Uses for homemade baby food containers

Pam's hack speaks to me, as I'm the mother of a nature-collector daughter:

I'm sure I'm not the only parent who bought those Baby Cubes containers for storing homemade baby food.

[Pictured here: OXO Tot Baby Blocks containers, because I'm an OXO fan and they get better reviews at Amazon. -- Ed.]

Well, that baby has progressed beyond purees and I was about to toss the containers in the "donate" pile, when I realized they would be perfect for other purposes.

Nature collecting kit: My 5 year-old daughter loves to collect small stones, sea glass, acorns, etc. and these are perfect for collecting and sorting her "specimens."

Lunchbox dip or treat holder: With Kindergarten underway I'm still wrapping my head around making and sending lunches and snacks. The baby food containers are the perfect size for a bit of dip for cut veggies, or for a small treat. The bonus is the lids are attached so they won't get separated during a busy lunch at school.

I can't imagine ever getting rid of those cute containers. They're so repurpose-able!

• Holder for a bead, button, or jewlery collection
• Sorter for tiny Legos, doll accessories, art supplies or barrettes
• Containers for advance dinner prep (holding bits of chopped onion, garlic, spices, etc.)
• Paint palette

What else could you do with these little baby food containers?

Related: Egg coddler as baby food storage

Comments

[Jamie]

Travelling - storing creams or things you dont want to bring the big bottle of... Or for storing jewellery, or craft supplies! (Beads, buttons, cut outs, sequens, pompoms, etc)

[LaraChick]

oh thank you parent hacks! i was just thinking about this yesterday!!

[Steph]

Those (parental irritating) mini erasers, ribbon and fabric scaps, pencil leads, buttons, stickers, unused tattoos, hair clips, makeup samples, Barbie clothes, Lego specialty pieces, home made playdough, key chains, Polly Pocket/Littlest Pet Shop.

Love the idea of having some in the car for nature excursions so the "treasures" don't end up in pockets!

[erika]

Glad to see I'm not the only parent who comes home with pockets stuffed full of "treasures"!
I LOVE the small containers, and just bought more even though my youngest is 4. I use them instead of ziplocks for lunchbox snacks. It's a lot cheaper to buy large bags of snacks instead of single-serving but that can make packing lunches feel like an overwhelming chore each night. So I like to have several of the little containers on hand so I can pre-pack them on Sunday nights and just grab 1 or 2 each morning. Better for the environment, wallet, and my sanity!!

[adrienne]

I feed my youngest Gerber baby food from the plastic boxes (the older two spent their babyhoods turning their nose up at homemade and Earth's Best- which is appalling in its blandness).

We're using some of the boxes for small game tokens & figures. I've been planning to reuse some of them for (Erika's) lunch containers (& cut down baggie use), but they keep disappearing from the drying rack.

[Lauren]

These are great for freezing small stuff. I use them for a few tablespoons of tomato paste, one meal worth of pesto, berries or grapes for single serving snacks (my kids love to eat frozen fruit).

They're also good for keeping packed lunches cold. Freeze applesauce and pack it in the lunchbox. It will thaw by lunch and everything else will stay cool.

[Tim]

I use them for electronics parts (resistors, capacitors), nails, screws, etc..

Here's a great way to use them at a workbench. You have a piece of wood, and you screw the lid of the jar into the bottom of the wood. You mount the wood near the workbench and screw the jars into their lids. It conserves space, and it's a great use for them!

[Amy]

Ours are pretty small, making them a good size for a raisin snack. I think I have two in my purse right now.

I also freeze home-made spaghetti sauce (lots of veggies and some meat). If I need to re-use the containers before all the sauce is consumed, I just pop out the frozen sauce, and put the cubes in a zip-lock.

The down side is that my 3 year old can't open them with her fingers, and instead uses her teeth. It works, but I cringe every time. I have no idea where she picked that up!