These reusable snack bags are perfect for packing dry snacks for lunch or traveling. If you’re looking for a more eco-friendly food wrap, these might fit the bill.
Need a way to cover bulky bowls? Try these eco-friendly beeswax wraps!
My husband is a hard-sell when it comes to some of my efforts to go green.
When I tried to convince him to switch to reusable snack bags for his lunch, he complained that they were too floppy. He needed something that would stand upright so he could access his snacks easily while he works. Ask and you shall receive, as they say.
Making reusable snack bags
I figured out a way to make reusable snack bags with a bottom. So they’ll stand upright. And then I coated them with the same mixture used to make the beeswax wraps that are so popular on this site, but omits the pine resin (which is used for adding “clinginess.”)
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DIY reusable snack bags
This project requires a sewing machine. The eco wraps for sandwiches (below) does not.
You’ll need:
- Pattern (print it out here)
- 11″ x 17″ piece of cotton fabric for each bag
- Matching thread
- Iron
- 3 tablespoons pelleted beeswax (like this)
- 1 tablespoon jojoba oil (grapeseed oil works, too)
- 2″ wide (or so) paintbrush
Sew the reusable snack bag:
Using the printed pattern as a guideline, cut two fabric pieces to make a front and a back. Shortcut: You can fold the 11″ x 17″ piece of fabric in half and cut through both layers at once.
With right sides together, sew a straight stitch up both sides and across the bottom. Use a quarter-inch seam allowance.
Pull open the little cutouts between each side and bottom until right sides of the fabric come together.
Related: DIY Reusable Cloth Bags for Small Bulk Items
Align the seams and sew a straight stitch, again with a quarter-inch seam allowance.
This creates the “bottom” for the reusable snack bag.
Related: The Eco-Conscious Kitchen: Painless Changes You Can Make Today
Iron a quarter inch fold at the top edge, then fold it over again. Sew hem around the entire circumference of the reusable snack bag. Turn the bag right side out.
Coating the reusable snack bag with wax
Melt the beeswax and jojoba oil together in a glass jar using a double boiler. Stir to make a smooth mixture. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 225°F.
Set a snack bag on the parchment and use the paint brush to coat the outside with wax. The wax will begin to harden as soon as it touches the fabric. Just do your best to get a thin coat over most of the bag.
Related: Freezing Without Plastic
Put the coated snack bag in the oven and keep an eye on it. When the wax becomes visibly liquified again, use the brush to move it around as necessary. Flip the bag over several times, until the fabric is completely saturated. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
These reusable snack bags are pliable and yet the fabric holds its shape. They have a very slight fragrance of beeswax, too. To close the bag, you can do as I do and simply use a binder clip, or add a couple of buttons.
Could these work as a DIY reusable sandwich bag?
Of course. Keep several of these reusable snack bags on hand so that you can wash and dry one DIY reusable sandwich bag while others in use.
Using your reusable lunch bags
Place your sandwich in the center of your wrap.Take one of the corners that doesn’t have a button and cross it over the sandwich. Tuck the corner in under the bread. Take the opposite, button-less corner and wrap it over the sandwich from the other side. Tuck it under. Now take the two opposing corners that are left. Fold these to the center of your sandwich.
Use the piece of twine to wrap around the two buttons, in a figure eight, to keep the sandwich wrap closed.
Cleaning your sandwich wrap and reusable snack bags
Wash in cool to warm water using mild dish detergent. Hang to dry. Fold and store.
Excellent post and wonderful blog, this sort of interesting posts I really like, keep it up…
I am prepping to do this today and imagining my brush getting stiff with cooling gunk pretty quickly. I will be doing several batches as my energy allows. How do I cope with using the same (now stiff) brush for future batches? can I clean it just a bit? Melt some wax off somehow so it is brushlike for the other food bag projects?
If you put the brush in the oven with the wraps, the bristles will soften.
These snack bags are a great idea. Thanks for the pattern. I am going to make waxed linen bread bags as well, for all the sourdough my husband bakes, using your beeswax recipe for the snack bags. Hoping it will work like a bread box and keep it fresh but still crispy on the outside!
Do you coat the inside of the snack bags?
Yes.
Is there a different oil I can use? I do not have jojoba on hand Burbank have coconut and olive oil.
I’d try it with olive oil. (I guess I need to experiment to suggest an alternative – this is a common question!)
Hi. Can I put the food wraps in the fridge? Was thinking of using one to wrap my sandwich for work
yes, the refrigerator should be fine. (Freezing it isn’t a good idea, though!)
Hi
Can I wash this in the dishwasher?
Planning to do it for the kiddos to take snacks to school
Thanks
No.
Hi Kris, do you think this method would work as a bag or large wrap to keep or freeze homemade bread? My daughter and I used a linen dish towel after we baked bread but we’d like to be able to freeze a loaf but don’t want to compromise the flavor or texture. Thanks.
I’m not sure how the beeswax will hold up in the freezer. I’d start by freezing one without the bread, just to see. (I kind of can’t believe I haven’t done this experiment yet…)
Is the fabric stiff? I’m looking for an alternative to PUL for making reusable menstrual pad holders, i.e., shields that the pads fit into so that they are a moisture resistant barrier. This is for an overseas mission project to help the ladies sew these for themselves. PUL is NOT available and if it were would be completely cost prohibitive.
There is a stiffness to it, though it’s flexible.
Does it leave a weird taste on your food?
No.
Can I get the dimensions for the pattern? It doesn’t want to print right on my computer.
You can use the *shape (you can see it, right?) and make it as big or small as you like. Mine pretty much fits an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper.