Making it Easier to Take Healthy Snacks On the Go! (Win a$100 Gift Certificate to Sweetbottoms Baby)

I think every mom has her reasons behind the products she chooses for her home, but here are a few of mine:

• Avoiding toxins, as much as possible, for healthier development of little bodies.
• Choosing responsibly-made products our family can buy with a clean conscience
• Opting for quality reusable products over disposables to reduce our earth-burden. We’d like to leave Creation as clean as we can.

Those reasons form the basis behind a lot of what I use with my babies and children, including cloth diapers, safe & creative toys made with natural materials, gentle skincare products, and herbal or other effective types of home remedies.

That includes what my kids eat or drink out of, and how we transport our food.

When it came time for me to choose what to review from Sweetbottoms Baby {where green comes naturally}, I knew that I wanted a few more items to along with these reasons, and to make taking our homemade snacks and drinks out more easily and safely:

My first request was for a new water bottle for 2 year old Kepler. He’s become a water fiend in recent months, and I think it’s best for all of us if he can gulp it down wherever and whenever he pleases.

This is the water bottle we received for him. It’s a Eco Vessel Scout Kids Stainless Steel Water Bottle. I asked Beth if she could select for me a popular bottle she thought I might like, and this was her pick. I realized after that I should have specified that my little guy was only 2 (oops- my bad!), so the flip top and the fact that he can make it leak by tipping it upside down doesn’t actually work for him. He still enjoys drinking from it, I just have to monitor more carefully to help him close it when he’s finished.

However, my older kids have decided that they love this cup, it’s adorable grasshopper design, and the flip spout and connected straw are just perfect for them (they’re past that spilling phase… phew!), so they’ve adopted it. I did eye the Lifefactory Sippy Cap Glass Bottles as an alternative option for Kepler, since he still does best with a sippy lid.

The second thing I requested was reusable containers for on-the-go lunches, picnics and snacks.

Though my kids may not take packed lunches to school (a homeschooling perk, to be sure), we do frequently go out for field trips or errands, or simply out for a day of play in nature or with friends. Having special containers and wraps for packing lunch up easily and safely isn’t a true necessity (believe me, our journeys this year taught us a LOT about what that little word “need” means…), but they sure are nice to have.

I’m excited to use our Eco Vessel Smashbox Food Container. It holds up to 4 cups of food for hungry mamas and kids, but then it smashes down to about half the size for easy storage. My kids thought the fact that it comes with its own reusable “spork” that snaps into the lid was the coolest thing ever. I noticed they also carry a Double Smashbox, which holds up to 6 cups of food in two divided compartments, which would also be very handy.

These friendly looking green baggie of liquid are called Garden Chillers and they’re an inexpensive way to throw a perfectly-sized ice pack into any lunch of snack you’re packing up. And ALL of these products are PVC and BPA free and made with 100% food grade materials.

My favorite is the Planet Wise Zipper Sandwich Bag. They are PVC, BPA, phthalate, latex and lead free, and they are waterproof and spillproof, yet the whole bag is completely washable. Our came in an adorable Chickadee design, but they had about 20 designs, including chevron, owls and rainbow stripes.

You don’t have to use these only for sandwiches, either. Right now I’m using mine for seasoned nuts, and they would also be great for fruit (dried or fresh), cookie or bars, torillas, veggie sticks, whatever.

Did I mention that having really fantastic containers to use for packing up to-go snacks makes it so. much. easier and motivating to take food from home, instead of relying on pre-packaged and no-so-good-for-you foods (yes, even the organic packaged foods– they’re still processed!), or having to spend oodles of money to stop and buy food while you’re already out.

Or enduring that painful bout of low blood sugar blues when you didn’t bring food with you, with all the whining and grumpiness that ensues. (Moms, I’m talking about us. Did you think I meant your kids?)

These containers and wraps have found themselves a happy home. They will see much use around here, that’s for sure!

The lovely folks at Sweetbottoms also sweetened up my review package with all of the above (plus some Hip Peas Shampoo and Body Wash that escaped my photo shoot). An adorable plate, bowl and cutlery set for my hungry little guy, all natural baby soap, a beautiful wood-and-cloth teething necklace, and gentle baby washcloths.

They also included a second kid-friendly cup, that curious green contraption, with a special plastic piece that controls the speed of the liquid to help babies and toddlers learn to drink from a cup and helps to prevent spills (it’s a trickle instead of a gush if it tips- clever!).

What other goodies can be found at Sweetbottoms?

So glad you asked.

• clever trays for freezing homemade baby food
• glass baby bottles
• safe teething options for babes (not to mention amber teething jewelry)
• CleanWell, my favorite Triclosan-free hand sanitizer (this stuff went all over the world with us, literally!)
• Organic and all-natural chest rub to replace the Vick’s (for those who don’t want to make their own)
• Cradle cap care (where was this with each of my four babies???)
• Awesome ECOlunchbox sets for leach-free, delicious lunch packing
• Planet Wise Sandwich Wraps (they even come in chevron… love!)
• A pretty assortment of non-toxic nail polish. Good thing my girls didn’t see this when I was choosing review products!
• Wide assortment of some of the best cloth diaper brands, baby carriers, and natural home products (including green laundry supplies).

That’s just a little taste of what they offer. Go check it out and find some fun, green products that I missed!

Would you like to win a $100 gift card from Sweetbottoms?