I’m no greenie, so I’ve been using plain old zip-top plastic sandwich bags for the kids’ lunches (and my husband’s lunch too, because I got all old-school domestic when I saw how much he was spending on his lunch every day) ever since they started going to school. But this year I had a chance to try the reusable sandwich and snack bags made by Lunchskins, and I have to say, I’m impressed.

They’re super cute:

They’re functional. There’s no rocket science involved in using them. You put a sandwich or a snack in, and you seal the Velcro closure. Which isn’t kidding around, I might add. The Lunchskins employ some serious high-quality Velcro that does not open all by itself. Then you put the bags in the kids’ lunches and off they go!

UPDATE: Below I complain about washing the Lunchskins but I didn’t realize then that they are dishwasherable! Which is totally a word now. So today the used Lunchskins are in the dishwasher. Yay!

The kicker is they have to be cleaned. This should not be a big deal. And it isn’t really. My kids eat PB&J’s every single day – they’re easy like that – and if I make sure the PB and J don’t leak out the sides of the bread, the Lunchskins don’t get very dirty. During the first few weeks of school this exercise was not hard – I had a lot of energy, I was super-motivated Mom setting the coffeemaker every night and washing the lunch bags AND the Lunchskins out every day. But then over this last week reality set in and I forgot to set up the coffeemaker at night, I started taking shortcuts in the morning, and I procrastinated washing the Lunchskins.

Good thing they sent me two sets for each kid.

The bottom line is that I highly recommend them if you can get your kid to NOT throw them away after he or she eats his sandwich or snack. This is what I worried about with my boys. They’re forgetful and easily distracted especially at snack and lunchtime when there is playing to be done and the last thing on their minds is conservation.

The snack bags are $7.85 and the sandwich bags are $8.95, and I suggest getting two of each, per kid, so that if you forget (or are too lazy) to wash out the set one night, you have a backup. No more empty plastic bags to throw away every day. It will ease your conscience AND save money.

I received this product free to facilitate this review.