Enjoy Snacks On The Go With An Easy Coffee Filter Hack

If you're a coffee enthusiast and have been looking for ways to reduce single-use plastics in your home, there's a super-handy on-the-go snack container that will not only completely do away with your need for little plastic bags but is compostable, too. As it turns out, the conically-shaped filters you use for making your morning pour-over coffee (and employing for all your other fine filtering needs) are very capable containers for snacks like homemade potato chips as well as fresh fruit like sliced pears and apples, though you might want to double up on filters to avoid any sogginess. Plus, if you don't get the bleached kind, they can go right in the compost after being used instead of ending up in a landfill, or ultimately, the ocean. 

Coffee filters are actually pretty tough — after all, they're designed to handle a decent amount of coffee grounds while being drenched in near-boiling water. A handful of animal crackers for your kid's snack won't prove to be a challenge at all. Bear in mind that we're not talking about the wavy, flat-bottomed basket filters that could pull double-duty in a drip coffee machine. Likewise, you probably want to avoid those big honkin' folded square ones used in Chemex coffeemakers. No; a garden-variety, unbleached conical filter is just the thing for stylishly holding portioned-out snacks.

Cone coffee filters made from unbleached paper are cheaper per unit than small, sealable plastic snack bags. It's less than four dollars per hundred for the former compared to over seven dollars for the same amount of the latter. There are two main differences between these two snack-on-the-go container options: the plastic bags are sealable, while cone filters are not — they're closer to the small, waxy brown bag you'd receive a to-go pastry in at a cafe. However, the cone filters are compostable while the plastic bags will likely be around after your kid graduates college.

Once used, a biodegradable natural brown paper cone filter will return to the earth in fairly short order. Meanwhile, things like plastic sandwich bags will stick around for up to 20 years before decomposing completely. Ask yourself: Would you rather contribute to a nutrient-rich compost pile to help grow the best heirloom tomatoes of all time, or the estimated 10 million tons of plastic annually dumped into our oceans? 

Cone coffee filters come in a six-size range, with the largest being sufficient to hold over a cup of ground coffee. if you're using them to hold snacks, you might want to experiment with getting some smaller versions to make a little party spread of nuts, crackers, chips, carrot sticks, or whatever the snack du jour in your house happens to be. Additionally, cone filters produced by at least one leading manufacturer are certified to be both kosher and gluten-free. 

So, if you're an old hand at the pour-over technique (or have just switched to another type of coffee maker), there's likely already a box of cone coffee filters sitting around in your pantry waiting to be repurposed as the receptacles of tasty little treats for the ones you love. Not only will they work beautifully, they'll help enrich your home garden after composting and remove yet another single-use plastic from your household. This definitely calls for a snack.