Ina Garten's Go-To Grocery Bag Is All You Need For Your Next Shopping Trip

You have a tote bag — at least one, or maybe a designated pile of them in a hall closet. In March, the internet went wild for character Tom Wambsgans's scathing line from HBO's "Succession" about a "ludicrously capacious" handbag, which spun memes off in every direction. And despite the 1-percenter snark, when it comes to tote bags, people are looking for capacious. The Strategist even ranked various businesses' promotional tote bags based on the social clout they conferred back in 2018. The tote bag is as much about fashion as utility, and the Barefoot Contessa is here for it.

When Ina Garten hits the grocery store, there's only one reusable grocery bag she's reaching for time after time: the Apolis Market Bag. As the celebrity chef and television personality told Food Network Magazine via The Kitchn, "I love this tote. It's my commuter bag. I take it with me when I go into New York City every week, and I carry things back and forth from the barn to the house with it. I've bought one for everyone I know!" Indeed, NYC is a tote bag Mecca, where style and erudition can be proudly flaunted. MoMA has its own Baggu line, and the New Yorker and NYRB might make more trading on their name in bags as they do mags. But, wherever you live, you're getting groceries, and if you ask Garten, no bag but the Apolis will do. Here's what makes it her pick.

The Apolis Market Bag is an investment, but by Garten's standards, it's a worthy one. Apolis Market Bags are available in multiple sizes with customizable designs and text options. But, Garten swears by the Standard Market Bag, which comes in black or neutral and is made from 100% natural fiber jute. It features a reinforced leather handle for extra durability and a waterproof inner lining for mess-free grocery transportation. It can hold over 100 pounds and rocks ultra-spacious dimensions (13 inches wide by 18 inches high and 8 inches deep) to hold all of the Barefoot Contessa's go-to foods.

Acropolis' Standard Market Bag retails for $78, which might seem a little steep. But, the era of reusable grocery bags is well underway. Earlier this year, in January, Walmart got rid of single-use plastic bags altogether in Colorado, Connecticut, and New York. Prior, Walmart had already 86'ed plastic bags in New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, and all of Mexico and Canada. Other retailers, including Target, CVS, ALDI, Wegmans, Kroger, Meijer, and Walgreens, have followed suit. 

U.S. shoppers use an estimated 100 billion single-use plastic bags each year, making them the fifth most common type of plastic litter in oceans and landfills. "Greenwashing" may be an unsavory trend lately, but responsible consumerism doesn't have to be hard or performatively "woke." As Garten demonstrates with her favorite tote, sustainability can be simple (and cute).