Now I know that I’ve preached the reusable container-gospel in the past, and for the most part, that’s what I use whenever I need to store something–whether it be in the refrigerator or in my kids’ lunchboxes. But I’d be a hypocrite if I told you that I never use plastic baggies. In fact, I always keep a box lying around just in case.

And recently I came across three ingenious ideas for using plastic baggies, and I’m so glad that I had my emergency stash of baggies on hand. Here are three ways I’ve put them to use–and you can, too.

1. To stretch shoes. Recently, my youngest daughter was complaining that her new soccer cleats–same size, make and model as her old, now-falling-apart cleats–were hurting her feet. Though her feet hadn’t grown, something about the cleats was different. So my husband researched how he could stretch the cleats to feel more comfortable on her feet. And here’s what he learned. Take two Ziploc bags, fill them with water, and seal tightly. Squish them into the toe of the shoe, and then put the shoes, toe down, in the freezer. Allow the water to freeze overnight, and as it freezes–and expands–it will stretch the shoe’s leather.
2. To make your own 100-calorie snack packs. I read about this in a woman’s magazine–this notion of portioning out 100 calories of your kids’ favorite snacks, and then putting them in snack baggies on your own, thus saving your kids some calories and you the price of the prepackaged 100 calorie snacks. Just refer to the food’s label, such as a bag of baby carrots, where 14 carrots = 35 calories. So to create a 100 calorie baggie of baby carrots, you could load your kid up with 40 carrots. That’s pretty ingenious, don’t you think?
3. To store the fixings for play-with-your-food sandwiches. OK, so I got this idea from the folks at Taste of Home magazine and Ziploc bags, but isn’t this sandwich adorable? Here are the instructions for packing and making it:

Send kids to school with all the fixings for an artistic “Butterfly Sandwich” packed in Ziploc Brand Sandwich Bags and Twist ‘n Loc Fresh Shield Containers – a chicken or tuna salad sandwich cut into four triangles, and slices of fresh carrots, chives and celery for the butterfly markings and antennas. At lunchtime, kids can assemble it themselves.

If you’ve got additional clever ideas for plastic baggies, let us know.