Make your own Reusable Snack Packs in 5 steps and 15 minutes




I'm gradually working on making our lives and our household more sustainable, environment and budget friendly.

This past week I whipped up a few small reusable snack packs.  I find that I'm often wrapping home made cookies in foil and putting savoury scrolls and other home baking in paper bags for lunches. So these small snack packs should reduce our need for foil and paper bags!

I used scraps of fabric I had to make these packs. A laminate fabric for the outer fabric and rip-stop nylon for the insides. I chose these as they will easily wipe clean, and the waterproof laminate will be great in the kids lunch boxes as the outside of things often seem to be wet or covered in food by the end of the day - so again, easy to wipe and the cookies inside will be protected against any moisture.

You could use any fabrics to make these packs. I know some people are concerned about fabrics being food safe - but for me, clean, washed fabric has to be better than aluminium foil, cling wrap, or plastic boxes! It's a personal choice and making your own lets you customise to suit your own needs.

So how can you make your very own reusable snack packs in just 5 steps and 15 minutes?

You will need inner and outer fabrics and sew in velcro.
(alternate fastenings would also work if you choose - press studs or buttons for example)

Here's how:


Step 1
Cut your fabrics, 1 inner and 1 outer piece the same size. 
I cut mine 30 x 12 cm (11.75 x 4.75").
Cut 10 cm (4") of velcro



Step 2
Place your fabrics right sides together and stitch around three edges, then turn right sides out. Use a chopstick to push the corners right out.



Step 3
Fold the open edges in on themselves to hide the raw edges, then top stitch around all 4 edges of your fabric.



Step 4
Fold your fabric up as you want it to be when it's a finished pocket, with a flap open at the top.
Place your two velcro pieces - one on the inside of the flap and one on the front piece of the pocket. Pin then stitch in place. Stitch around each velcro piece twice for extra strength.




Step 5
Finally, with your pocket folded, top stitch the two sides together. Run your stitches backwards and forwards over the edges a couple of times for extra strength.




And there you have your very own reusable snack pack!




I made a few smaller ones.



And a couple of larger pockets too. 
(For these I cut fabric measuring 36 x 22 cm (14.25 x 8.75"))



These, together with the fabric lunch wraps I made a few years ago (get that tutorial here),


 help us be a little more eco-friendly with our packed lunches.


For the free downloadable PDF version of this tutorial, click here.

And for more tutorials of things to make in 5 steps and 15 minutes, go here.






14 comments:

  1. Those little pockets are just the trick, Jill! I should think they would be great for storing other items, as well. I enjoyed your post and will pin this idea to my sewing & embroidery tutorials board!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is such a great idea for being eco friendly and I too hate using tin foil, and plastic wrap for packing food.
    Thanks for sharing this at Cooking and Crafting with J & J.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Julie! They've been a big hit with my girls who are using them every day now!

      Delete
  3. Such a neat idea!

    I would love for you to share this with my Recipes, Crafts, Tips and Tricks Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jessica - and thanks for the invite!

      Delete
  4. How cool! My daughter will love this! Thank you for the clear and easy directions. I'm glad I saw you over at #ThursdayFavoriteThings.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is such a great idea Jill :)

    Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays

    ReplyDelete
  6. We are happy to inform you that we featured this at our Monday Cooking and Crafting with J & J. Thanks and have a nice week. :)
    Julie xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OH wow! Thanks so much for the feature Julie!!

      Delete
  7. Jill, you've done it again. You never cease to amaze me with your projects and how you find the time to make them all. I'm always inspired. Thanks for linking up to Thriving on Thursdays. I'm featuring this one at tomorrow's party!

    Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw thanks Anne! And thank you for the feature! :)

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.