It’s summer holiday time! Hurrah! Fun for all the family and lots of days out with the kids! There is much to think about… where to go, what to take to avoid burning through too much cash, and how to keep everyone in happy mood all day long.
Without a doubt, having a generous supply of snacks available is crucial to the enjoyment of any day out with small children. Carrying snacks so that they remain consumable is also clearly key. Tupperware containers, although long lasting and re-usable, are bulky and irritating to carry once the snack has been consumed. Plastic re-sealable snack packs are useful and whilst many of us may have the best of intentions of re-using them, they are in reality largely only good for one use.
But rather than stuff our picnic bags with crisps, pre-packed snacks and other expensive and wasteful items, we decided we would investigate the re-usable snack pack market for a more resourceful alternative. It is #plasticfreejuly after all, and the removal of single use plastic from our lives, is something we should all be seriously considering. Did you know that we currently throw away at least 800 million bits of foil or cling film in this country alone? Outrageous!
Not only do these re-usable snack packs genuinely enable you to re-use them – they are washable, and many of them are dishwasher friendly – but you can buy snacks in bulk quantities and split them down. Buying large bags of yoghurt raisins, tortilla chips, pretzels, etc, literally saves a packet! In our ‘test drive’ we found that this also saved us about 50% on the cost of the actual snacks.
And the cost savings don’t stop there – no need to buy disposable snack bags, cling film or aluminium foil. The environmental benefits should be obvious – no waste, no processing.
So I invested in a pack of 4 Premium Reusable Sandwich & Snack Packs by Nordic Nature available at Amazon for £15.99 for 4. The set consists of 2 sandwich size bags and 2 smaller ones – they are eco friendly and dishwasher safe with an easy open zip.
Not only did I use the bags for my children’s snacks when on family days out, but I also used them for my husband’s packed lunches. He suggested that my portability argument was void when I bagged up his sandwich and put it in his lunch box, but I argued that a packed lunch is just that – and you take it to work and leave it there – no toting around! And you don’t want a crushed sandwich! The bags provide a perfect alternative to clingfilm and sandwich bags and he did concede that the sandwiches were fresh and kept nicely intact – another win.
Nordic by Nature are not the only re-usable snack packs on the market – there are many manufacturers of these products offering a range of designs and sizes. I am pretty sold on mine at the moment – it has only been a few weeks so I can’t vouch for how long they will last, but Nordic by Nature have a ‘no questions asked’ returns policy if you do have a problem, so you can’t really argue with that.
Nordic by Nature Reusable Snack Bag
If you are interested in trying to ditch the plastic and get re-usable, we have pulled together some of the other re-usable snack packs on the market:
Bumpkins Re-usable Snack Bags
Planet Wise Re-Usable Snack Pack
LunchSkins – Reusable Sandwich + Snack Bag
Lunch Skins Re-usable Snack Packs
Keep Leaf Reusable Food Bag
Eco Snack Wrap
SUPPORT THE SMALL GUYS
There are also lots of ‘home made’ versions of re-usable snack packs available at Etsy and Notonthehighstreet.com so have a Google and let us know what you find!
MAKE YOUR OWN
Alternatively if you want to, you can buy yourself some PUL fabric and start making your own re-usable snack packs – just follow this fantastic tutorial by www.wellnessmama.com – we are going to give it a go!
Wellness Mama | Home Made Snack Packs Tutorial
