It was a sultry day, and I was in my car. I had many places to go, but I was hit with pangs of hunger. Chinese fast food struck my fancy that day. After picking up my food, I found myself in the car without an eating utensil. Or did I?
It’s not as though I didn’t have the opportunity to get a fork or spoon at the restaurant, but they weren’t wrapped. They were all out in the open, loose and picked over. That was not an option for me. I checked my to-go bag to see if a utensil had been placed inside, but there was nothing. As I drove to my next destination, I thought of my options. I could drive through another fast food restaurant and order a small side dish that they would give me a spoon for. Or I could search the storage boxes in my car for a spoon. I didn’t want to go to another restaurant; that was ruled out. Before running my next errand, I wanted to eat, so I found a shady spot to stop in a parking lot. I was going to start searching for a spoon, when I spotted something that changed my mind.
The lowly sandwich bag: I have waxed poetic about its attributes. Or maybe I haven’t. But references to the tiny, plastic bag with the folding top dot my stories. I have come to rely on them to the point that I feel panicked when I am close to running out or I don’t have any with me when I’m away from home. All is not a bed or roses because of them. At times they are friends; at other times, foes. But my appreciation for the baggie was renewed on this occasion, when it became my latest method of eating.
It’s true. Rather than make a lengthy, and perhaps futile, attempt at finding a utensil somewhere in the car, I took a baggie, turned it inside out to ensure that I was using a clean surface, and chowed down! It actually worked out better than using a spoon, because I was eating pieces of chicken with vegetables. Those morsels would have been difficult to balance on a spoon, but they were turned into finger food with the baggie! It worked so well, it might be my method of choice in the future. Of course, it wouldn’t work as well with rice or noodles, but it is perfect for any food that can be picked up with the fingers.
As I said, there are times when the baggie feels more like a foe than a helper. When I’m using them as pseudo-gloves, the flaps are notorious for bending or folding when I don’t want them to. If it happens while I have one on my hand, it means that it ends up contaminating my hand rather than protecting it. But, all in all, they make my life easier and get me out of jams.
Long live the baggie!
