Skip to main content

Bread Ties

You recognize these things. A twist tie or a tab tie keep an open plastic bread bag closed prolonging precious freshness.




Sometimes the twist tie comes in handy although I cannot think of a specific example at the moment. Perhaps there is another use for the tab but I have never cared enough to research what that might be on Pinterest.

They say plastic straws are clogging up the landfills and oceans. What is the impact of these bread thingies? It cannot be good. NOTE to environmentalists in need of a research topic!

I can hear your eyes rolling out there. Good grief, she is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for a blog topic.

Of course this is not a post about bread ties. It is a post about a new relationship, a romantic relationship, and the need to negotiate such when you reach a certain age and yet still imagined navigating those mine fields had passed with your youth.

A bowl filled with plastic bread ties taking up space on an already too cramped counter top . . . why? (Seriously, why? You have no idea how much this stabs at the heart of a confirmed clutter hater.)

If a loaf of bread comes with a twist tie, I can switch it for one of these.

Okaaay?

I hate twist ties. If you live with a right handed person they always twist it the wrong way and then it's just a struggle to get the tie off.

I have lived most of my life with right handed people and never actually noticed this or let it irritate me, but wouldn't one, maybe even two, be sufficient?

Humph.


***
I don't remember when exactly bread ties became a thing. I seem to recall a time when you just rolled up the waxy paper bag after removing a slice of bread from a store bought loaf. And with four kids and bread served at every meal, I can't imagine that a loaf ever lasted more than one day anyway.

Now, I have to confess, it kind of bothers me that I can't remember the introduction of this modern convenience -- must be it was not a momentous occasion in my life. Still, they say the memory starts to go with age at some point. Personally, I attribute my sketchy memories of the past to a life long habit of inattention. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


Comments

  1. Oh, no, no. Twist ties are sometimes overlooked, but they are, in fact, what has saved humanity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shall I laugh at the silliness of the domestic argument, or speak in defense of twist ties? All I can say is I throw away the tabs and keep the twisties. I put twist ties on my produce bags at the grocery store and then keep them . I actually reuse them, and the bags. I am in charge of my own kitchen and my left handed husband just has to put up with it.
    And now I am smiling. I hope you are.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I buy the same type of bread. Some how the machine that twists the ties is contrary. Sometimes it is lefty loosey but others I have to twist to the right to open. Do they have left and right handed machines? Grrr.
    Never thought of recycling the ties. May put my mind to it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Twist ties? Well, you did make an interesting post out of those irritating things. I never can find them after I take them off of the bread, but I won't be saving them in a bowl, and yes, I too would be bothered if they were collected in a bowl or whatever. My husband is left handed, but I don’t think he bothers opening a loaf of bread. I wonder if he even knows where the bread is. I just fold the wrapper under the bread and put it away. I hate to mess with having to twist a tie to get into anything. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. We just throw those twist ties and plastics into the trash. I feel absolutely no guilt doing so. Lol.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Straw are AWFUL and I keep forgetting to let them know when they bring me one. Our birds and ocean animals are dying because of lack of attention to all this stuff. Please do NOT think you are being petty. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The twist ties in the produce section of the grocery store are paper over the wire. The bread wrappers should be paper also. It is impossible to find paper straws these days but who really needs a straw?

    ReplyDelete
  8. You buried the lead here Olga - tell us about the new romance woman!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Like you, I remember an age without bread ties, but I can't remember when they started to be used. My guess would be the early 60s.

    Never fear Google knows all:

    "In 1961, Charles Burford founded Burford Co. in Maysville, Okla., where he put a new twist on the farm wire-tying technology to package bread in polypropylene bags."

    From: https://www.dallasnews.com/obituaries/obituaries/2013/05/20/dallas-inventor-who-helped-put-twist-ties-on-bread-bags-dies-at-81

    The bread clip can be found in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_clip

    "Floyd Paxton was known for repeatedly telling the story about how he came up with the idea of the bread clip. As he told it, he was flying home on an airliner in 1952 and opened a bag of peanuts, whereupon he realized he had no way to reclose it. He rummaged through his wallet and found an expired credit card and hand-carved his first bag clip with his small pen knife. When a fruit packer, Pacific Fruit, wanted to replace rubber bands with a better bag closure for its new plastic bags, Paxton remembered his bag of peanuts. He hand-whittled another clip from a small sheet of Plexiglas. With an order in hand for a million clips, Paxton designed a die-cut machine to produce the clips at high speed. Despite repeated attempts, Paxton never won a United States patent for his clips. He did win numerous patents for the high-speed "bag closing apparatus" that made the clips, inserted bread into bags and applied the clips for the finished product."

    ReplyDelete
  10. I read somewhere that those plastic bread tags are often a choking hazard for the elderly? If I remember correctly it is due to getting added to a sandwich inadvertently. Scary!

    I don't keep them either, and yes it is frightening to think how long they will last in the landfill.

    Now..spill the beans!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I appreciate readers' comments so much. You don't even always have to agree with me.

Popular posts from this blog

Updates

 On September 29, I had the closing on my condo. Everything that was not going to the buyers was out and packed in the ABF moving truck which had by the been taken over to the storage units. Don thought it would take him until Wednesday to finish packing the truck with the help of his son. It took him until late Thursday with Chris' help and mine. Kevin was supposed to help load as well but he was in a mountain bike accident and wrecked his shoulder the week before. That added driving him to doctor appointments to my to do list and dong some shopping for him plus jobs around the house that might need two functioning upper limbs.  We stayed with Kevin on Friday night after the closing and then had a suite in an extended stay place for the coming week. This was the worst possible time to have to get a room because the prices balloon during leaf peeping season if you can even find a room at all. But it was close to the storage units where we were working and it was dog friendly. We ju

Wedding

 Don and I drove to South Carolina to attend the wedding of my step-grandson, Will. Will Will and Katie The wedding took place on Dataw Island, a beautiful outdoor ceremony followed by a reception in the country club. We stayed in a tiny cottage in the historic center of Beaufort, rented from Vrbo. Since the wedding was at 5 p.m., we had time to explore the area a bit. I really like the low country scenery and historical charm. Sitting quietly in the curtained gazebo I was visited by multiple cardinals. They came to visit the feeder, not me, but I can always pretend! How I will always remember Will!

Rest In Peace

 In a summer that has been so wet, Sunday was a reprieve. The humidity dropped and the sun came out. It was a day that could have been special ordered by the family of a friend's husband. It was the day they had arranged his celebration of life ceremony set on the shore of Lake Champlain. I was not looking forward to the gathering, even couched as a celebration. This is a family fraught with relationship tensions. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony. A Catholic priest gave a brief but meaningful homily and two Air Force members played "Taps" and presented the American flag to my friend. I am not a Christian, but I do know about Christ Consciousness. That priest's word's filled me with such a sense of peace and love. I hope it did the same for the family members and neighbors who attended.