Just in time for our ongoing “It Takes a Village to Pack a Lunch – 2011 Edition” series, the New York Times had a story on Saturday about the growing trend of home-packed school lunches which minimize environmental waste. Spurred on by schools trying to cut down on garbage for both budgetary and environmental reasons, more and more parents are being pushed toward reusable lunch box items, and sales of such items, according to the Times report, are surging.
I’m ashamed to say that when I started The Lunch Tray, I wasn’t the best role model in this regard. Here’s a confession from an early post:
But when it comes to packing lunches for two kids every morning, the pressure of the clock often wins out over my ideals. I confess that I use plastic zippered bags and aluminum foil with abandon and even, up until recently, plastic silverware (horrors!) – any means necessary to get the lunch box zipped up and out the door before the first school bell.
Yikes!
These days, thanks to reader tips and a general consciousness-raising, I’m doing much, much better to cut down the disposable waste in my kids’ lunches.
Sharks! My son's favorite Lunchskins bag.
One lifesaver has been Lunchskins, those adorable, reusable cloth sacks that seal with Velcro and can be washed in the dishwasher. I also bought a set of inexpensive stainless steel silverware at Target solely for use in my kids lunches, on the theory that if they accidentally lost a fork or spoon, it wouldn’t be the end of the world (but I should note, the visual cue of a real, full-sized metal utensil has always kept them from accidentally throwing it out). I now also rely on lots of reusable (BPA-free) plastic containers* for the drippier items, and we use stainless steel bottles for beverages. Except for the paper napkin I pack (I guess I should be using these) and the occasional wrapper, we’re pretty much waste-free at this point.
If you’re trying to cut down on your own lunch-box-waste footprint, be sure to check out a recent roundup of environmentally friendly lunch box items at the Feed Our Families blog. Other good items (that aren’t on the Feed Our Families list) include:
Mighty Nest’s adorable collection of items; and
the Smart Planet Eco lunch box
Another great resource is the Waste Free Lunch.org site, written by the makers of Laptop Lunches. This page of their site, in particular, is just loaded with tips on cutting down on waste, along with general tips on reducing your lunch-packing workload overall.
I’m sure there are lots more great products and resources out there for waste-free lunch packing that I haven’t even touched on, so share what you know in a comment below.
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* As I reported a few months ago, at least one study has shown that even safe, BPA-free plastics can release BPA-like chemicals when stressed by heat (including the heat of dishwashers), so you may want to hand wash these items if that’s of concern.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Many thanks Bettina, for including my EasyLunchbox System in your short list of recommended products. So appreciated
– K
Of course! You have such a streamlined, cool product . . .
Thank you so much for these resources! The suggestions for no-waste lunch containers need to become trendy/cool/normal in middle to high school boys (American) who are too “embarrassed” to take a plastic tub with lunch in it. We had a Belgian exchange student living w/us last year who happily took his lunch in a tub each day, drank water from the water fountain and never used napkins. He was the one who told me that this was how he’d like to carry his lunch, to avoid waste. We tried to get our sons to follow suit but they’d have none of it. This year we are still using brown paper bags but I wrap things in plastic wrap instead of baggies. Sigh.
Mary, glad these were helpful, and so interesting to hear the cultural difference between American and European teenagers. You’d think “being green” would be cool among the teenage set, but it probably depends (as in all things) what your kid’s particular peer group happens to be doing.
Glass jam jars – Love the small tallish ones for sending a drink and use the shorter versions for foods. I had no problems with breakage with my second grader last year. He was able to take off the lid with ease too. Cheap and often something readily available, love that!
Hydro Flask – makers of amazing stainless water bottles in colors that keep thing cold and hot for long periods without sweating has now started making food jars. I’m going to uses this as a replacement to my kids Thermos that only sorta worked. Hydro Flask guarantees their product, while I haven’t tried the new jars yet I have used the bottles a lot with extreme success (hot coffee after snowshoeing for hours; cold kombucha after a summer hike).
Lunchskins – Love these, though it is tough to swallow the cost when needing to buy a lot.
Shanya – it’s true -we only have a few Lunchskins that I wash and wash. But I had not heard of Hydro Flask – I’m off to check it out! Thank you for the tip.
Thanks for the tips! (especially the BPA-free containers)
I mainly use plastic containers and dividers for our 4.5 YO daughter. Sometimes I put some biscuits we baked the weekend in a plastic bag, but we make sure to use it again. I got her some princess bags, so I know she won’t lose them hahaha.
I also put in her lunch bag a cloth napkin that I change everyday, so no waste ^_^
Karen: I suppose I should do the cloth napkin, too. But I wonder if paper waste is worse than the water waste to wash a cloth napkin? Truly, you can make yourself crazy, right?
if they bring the paper napkin home you can always compost it.
just a thought.
Oh, I didn’t think about water waste… This school lunch prep starts giving me some headaches
I made her 5 cloth napkins (just to try using the sewing machine for a curtain project… I never made the curtains -_-). At the end of the week, they all go in the washing machine with other clothes. For now, she’s okay. I guess when she’s older, she’ll be too embarrassed to bring her “mommy-made napkin” so I’ll put a paper one in her bag hahaha
Why is it the older they get the more they get embarassed? ” Gee Whiz honey, you’ve been taking your lunch for 12 years now! Get over it!”
She did pick out a new lunch box this year.(refused the cool Furoshiki Eco Lunchwrap though as too cute) Water bottle must not be cute or too big…must look into that Hydro flask. bought little containers with icepacks that go into the lids (fit and fresh?) Apple doesn’t need a container. Snack taxi’s I have a few, I need to make some of my own…in PLAIN not cute patterns. (I’m almost an adult mom!) Napkin…I toss in a paper one. It comes back every day. SO, perhaps I should just sew up a few cotton napkins and see if they come back. Maybe I’ll repurpose that old cotton work shirt of DH’s that is in the bag to go to charity…humm what else could I use that is in that bag…there goes the day Bettina.
Ha! Glad to give you a project, Viki – let us know how it goes (send pix!).