Snack Attack Part 2

Being a pretty busy family, one of the things we have done to make things easier when on the go, is whip up a basket of pre-portioned snacks each week.  We have been doing this for quite awhile now, in fact, I originally shared the process here.

Just to recap, when we get home from the grocery store, we spend a couple extra minutes making individual sized snack portions by dividing out bulk purchases into smaller grab and go baggies.  Why?  It's great for the entire family to quickly grab a healthy snack on the go.  It is easy for the kids to pick a quick, healthy and portioned snack out when they get home from school, or to toss one in their backpack for an after school activity.  I love that the items are portioned out and that no one is eating fist-fulls out of a big bag of chips or eating a couple crackers and forgetting to seal up the package.

What I didn't love was the daily/weekly process of washing out the baggies and hanging them to dry in the kitchen.  It was time consuming and unsightly and needed to be done frequently.  After a few washes, into the trash those baggies went.  I know, I know, it's an awful, very un-earth friendly thing to do.

I have been wanting to change our ways for awhile now, but I have been stumped as to what to do.  Individual grab and go containers run anywhere from $5-8 per piece for the good stuff, a couple of dollars for the cheapo grab and go stuff {which doesn't seem to have a long life either}.  We are a family of five and make up about thirty plus snack containers per week.  Doing the math, that could cost us about $150 for nice, long lasting snack containers.  No thank you.

So, I had been putting it off, discouraged about the price.  And yes, I even checked the dollar store but quite honestly, most items didn't seem like much of a step up from a plastic baggie and wouldn't last multiple washings before ending up in a landfill as well.

But, in the spirit of the recent Earth Day, I decided to spend a little more time researching options.  Although I typically prefer glass storage, it's really not ideal {or the safest kid option} for grab and go snacking.  What I ended up selecting were Ball Plastic Freezer Jars...

They come in different sizes {I went with the 8 oz and 16 oz}, they are BPA free and are freezer and dishwasher safe!  

I was a little hesitant at first since the price per container was pretty good and I was nervous I was getting another couple washes and then done type of container, but after I opened them filled them and we used them a few times, I was sold.  I think these babies will last us a good while.

A much better solution than all those baggies.  Easier clean up, and it protects the snacks when they are tossed into a travel bag or backpack.

I also love that they screw together, both the lids and containers, for easy peasy storage!

I just tossed them back into the green basket...

Which lives on a shelf in our pantry.

So that was one of the few things I decided to do to be more "green" around here.  More to come in the near future about some other changes we are making.  How about you? Anyone else make any recent updates or changes due to the recent special day?