If your cabinets are anything like mine, they’re packed with random mason jars — big ones and small ones, tall ones and squat ones. While I tend to put them to pretty good use, I’ve found my favorite reuse yet in this DIY mason jar snack pack, which also makes use of those individual apple sauce containers. You know the ones that I feel terrible about buying, but still do from time to time? Both put to smart use in one easy kitchen hack. Here’s the deal.
Related: Kitchen hack: 5 reasons you should never throw away pickle juice.
It all started when I found this Bnto & Jar Combo ($20; top) at Cuppow, a great company that makes adaptors to turn mason jars into super useful things like grownup and kid sippy cups, cocktail shakers, tea infusers, and more. Brilliant, right? And, if you ask me, worth it if you don’t have the stuff on hand to make your own (especially if you just need the little cup adaptor, which is $8.99 on its own).
But what if you’ve already spent money on everything you need to DIY the snack pack? Then why not save the cash, right?
I’ve seen this kitchen hack all over the internet, so I’m not sure who came up with the idea first. I can tell you this, though: I put it to the test myself and it works. Well, even!
To start, you need a wide-mouthed mason jar. It can be any volume; you can see that I used a small one to pack up tzatziki as a dip for pretzels, but if you’re packing carrot sticks and hummus, for example, you’ll want a taller wide-mouthed jar.
You’ll also need a cleaned out individual apple sauce cup. Or rice pudding cup… or whatever else comes in those 3-inch, foil-lidded plastic cups.
Once you fill the jar and cup with goodies, you want to put the lid on mason jar — sans ring — and then flip the plastic cup over so that the opening is resting on top of the lid.
Then, slip the mason jar ring over the plastic cup and tighten to close.
Voila!
I like putting “wet” stuff like dips and almond butter in the jar because it feels less messy. But maybe that’s just me? Also, as you can see at the very top, if you use a tall mason jar, you can put the wet stuff in the apple sauce cup and rest it in the jar, open side up, before putting the lid and ring on, which also saves space.
This is SOooooo cool, I can’t wait to try it, my daughters love yogurt and dipping things in it!
I know. My kids were more into their snack just because it was a cool hack. A total hit. And, seriously: it alleviated some guilt for buying those individual snack cups!
I am so glad it worked for you! Tzatziki and pretzels sound so good. Great idea! Pinning to my Masonable board. Have a great day!