When I launched the Eco Friendly Mama blog, a slew of friends and family reached out to me. Many to congratulate and cheer me on which was awesome. Some also had specific questions about which kinds of eco-friendly products they should switch to, (which by the way I absolutely encourage and not just for people I personally know. Please feel free to reach out to me via one of the methods listed in the Contact page.) By far, the question that came up the most was what my favorite reusable sandwich bags are.

 

Well, lucky for you, I had this post about reusable sandwich bags already planned!

 

When my son started preschool and had to bring his lunch with him every day, I faced this challenge of what to use instead of plastic sandwich bags. Yes, they are so convenient for transporting food in. Yes, it is soooo satisfying to zip them closed, especially if the plastic changes color to indicate a perfect seal. This is an excellent marketing point they’ve come up with to hook in customers.

 

But switching to a more eco-friendly sandwich bag is really neither as daunting nor as disappointing as it may seem.

 

 

I started off with these 100% organic cotton bags, which I picked up at a craft market in LA almost 10 years ago. I liked them because they were all natural down to the water-based dyes, and could be washed in a washing machine like any other cotton garment. You can throw them in the dryer too. Just be sure to turn the bag inside out so that the interior gets a good cleansing.

Now, of course, since this kind is not made of plastic and doesn’t even have a waterproof liner, you can’t put wet foods like applesauce in here. (Who’s eating applesauce out of a baggie anyway?) This cotton sandwich bag is ideal for dry goods like pretzels, animal crackers, nuts etc. If you stick to dry shelf-stable goods, you can go several uses without having to wash it. I’ve also been known to put a whole sandwich in there, wrapped up first in a napkin, just so that I don’t have to wash it immediately. But if a stain occurs for some reason, into the washing machine it goes. Easy peasy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how awesome these bags truly were until I started using them every single day for my son’s preschool lunch several years after I purchased them. By that time, sadly, the company that made them had gone out of business, as many local and small businesses do without enough community support. Such a shame too, as the bag is clearly very well-made. Almost a decade of use later, and it’s in great condition!

Thankfully, there are still options available online that are also 100% organic cotton without a waterproof lining. This one from Mighty Nest for example.

As fate would have it though, just as I was about to buy this new version, I received another pair of reusable sandwich bags from an eco-friendly subscription service.

 

By the way, these are products I have genuinely been using for my children’s lunches and snacks for several years.

I’m not being paid by a sponsor to recommend any of these products. However, I do receive a miniscule commission if you click on the links and buy the product from Amazon (at no additional cost to you – read more in my Privacy Policy), which helps to cover the operating costs for this website. So, if you feel at all inclined to buy any of these biodegradable or reusable sandwich bags, please use the links you find here in this post and help a blogger out!

These ones, made by the company Lunchskins, have a waterproof lining so they hold up better to wet items:

They are available in a wide variety of adorable patterns and come in the large sandwich size and smaller snack size. I own both. According to their customer service, the fabric is a cotton-poly blend with a thin food-grade polyurethane liner that is toxin free. Lunchskins are made from the same kind of material as pastry bags and are food safe. They’re also lead-free, BPA-free, and phthalate-free. Best of all, they’re dishwasher safe!

So when my Lunchskin bags are ready to be cleaned, I just turn them inside out and stick them in the top rack of my dishwasher. They’re usually dry by the time the cycle is done, but if not, then I left them air out in my bottle drying rack. You could buy a few pairs to have enough to last you the whole week, or just one pair like I have and just wash it when you do the dishes, which in my house is every other night.

 

Now, I still wouldn’t put applesauce in them, but at least if I put a sandwich in there I don’t have to worry about the avocado staining the exterior or leaking out.

 

Supposedly, Lunchskins last long enough to replace 500 plastic baggies. We’ve been using ours just about every other day for the past 3 years or so and they’re still going strong! I literally haven’t bought any plastic baggies for myself in all that time. So whatever these cost upfront (which on Amazon is about $7 each or $11 for the pair at press time), that far outweighs the long-term toll of plastic to both your wallet and the environment.

For the times that I absolutely need to put something wet in a reusable sandwich bag, I use this silicone bag by Stasher which is also dishwasher safe (top rack). Even better, for you plastic seal addicts, it has a resealable opening that provides a satisfying and reliable closure.

 

If you’re still not sure about making the leap to reusable sandwich bags, in the course of writing this post I discovered these adorable recyclable, compostable, and sealable paper sandwich bags!

I haven’t used them yet, but the packaging claims they can be used for sandwiches in addition to dry goods. They’re also made by Lunchskin and are BPA free. Though they don’t offer as many patterns as their reusable sandwich bag cousins, they do come in these two cute options: red apples and blue sharks.

When it makes sense, I use these unbleached paper sandwich bags too, even though they don’t seal at all, because I cannot resist supporting a company with such a cheeky name: IF YOU CARE…. Haha! They’re kind of like parchment paper made into bags, and are ideal for dry goods. I just roll down the opening a couple times or seal it with cute stickers. My mom put her handmade chocolates in them as a party favor. I’ve also used them as a sandwich liner inside my unlined reusable sandwich bags.

 

 

Have you tried an alternative to disposable plastic sandwich bags? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

 

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