Lunchbox Ice Packs

School started for our kids this past Tuesday, which means another year of packing lunches.  In the past we've included store-bought ice packs in their lunchboxes to help keep their lunches cool. But these were often lost or accidentally thrown away. But I saw this idea form My Kitchen Escapades for making lunchbox ice packs out of kitchen sponges and thought "GENIUS!"  So cheap and easy that if one gets lost it's no big deal!


What You Need:

• Plain sponges
• Zipper top sandwich bags
• Water

Simply saturate your sponges in water...

...then place inside a sandwich bag. Then lay it flat in your freezer until frozen.

And now the world has seen my messy freezer!

Pop it in a lunchbox and your little ones are ready for a cool lunch!  The nifty thing about this is that when the sponge thaws the sponge will reabsorb the water! The sandwich bag will protect everything else from the moisture.  After school throw it back in the freezer and it will be ready for next time!

After a few uses, check and see if your sponge needs more water. If you are worried about it getting funky, you can always throw it in the dishwasher to sanitize it!