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Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Lunchbox Ideas: How to Pack with Reusable Items

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Some products provided for review purposes, and some products I purchased on my own. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

Yesterday on Facebook I saw the first batch of students heading back into the classroom. Next week I’ll see another crop get started. The week after that my own girls will be back to school, and then within 2 weeks after they start, pretty much every kid in America will be back in the classroom.

Back-to-school time is upon us. You can run but you can’t hide! So we might as well get prepared. 

My girls bring their lunches to school with them. Today I want to highlight the products we like to use when putting their meals together. I prefer to use reusable containers as much as possible, and I also seek out products that are phlatalete free and of course BPA free. lunchbox ideas 1

First up, let’s check out the lunch box. Last year I bought my oldest a lunch box from Honest Company (check out my Honest Company lunch box review here). We were pleased with how it held up, so I got one for my youngest this year, too.

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I like how easy it is to wipe down (but don’t put it in the washing machine or the graphics on the front will peel off. I know from first-hand experience!). The inside of the lunch box will also come out for easy washing or wiping down, too. They have a few different patterns, and they just came out with new looks, too!

lunchbox 3

For food that needs to stay warm or cool, I love these Stainless Steel Food Jars from One Step Ahead. They will keep things like spaghetti o’s nice and hot for you or if your little one likes yogurt, this is the container to put it in and it will keep until lunch time. They hold a generous amount of food and they are dishwasher safe.

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For smaller snack items (fruit and veggies, crackers, etc.) I really like these snack keepers, also from One Step Ahead. My absolute favorite thing about them is that the lid stays connected to the bottom so you never lose it! These are also dishwasher safe on the top rack, but I would suggest hand washing them if you want to preserve the graphics on top. When you kid starts to age out of the cutesy designs, definitely start using the dishwasher or just put a different sticker on top! 🙂

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Finally, for drinks, we are asked to only send water or milk with our kids to school, so water it is! We’ve been using these reusable water bottles for kids, which come in a pack of 5, and are designed to get you through an entire school week with different bottles. They have held up GREAT, and this particular set is currently under $12 on Amazon, which is an awesome deal for 5 water bottles! :=)

So those are the primary items we will be using each day for packing lunches. Do you have any resuable items that you adore? I’d love to hear about them!

Easy Lunch Box System

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If you work outside the home, do you pack your lunch? Does your spouse? How about your kids (who are school-aged)? Tim and I have been in the habit of packing our lunches since we first got married. We had NO money for going out to eat at that time so creating an easy lunch box system was a necessity. Fortunately, we were able to get in the habit then and we still do a pretty good job of bringing our own food to work now. Tim will sometimes get roped in to going out to eat with his colleagues because most of them don’t pack lunches, but on the whole, we eat at our desks or in break rooms. It’s a great way to use up leftovers and save a bunch of money.

I have some glass food containers, but more often than not those are storing breakfast or dinner for Darah (her lunches always go in her Baby Banquet). Tim and I are often left with the plastic containers that are decidedly NOT BPA free. This is a huge concern of mine, because I know we shouldn’t be heating them up in the microwave. The other main problem I have when getting our lunches together is that if we have multiple things that we want to bring to work (for example, a sandwich, soup, carrot sticks and string cheese), I need multiple containers and/or bags. We have some reusable bags, so that helps to cut down on the waste, but we are still leaving the house with a bag full of containers, which is just so awkward!

easy lunch box system I searched the internet for a solution to my lunch-building problems, and I found one! Check out the easy lunch box system! If you are looking for one container that will hold different foods, or just for a green lunchbox, here it is!

Kelly Lester, the brains behind this business, has this to say about how EasyLunchboxes got started, “I was like other frustrated moms – I didn’t like throwing together lunches during the morning rush. So much time was wasted sorting through a cabinet of mismatched food containers while trying to pack 15-25 well-balanced lunches per week. I struggled to find something that would help me pack lunches fast, without resorting to the ‘convenience’ of expensive, pre-packaged ‘fast-food.’ Most importantly, I wanted something attractive, eco-friendly, and made of food-safe materials that I didn’t have to wash by hand. My clever solution to the lunch-packing chore is the simple two piece EasyLunchbox container : The bottom has three compartments to hold an entree or sandwich and two side dishes. The fitted lid (which comes in 4 colors) covers all three compartments at once. Fits perfectly inside the roomy EasyLunchbox custom carrying bag. And there is still plenty of room to throw in an extra snack or two, whole fruit, perhaps a thermos of soup, drink and ice block.”


My experience with the EasyLunchbox system has been positive. Because I have compartments to use, I’m packing healthier meals. The baby carrots are actually making it with me to work, now, because I don’t have to get out another plastic bag just for them. I’ve also got room for fun sides like hummus and pita chips. Tim and I are eating better, and putting together more variety for our meals is actually a whole lot easier.

easy lunchbox tontainer At first, I wasn’t too sure that I’d get much use out of the cooler bag, but now I’m so glad that I have it. The containers really do fit perfectly inside, and I love that there is extra room on top for anything extra that you might want to throw in (since a banana, for example, wouldn’t fit inside the EasyLunchbox, itself). The design is simple and the colors are attractive, which means that an 8 year old and a 38 year old could both use it without any snickers from classmates or colleagues!

Win it!: EasyLunxhboxes wants to give you the opportunity to win your very own set and cooler! The contest will run until July 19th at 7:59pm CST when a winner will be selected using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the winning email before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is selected. Limit one entrant per household, please. Open to residents of the United States and Canada.

Mandatory Entry: Two things: Tell me the color of the cooler bag you want (you will get what you select here if you win) AND subscribe/follow my blog via any of the following methods: Twitter, Facebook, RSS, email, Google Friend Connect! You need to mention which way you subscribe/follow in your mandatory entry post.

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1. Subscribe follow my blog by any of the methods listed above that you didn’t use for the mandatory entry (limit one extra entry, even if you subscribe multiple ways)
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4. Subscribe to the EasyLunchbox blog

Be sure to check out my other current giveaways (a list can be found on the sidebar of my main page).

Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This post may contain affiliate links at no cost to you.