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While most schools are hoping on the healthy food band wagon, some just don’t cut it. So you’ve decided to pack your child’s lunch for them. You can control what they eat and it saves you money. Save the environment while you’re at it.
We rely too much on the plethora of individually wrapped foods and single-use plastic bags, aluminum foil, and wax paper. Admittedly, these products are extremely convenient, but are you willing to allow new landfills and incinerators to be built in your own backyards as the old ones overflow and wreak havoc on our air? It has been estimated that 67 pounds of waste is generated per school-age child using a disposable lunch per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. The switch to a waste free lunch is simple.
Buy a lunchbox Lunch boxes are way cooler than boring brown paper bags and they allow your child another way to express themselves. Just be sure to stick with healthy plastics #1, 2, 4 or 5. Some plastics, like PVC (#3), polystyrene (#6) and polycarbonate (#7) contain hormone disruptors or lead that can leach into food.
Contain the food Buy reusable containers for food once, instead of plastic baggies over and over. This also allows you to buy your lunch food items in bulk to be stored properly at home and portioned out daily.
Stainless steel utensils A no-brainer.
Thermoses make a comeback! Or you could get a sealable cup…if that’s what you’re into
Cloth napkins Wrap a sandwich in it for double duty
Go Bento! Japanese bento boxed lunches are rapidly gaining popularity in the US with both children and adults. JBox has just about everything Bento that you could ever want.
Don’t limit your children to all of the lunch box fun. Buy a “sophisticated” one for yourself and be the envy of the office.
