they do it, you need a lot of bags for larger jobs and trying to put those in plastic containers is extremely wasteful and costly, but they could at least double ply the bags or something.
Concrete bags are usually two ply, but they are pretty thin. Most of the dust gets shot out the corner when you move them around, especially the ones with the tear-out corner for pouring. They do sell concrete in plastic bags though, great for wet weather but they can get kind of slick. For the bigger jobs you get a mixer truck delivery.
Yes there are bits and pieces and whole insects in your flour. And they are impossible to remove. So there are actual legal limits as to how much insects parts can be in the package of flour.
Things like meal worms tend to come from poor home storage though. If you store your flour in an air tight container, they aren't much of a problem. Unless it take you years to use up a bag of flour.
They should learn from the masters: cocaine smugglers package their goods in a variety of ways and the penalty for leaking even just a few particles can be high (heh).
Paper lets the flour breathe, releasing moisture. The grain isn’t 100% when milled and the milling process generates significant heat (mill some grain at home with a motorized mill and see). Warmth + moisture + hermetically sealed plastic smells like a nice way to grow some fungus.
Some techbro needs to start a subscription service for flour pods delivered by drone. Insert them into your $800 flour bank, and then whenever you need flour, you can just use the app to indicate how much the machine should dispense!
edit: the app also provides AI-generated recipes, and every time you use flour you'll automatically earn some FlourCoin cryptocurrency.
Make sure the containers have DRM so the machine can validate that they are genuine high quality Flourz™ Refill Paks before dispensing the flour. Wouldn't want you to just, like, refill them with inferior flour from Walmart or anything.
Usually once it's bagged, its put on a pallet and shrinkwrapped, effectively sealing it. You absolutely should be using an airtight container once you purchase it.
The incredible strength of the glue on those bags guarantees they rip and always make a mess. Flour here is mostly sold in 5lb bags that perfectly fill a gallon jar, at least. I don't mind the paper at all but do you have to glue it down in this arrangement that guarantees ripping, with glue that could hold a bridge together?
What, paper bags? Not that big a deal, just ziplock out or stuff it in a sealable plastic container. I'm guessing @ArtLesbO there didn't grow up in the Midwest lol
I just buy 50 lbs of all-purpose flour, throw it in a big, wheeled food-safe container marketed for dog food, and use it for nearly everything that calls for flour. I've never had a problem with my breads or cakes while using all-purpose flour. I still need gluten-free flour and some specialty stuff like corn flour and almond flour for some recipes, but those come in nice, resealable bags.
I mean, yah. If you're going to be baking enough to merit 10kg of multiple flours, you absolutely want them in separate containers. Even if you only have the AP, bread, and cake flour trio that covers most baking needs, you'll want them stored in airtight containers.
It ain't even that hard or slow; my crippled ass with arthritis can do it fine. Well, it hurts, but I don't lose enough flour to matter.
Go buy a set of Tupperware. Yes they are plastic, but the set I have I got from my Mother. She bought it back in the 1970s. And one of my Grand kids will still be using them after me and Grandma are long gone. That's a pretty good use of plastic.
The large one I have will hold 5lbs of flour without issue, the next size down will hold 3lbs of sugar easily, then next size smaller yet a bag of brown sugar. Now my Grandmother, she bought flour by the 20lbs bag. And she had a wooden box in her pantry that she stored the whole bag in. She baked a LOT of bread and other baked goods nearly every day.
There's a thing where I am where you can buy stuff in bulk by going to the front till and weighing the container and writing the weight of the empty container on the bottom so you just directly fill your stuff. They usually are independent eco grocery stores but they are pretty awesome. Probably not up to filling 50lbs at a shot but good for your regular home baker.
9 times out of 10 all that flour on the outside of your bag of flour is not your bag leaking it's because one bag in the palette busted open and got on all the other ones. When you get home, you either transfer the flour into an airtight reusable container, or put the bag inside a 2 gallon zip lock and seal that.
Like brianorca said, baskets don't contain the flour that comes out, or whatever is on the surface of the bag. Plus some baskets have enough in the way of hard edges to damage flour bags, I've had it happen in the store while carrying stuff to checkout before. Only three times ever, but still
Kinda depends on what the basket is made of and the design, I guess. Like, an old school woven basket could work fine as long as it's well woven, but the typical shopping basket in stores is going to suck.