Photo: The News Wheel
It’s so aggravating to load up the trunk of your car or SUV after shopping for hours at the grocery store only to discover a mess of spilled bags, damaged cartons, and rolling soda bottles when you arrive home. The braking and turning of your driving can cause bags to topple over and scatter their contents across the trunk.
Here are some simple ways of transporting groceries in your car so they don’t spill.
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Clever ways to keep your grocery bags from spilling in the trunk
Bring a cardboard box or laundry basket for rolling items
Nothing can wreck a trunk full of groceries faster than a rolling watermelon. Keep heavy, round objects like melons and liter-sized soda bottles secure by placing them in a box or laundry basket so they don’t roll around. If you don’t have a container with you, place these objects in the rear-row footwells so they’re separated from the rest of the groceries.
Buy a trunk organizer for delicate items
Trunk organizers like this one are relatively cheap and very useful for separating small or delicate items in your trunk — even items that aren’t groceries. Invest in one so you can keep soft or fragile purchases like eggs, cakes, and bread separated from heavy boxes and jugs.
Bring bubble wrap
The next time you receive a package that uses bubble wrap to protect the contents, save that plastic instead of trashing it. It’ll come in handy the next time you buy lots of glass jars and bottles at the grocery store and don’t want them to bump together and crack. When you’re loading the filled bags into the trunk, shove some bubble wrap in each bag to give the contents some padding. This is especially useful if you bought some wine bottles — you don’t want those to break!
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2019 Mazda CX-3 trunk
Photo: Mazda
Use reusable bags lined with cardboard
Plastic bags from the grocery store are cheap and tear easily. Invest in sturdier, heavy-duty reusable bags that are much less likely to tear. Plus, you can reinforce them and keep them from falling over by cutting a cardboard rectangle and lining the bottom of the bag to keep it flat and stable. It doesn’t hurt that durable tote bags and recycling old boxes with this new use is good for the environment.
Use hooks and nets
Did you know that many cars have hooks and netting that are specifically meant for securing loose items? Your car might have them and you’ve never noticed! Take a look around in the trunk and see if there are any hooks, nets, hidden compartments, or under-floor storage you hadn’t noticed before. Use the design of the trunk to your advantage when transporting groceries in your car.
Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.
