Over the last few years we’ve been taking baby steps toward a more sustainable and quality frugal home, and one of the first steps was choosing healthier foods. Next? Replacing our plastic snack/sandwich bags with reusable bags.
ChicoBag sent me reusable snack and sandwich bags to facilitate this post. All ideas and opinions are my own.
New Year Resolutions and Frugal Sustainability
My husband and I want to build a lifestyle that will last, so over the past 6 years our family has been making baby steps to a more quality frugal, natural, healthy, and sustainable life. It is much easier to get the family on board when you take small steps toward change.
Our family loves snacking. Who doesn’t? As I said above, one of the first transitions we made from buying everything “convenience” was our food. I try to keep healthy snack options on hand so we make better choices, but it’s one of those things that is always a struggle. As we move into a new year, it’s time to look at our habits and see what good habits we can reNEW. One of those habits is our snacking habit, and along with that, our plastic baggie habit.
We started by cutting processed cereals and gradually moved to very few boxed mixes, healthier snacks, and cutting back pasta and bread consumption. Somewhere in this we started eliminating plastic containers for food storage, moving almost completely to glass for our leftovers and dried goods storage.
Goodbye Plastic Snack Bags, Hello ChicoBag
One of the last remaining hold-outs is our bag and wrap drawer. I don’t enjoy looking in that drawer. Inevitably it is always a mess of overflowing bags. I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing plastic bags with reusable bags for over a year and had started looking at what was available (conclusion: many practical and impractical solutions) when I came across ChicoBag at Natural Products Expo East. Their snack bags looked like they fit what I needed: hold small or large snacks/sandwiches, washable, durable, and kid-friendly.
They sent me 1 of each snack bag and we gave them a try. Verdict? We love them. The kids are able to use them without help from me, and the bag is designed so you can fold it for smaller snacks or leave it larger for bigger items. Designed with a hook and loop to keep it shut either way. When you’re ready to clean them, just flip them inside out, throw them in the washing machine in cold water, then air dry them. Best of all, they are well-made and durable.
The bags come with a 1 year warranty so if something doesn’t work out you aren’t out your investment. Yes, investment, because that’s what these snack bags are. The amount of use they get in our house they will definitely be more affordable than all the snack bags 3 children and a husband go through each week.
Plus, that’s even less plastic bags in our environment. Frugal and sustainable truly go hand in hand, but like I said earlier, our real goal is quality frugal. If we spend a little more now to save more later while increasing quality of life, we call that winning.
Check it out: 17 Healthier Snacks for the New Year or Any Time
What baby steps are you taking this new year? Share your goals in the comments!
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