Tuesday, August 26th, 2008...2:57 pm
Keeping My Family’s Lunch Out of the Landfill
You won’t catch me filling the landfill with by-products from my kids’ school lunches this year…at least most of the time. While it is hard to resist the convenience of the individually wrapped cheese stick or fruit leather, most of the foods that we pack for our lunches this year will be stored in reusable containers.
While most families struggle with an alternative to the plastic sandwich baggie – we have a solution that works well for us. The wrap-n-mat is a PEVA-lined fabric wrapper that seals shut with a strip of velcro. Just put the sandwich inside, wrap it up and voila! It even serves as a place mat when it is open!
The type of lunch bag or lunch box to use often puts parents in a quandry, as well. Some lunch boxes, while adorable and perfectly designed to meet the marketing “needs” of our children, contain lead and other toxic chemicals. Our personal preference is for the Lunchbug, made by Mimi The Sardine. They offer loads of patterns, some suitable for the parents and some for the kids. They are made from special fabric that is certified to be free of over 100 chemicals. You can see some of their styles here. After two years of daily use, regular laundering (in the washer and even the dryer!), we are finally picking new patterns for this school year. My son loves the Jungle pattern and my daughter adores the Fleur bag.
Oh yes, and what about drinks? I usually go against the grain here, too. Instead of buying sugar-laden juice
products, all natural juice boxes and capri-suns, I opt for SIGG or Klean Kanteen water bottles. They are durable, washable, reusable and recyclable (when we eventually dispose of them in 10+ years!). I forgot to mention how cute these are, too! Not only do they come in bottles sized and designed for the younger crowd, they also have ones that are hip enough for teens and parents, too.
What about you? What will your family be doing to keep your lunch packaging out of the landfill at lunch time?
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7 Comments
August 26th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
[...] Original post by Michelle Stern [...]
August 26th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
what a great post! I love fabric bags cuz of the washability (not to mention they weigh nothing) and those are particularly cute. I also really like the wrap-in-mat, very cool!
August 26th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Thanks Foodhoe
(your name makes me laugh!)
I could use a good laugh after a difficult bedtime with my 6 year old son! Yes, the fabrics are great and the bags are so durable. Glad you stopped by,
Michelle
September 10th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
What a great blog!
with rigid and interchangeable inner containers. This makes packing leftovers like pasta and casseroles easy, as well as giving lots of options to stick little bits of this and that. Here is a link to my Flickr page of lunchbox photos… http://www.flickr.com/photos/25518572@N00/ and here is a link to Obentec’s website: http://www.laptoplunches.com Oh! And the lunchboxes come with a great little book about children’s nutrition, great recipes and more ideas for a waste free lunch. You can also sign up for their e-newsletter!
I’ve been using Obentec’s Laptop Lunchbox for my own (adult sized) lunches for close to two years now. These are “Americanized” bento boxes (or bento inspired lunch boxes
Keep up the good work!
September 10th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thank you for your glowing feedback! Yes, we love our laptop lunchboxes, too! I have a link to them on my website too
Hope you visit again!
September 19th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
[...] [...]
February 14th, 2009 at 1:35 am
[...] pepitoblue on Wed 11-2-2009 Lunch Break- Skewed Shower Saved by richardpersson on Sun 08-2-2009 Keeping My Family’s Lunch Out of the Landfill Saved by tianxinguo on Tue 03-2-2009 SOT Lunch Saved by soho on Thu 29-1-2009 Samantha & [...]
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