Taking The "Zip" Out Of The Sandwich Bag!

A while ago, I was perusing a web page by a SHAM/WHAM (Stay/Work At Home Mom) and one of the products that she was selling was these re-usable sandwich bags.  I thought, AWESOME idea!  I can make that no problem.  So after taking some time to figure out measurements, I made several of these bags and the kids LOVE them!  I made them different materials so the kids always knew whose bag was whose.  I made them over a year ago and they have stayed strong and I haven't lost one yet!  

You may think, "Oh gosh!  I don't have time for that!"  Or, "That is too hard.  I can't do it."  Or even you may hear yourself say, "That is too expensive!"  Well, I made this new re-usable sandwich bag in 50 minutes, but that did include my time to take pictures along the way, running upstairs to put a soother back into a sleeping baby's mouth, defusing an argument with the two older ones, getting stickers and a sticker book, and then having to talk one kid  down from a serious meltdown! 

As far as sewing projects go, this is fairly simple.  Just cut a couple rectangles, iron, a few pins and then some straight stitching.   So I am confident even a novice could put this together with some patience!

The cost is inexpensive, especially if you make more than one.  I bought some supplies at the local dollar store - self-adhesive hook and loop fastener (velcro) and a clear plastic table cloth.  I bought remnant material from my local material store.  If you already sew, you may have some leftover material or perhaps you are throwing something out like an old pillow case so you could salvage that and use it.  I have made 7 or 8, including test ones, and the total cost for supplies was less than $10 and I still have lots left to make some more.

So I decided to make another one, documenting how I did it so I can share the wealth!

1)  Remember to write down the directions so you can blog about it!

2)  Cut material 40cm x 25cm . 

3)  With a hot iron, press over a 1 cm seam along the long edges first.  Then press over another 1 cm seam so that you don't get any fraying of the material.

  

4)  Now press a 1 cm seam along the short side and then press another 1 cm seam over.  It will now look like a neat rectangle.

5)  Next measure your now pressed material and cut out a piece of plastic that is the same size.  Fit in inside and under your pressed seams and secure with some straight pins.

6)  I prefer to use 1 cm wide hook and loop but my dollar store sells 2 cm so I just cut in in half lengthwise.  

7)  Measure the hook and loop according to distance measured from inside seam to inside seam on the short ends, overlapping just a bit.

8)  Sew hook and loop along top and bottom.

9)  Next fold bag in half, WRONG SIDE OUT, matching up short end to short end and pin in place.  Sew along sides from hook and loop end to bottom.  Repeat on other side.

10)  Unfold bag to right side out and VOILA!  You have a re-usable bag!  Note that it is the approximate size of a store bought, disposable sandwich size bag!

I have always washed my re-usable bages by hand and have never washed one in a washing machine so I am unsure how it would hold up if you did put it through one.

A super easy ECO-FRIENDLY project that will have people asking, "Where did you get that!  And then you can proudly respond, "I made it!"

***For the record, it took me longer to blog about this project than it took me to make it!  

Joanna

What Is Litterless?

What I define as litterless:

1) Nothing goes into the garbage
2) Food waste, napkins and compostable utensils that can go into the compost and actually make it there, either at home or at school!
3) An item that is recyclable is put into a recycling bin either at home or a school.  This would include a milk carton that a student would get if they are a part of the schools milk program, pudding/fruit cups, plastic wrap, etc.
4)  What can be reused, is reused.  Such items may include utensils, drink containers, food containers, etc.

Check out this put out by HRM!
http://halifax.ca/recycle/

Joanna

The Journey Begins

The look on my husbands face when I told him that I wanted to start a blog was priceless!  He was encouraging and supportive but I think he was a little shocked!  I am not one for too much computer stuff.  Sure I like to email and to Facebook to keep in touch with my friends, but I am not one for too much clicking around on the computer.  So wanting to start a blog was probably a little surprising to him.  He probably thinks that I am being converted to be a computer geek like himself!

Over the past few years, I have been inspired to make some lifestyle changes.  After our oldest son was diagnosed with a serious health issue, I wanted to do all I could to make his life, and ours, as healthy as I could.  I wanted to make more of our food from scratch, buy foods whole and not processed, throw out less waste, and so on.  Now I am not perfect, but when I see the changes that I have made, I am pretty pleased with my efforts and I hope to keep up the changes in our family.

One change that I have been working on the past couple of years is trying to make my oldest sons lunch for school "litterless."  This means having no waste to go into the garbage after he is finished his lunch.  Living in Nova Scotia means that we have a pretty great waste management program - we compost, recycle cans, bottles, plastic, paper and cardboard.  At the end of of two week garbage cycle, our family of five throws out less than 2 fulls bags of garbage!  We are fortunate that a lot of our schools also participate in composting and recycling programs and , therefore, make my quest for a litterless lunch possible.

I hope to be active in my blog posts but bare with me because as I mentioned above, I am not one for clicking too much on the computer!  And the truth is, I have no idea how to design a blog - it's amazing that I have actually made a post at all!   I hope to share with you some of my ideas, find some web links to help inspire, and don't forget to share your ideas too!

Joanna