This. When we were kids our boots were just rubber with no insulation or thickness to the sole. They were made to wear your sneakers inside of them. Of course it was near impossible to slide your shoed foot inside without the plastic bag over it. Then you’d just close the clasps on the front.
Mine looked like this: LaCrosse Four Buckle Rubber Boot (4BB)
We had boots like that. Always someone else’s first, parents traded them around as kids grew. Was tough to get shoes into them unless they were way too big. That’s what we had to wear when walking to school in the snow. It may not have been 10 miles uphill both ways, but wearing those things made it feel that way.
When I was in the Air Force, occasionally we would have exercises where we are in a simulated attack situation and would have to wear our MOPP gear. It was to protect us from chemical, biological, nuclear, etc. attacks.
We would have to wear a rubber overboot over our normal boots and they were really difficult to don since you had the rubber of the boots rubbing against the rubber of the overboot. But, put a plastic bag over your boot and it slides in just fine.
We did it expressly to help keep our feet dry from slush, sleet, and snow. Ease of entry was an added benefit.
I grew up in Chicago in the late 70s/80s, and I’ve never worn plastic bags on my feet so far as I remember.
Same here.
Unless I’m misremembering, when I think back to winters when I was a kid (60s -70s) we really had inefficient winter footwear and I’m talking Minnesota winters! We didn’t have warm boots, the boys wore the rubber galoshes over their shoes or the green rubber boots that we now call rain boots. The girls wore fashion boots. There was usually no warm linings in them. It wasn’t until I was 8 or 9 that snowmobile boots became the rage for playing outside. They had thick felt removable liners. Our feet were warm at last.
I have had the plastic bags on my feet. Of course they also make waterproof socks incorporating Nylon, Gore-Tex, wool to keep your feet warm, you name it.
On some long motorcycle rides, when it’s a long ride or a long trip and the rain is really heavy, as part of my rain gear setup I’ll wear rubber boots. Having my feet in plastic bags makes it easier to slide them into those rubber boots, and that also provides an extra barrier to keep them dry. It took me a while to set up the right wet weather riding gear for me, but in having a good set up it’s almost enjoyable being able to ride in a strong downpour and be dry and comfortable.
I was in the suburbs and saw it in grade school in the late 70s/early 80s. Not everyone but a few kids who walked to school had a Wonder Bread bag layer between their moon boots and their socks. I always assumed it was more so they wouldn’t get wet socks than warmth insulation.
The only people I’ve seen do this – and this is probably going to come out wrong, but this literally is the only time I’ve seen it – is with the unhoused/panhandlers. And, yes, I assume it is to keep their socks from getting wet more than anything.
Well, it made some sense. Walking the couple blocks to school was never a straight line and you were obligated to step over/through every snowbank you encountered along the way. By the time you got to your location, there was a decent chance that either your boots would be soaked through or you got a decent amount of snow in through the top of your boots when you were sunk up to your knees.
By the time we were in Jr High, we were too mature for those antics though so this was strictly an elementary school thing.
Edit: I never had bagged feet but I remember seeing it on other kids and thinking it was sort of weird. In fact, it stuck with me because I remember mentioning it to someone else assuming they’d think it was weird and they were “No, that makes sense, why would you even bring it up?” and then feeling kind of dumb about it. Deep-rooted memories of social awkwardness coming back up to enlighten the SDMB!
Back around 2000, I sliced off a chunk of my heel on the metal bedframe and had to, for a spell, wear a plastic bag on that foot when bathing.
I was in the burbs at the same time and we used bread bags when walking to elementary school or going sledding. Jewel generic brand though; we were too poor for Wonder Bread.
We used to save and reuse bread bags for all kinds of stuff. Now with the ubiquity of plastic bags we reuse those instead.
Another motorcyclist checking in…I live in the nice ‘warm’, dry desert so I don’t have the best rain gear. My boots are actually ventilated so definitely not water proof. As long as it’s warm I don’t mind my feet getting a little wet. April 2023 I was on a trip to in Japan and along with the rain we were getting some colder temps. Snagged the trash can liners out of my hotel room, put them on over the socks and under the boots. Helped immensely. I’ve got some rubber, waterproof "overboots’ now, but haven’t needed to use them yet.
After many years of riding, in all kinds of weather, I finally got a pair of rubber overboots. They’re great!
Yeah, sort of- when I was a kid, we wore rubber snow boots over our school shoes on the way to and from school. Yes, we walked to and from school in the snow. The bags helped us slide our shod feet in and out of the boots easier.