Fakeaways
For two weeks now the super-store in our nearby town has been out of paper sandwich bags. I thought that was a little strange, but yesterday my husband stopped by a local grocery store on his way home from work and found that they too were out of brown, paper sandwich bags. What's up with that, I wondered?
Mystery solved! I read today that sandwich bag sales have risen 25% in the past month. Cash- strapped shoppers have taken to fakeaway lunches these days.
(Fakeaway is defined as, "a homemade meal similar to a take-away meal purchased from a restaurant.")
Fakeaway? The word sounds criminal, doesn't it? Well... "Book 'er, Dan O!" I'm guilty. I've been fake-awaying for years. (Hey, I'm the mom that cleaned and saved those plastic pancake syrup containers and invented the first water bottles for my kids in the early 1990's. Now you can buy it that way at Mac's House of Beef, without the handy handle for belt loops and no-drip, no-lose pop top, of course. Oh! If I'd of only known.)
Truth is, if you think about it, the fast-food industry are the ones who've taken what used to be made at home, mass produced it, and started selling it through a window - in a PAPER BAG! Now, I ask you, where did fakeaways really come from? (That's OURS, girls! We own that origin.) I think someone has their definition backwards, and their origin confused.
There now. I feel so much better now that we've solved the true origin of fakeaways. Now it's time to put out an APB on brown paper sandwich bags and see if I can find some. Funny thing is, I don't even want them to pack lunches with. Duh! I use a lunchbox for that. ;-)
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What To Do With Brown Paper Bags
This addendum to the Fakeaways post is in response to your emails asking me what I planned to do with the bags when I found them. (BTW, thanks for writing!)
I like to keep the sandwich sized paper bags on hand for many reasons. First, they make great gift bags. You can decorate them (see link below), or just fold over, punch two holes and tie a raffia bow to secure. Second, dress up a small plant by covering the ugly plastic container it comes in with a paper bag. Roll down the tops (or cut down and trim edges with fancy scissors), fill with a purchased small plant (like a cactus or African violet), tie a bit of raffia just under the rim... and voila, you have a nice table accessory. Third, they make great pages in a homemade card or scrapbook.
One year I made gingerbread paper ornaments for our Christmas tree:
I made two identical cut-outs from the paper bags (use brown paper grocery bags - they're stronger), and an additional cut-out from white quilt batting. I sandwiched the batting between the paper and machine stitched (set on the basting stitch) around the entire edge of the cut out with a thick contrasting color. I decorated the fronts and attached a string loop to hang on the tree.
Here are a few more ideas:
Paper dolls - http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12021
Paper bag gingerbread house - http://www.makingfriends.com/winter/christmas_gingerbread_house.htm
Paper bag flowers - http://www.marthastewart.com/article/paper-bag-flowers
Scherenschnitte - http://www.marthastewart.com/article/paper-cutouts
There's so much you can do that you will find yourself asking for paper instead of plastic at the grocery store, or if you're like me, I save the paper bags that I bring my frozen foods home in. There are just too many good things to use them for to throw them away. Have fun! H
1 comment:
good one, funny
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