How to Make the Most of Ziploc Bags

The simple little product with a myriad of opportunities

Though it may seem odd to devote an entire article to a plastic bag with a seal-the Ziploc bag is definitely part of my every day-it makes life more orderly. And though it is advertised to merely preserve food-the Ziploc is so much more. Here are some uses for these versatile little gems.

Things You'll Need

• Ziploc bags and things to organize

Instructions

1. First of all, the Ziploc can be fantastic for makeup. Eye shadows and lipsticks or pencils can be placed in their own tiny bags, then all of the individual bags can be placed in a larger bag for an inexpensive, easy-to-use cosmetic bag. A similar concept works for toiletries.

2. Children's toys can be categorized, separated by child, sealed and labeled in those large Ziploc bags they make now. They provide easy, ample storage, avoiding the need for bulky boxes. They can be used the same way to store linens, sweaters or any other clothing and household items.

3. When packing for children, the large bags are a great way to plan daily outfits. Fold the clothes into the bag and label them accordingly, so if one parent leaves the kids with the other or sends them on a vacation, the daily outfits are easy to pull out every day. When you have several children, this is an easy way to save time on dressing and a great way to ensure that your babysitter or nanny chooses the right outfit.

4. I use Ziploc bags infinitely for work. When I was shooting a cooking episode on the "Tyra" Show, I had to do three cooking segments, so I had to organize ingredients ahead of time to bring to the show. The only way to do so was to place the individual ingredient components in Ziplocs, label them, then place them all in a larger bag so there was one bag per meal or recipe.

5. Also, I used to be a chef for Kraft. When they came out with new products they wanted me to prepare the products in their best light, and then prepare individual bags for several editors at various magazines. My last program was for Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I had 50 cases of cream cheese, including 5 flavors of cream cheese, 5 flavors of cracker spreads and 2 flavors of cream cheese filling. Each item had to go to each editor and be kept cold in a cooler all day in a car that would go from back-to-back meetings. There was no time to hunt through the cooler at each stop for the 10 items to bring to each meeting. So my solution was to place all 10 flavors into one large Ziploc bag, label it (e.g. "Health Magazine," "Redbook") and place it in the cooler so the paper packaging was protected on ice and the PR girls could simply grab bags to quickly bring to each meeting.

Tips & Warnings

• I could go on and on about the clever uses for Ziplocs-from storing and separating medicine bottles to photos to hair clips to tampons to paperclips-or anything else that needs organizing. Once you realize the versatility and functionality of this product-I'm sure you'll find plenty of opportunities to use them too!