Hello everyone, my name is Kayla and I run SayNotSweetAnne.com. I’m a Graphic Designer from Grand Rapids, MI and I love to craft, cook, and a variety of other things. ;D I’m very grateful for this opportunity to guest post on a Skip To My Lou, and to “meet” all of you! So, here goes!!
There are some things you never outgrow. For some it’s tearing the crust off their bread or eating all of the red M & Ms first. Me, I don’t like my food to touch. I know, I know, I’m an adult and a little green bean juice never ruined a pile of mashed potatoes. But the fact is, I just plain don’t like it. I even have a couple of those segmented cafeteria plates that I pull out when I’m feeling kidish. So, my husband wasn’t particularly surprised when I set out looking for a yogurt & granola cup. I’ve recently been making a lot of pumpkin pie granola, and am sort of addicted to it. I wanted something that was compact, re-usable, and allowed me to store yogurt separate from granola in my lunch.
What did surprise him, and me, is that I found nothing. I scoured online stores and Google, but I found no good solution. Bummed, I started thinking of how I might make my own makeshift replacement. It was a stroke of inspiration that lead me to my latest favorite craft. The DIY Lunchable Jar.
Now, I started this for yogurt and granola- but with this gadget the possibilities are endless! Earlier this week I took soup and crackers. I put the soup part in the microwave (its just glass after all) and the wide mouth was more than comfortable to eat out of. So far I’ve tried cereal and milk, Dip and veggies, caramel and fruit, even cheese, crackers, and tuna salad.
I just can’t get over how cute, useful and portable these are! And all for the price of 2 mason jars. I’ve already made 3 sets and I’ve got PLENTY of ideas for more. Imagine the Christmas gift applications!! Below, you’ll even find a free printable with a sample of all the kitschy but cute “perfect pair” saying’s I’ve cooked up. (That includes a “gruesome Twosome” printable for Halloween!)
Anyway, enough ranting about the jars, here’s how its done!
You Will Need:
- 2 same mouthed mason jars. I used 2 low profile wide mouth 8 oz jars. These are perfect for me because 8 oz is a serving size of most things. However, once you’ve made the connector rings, you can swap out ANY jar of the same mouth size! I think an 8 oz tall one and a short 4oz would be great too! Its up to you of course- the possibilities are many!
- Lead Free Solder. I got mine at Radio Shack. (Way cheaper than the craft stores!)
- Soldering iron. (hubby had one, but you can pick them up pretty cheap)
- Sand Paper (Just a little)
How To Make It:
- Take off the rings to your jars. Sand them on top to remove any coatings that might prevent the solder sticking.
- Using your soldering iron place “blobs” of solder at even intervals near the interior hole of the rings. Solder is pretty easy to work with, just stick it on the iron until it melts!
- Place the two rings together. Use your soldering iron to heat up those blobs while holding the rings steady. They will melt then re-solidify forming a dishwasher safe, permanent bond!
- Once the interior hole has been secured, melt blobs of solder at even intervals on the outside.
- That’s it!! Start hooking up amazing lunch combinations!
One of my favorite things about this project is the lack of garbage in my lunch box. My heart sinks when I throw away 4 ziplock bags each day. With these jars and my left over coffee bottles I have a plastic free meal!
The 8oz wide mouthed jars are very bowl-like. I was perfectly comfortable eating hot soup out of it. And there’s the yogurt and pumpkin pie granola that started it all.
And, as promised a PDF for you to download and print to use with your schmancy new jars. They don’t have to be for food either, “One for the money, Two for the show” would be SO CUTE with cash in one jar and a cinema gift card in another. What a unique wedding gift!!
I’m so happy to have shared my project with you. Thanks SO MUCH to Skip To My Lou for hosting my guest post. I hope to see you around!
I guess I don’t get the point of soldering the lids together … why not just pack them separately in your bag? It would be a lot easier for me to rearrange various-sized containers than fit that big tall one, and it’s not like I’m not going to remember that the crackers went with the soup and the granola with the yogurt.
OMG those are freaking cute. I suddenly got excited about lunch reading this. I would love to take soup and stews to work but never found anything portable that wouldn’t leak or spill. This is perfect. Thanks for sharing. Definitely going to be trying this.
Great idea!! Thanks so much for sharing.
ha! first of all, i’m from Grand Rapids, myself. 🙂 So nice to meet you, neighbor.
secondly… in my desire to be Eco-friendly, i pack my hubbs lunch in mason jars. but it’s like… 7 thousand of them eat day… ugh! milk and cereal for morning snack. mixed fruit and yogurt for afternoon snack… pasta and sauce for lunch. (or taco filling and cheese,lettuce,tomato; salad greens and the wet toppings, PLUS dressing; well, you get the idea…)
this is GENIUS!
guess who’s getting herself a soldering gun!
*two thumbs pointed at my chest*
this girl!
Great idea! I will make one for my boyfriend who also doesn’t like his food to touch 🙂
I LOVE this idea!!! It makes me cringe when I throw away ziploc bags, as well. Was thinking this would make a great Christmas gift with cocoa, popcorn, tea, coffee. I can see possibilities everywhere. Might make some and send them to my daughter who has 3 kids. They might like taking some of your above items for lunches too. We’ll see.
What a fantastic idea!! I love it. Genius really.
Pardon my ignorance but where can you get mason jars in these sizes?
This is such a neat idea! These might be cute as gifts too with a ribbon tied in between…maybe spice mixes in them? I like Holly’s suggestion of using the plastic Ball freezer jars for kids. That would be my main concern with the glass ones. Thanks for the idea!
Genius! Thank you so much for sharing!
What a great idea! I think you could use the plastic Ball freezer jars and maybe use Superglue to make a version without glass for kids’ lunches? Great project!
Fabulous idea!! Thanks for sharing…I’m making these for my grands and my hubby
Great idea! Thank you so much for sharing. And nice to meet you too. My daughters name is kayla.LOL
VERY CLEVER! thank you for sharing
this is a FABULOUS idea!! thanks for the tutorial!!