it's easy to go to the grocery story and buy all sorts of "lunch friendly" items that are pre-packaged (like crackers already bagged in snack portions, gummies, lunchables, juce boxes etc.). but the thing that bugs me the most is that while these are easy on the packer, they have negative effects on the planet. while making life easy for one, they make life more difficult for generations to come.
i'm trying to embrace this new task in my sunday through thursday nights, while not leaving a mess for my grandkids to clean up. i looked at hundreds of products out there on the market. there are laptop lunches, lunchbots, easy lunch kits... just to name a few. it seems that everywhere you look these days, new waste free lunch systems are popping up. that's a good thing! i like the direction we are headed in as consumers.
but as is typical for moi, there wasn't a perfect fit. while one looked promising in a few areas, it had a negative for some other factors. i decided to customize and here is what our final system consists of:
we started out with the lunch box that e's aunt merritt gave her last year for her birthday. she used it for snack at kindergarten and i thought that it might be fun to get a new one for first grade. but when i gave it some more thought, i realized that this is not necessary. in fact, it sort of starts a vicious cycle. if we teach our kiddos to take care of things, and the item holds up, then they are in fact contributing to a healthy planet. somehow, if we all start working towards the same goal, we might be able to make reuse "cool" in the cafeteria. but, as is typical, i am getting off track...
the lunchbox came from frecklebox and it is perfect. it is simply an old fashioned tin (lead free) box with a personalized face plate. you can get them in oodles of colors and patterns. for $29, i think this is a great, eco friendly, health friendly (no nasty bpa or phthalates) vessel that has held up and will keep the sandwich from getting squished by the library book (or what-have-you). oh, and i almost forgot to mention that it has a cool magnetic component that allows you to leave little love notes for your babes and words of encouragement to get them through the day.
next, we kept our trusty old sigg water bottle that we've had since e was three. we've added a few more to our collection to be sure we always have clean ones on hand for on-the-go beverage consumption. for lunchbox purposes, we go with a .3L bottle at $17 a pop. like i said, this guy has been in the business of hydrating e for 3 years and counting. it felt steep at the check-out, but in hindsight has been a worthwhile investment. again, it's lacking bpa and phthalates. ours has a little dent in the side from an almost crushing from someones large automobile (won't mention any names here... ahem, moi). aside from that, it's still functioning like a champ- no leaks, no cracks in the lid. good stuff.
to keep with the waste free theme, we're using lunchskins. what are those? well, i'll tell you. they are the most adorable dishwasher safe, reusable sammy and snack bags that this momma could find. we bought one in the sandwich size and 4 in the snack size. i put the food into the bags, velcro them up, and they are good to go. e brings them home, we wash 'em and we're back in business. i bought 4 because i want to have two in the box and two in the wash on any given day. it makes it easier on me the packer and also keeps us in business in the event that a certain first grader accidentally places one in the trash. again, say it with me... bpa, phthalate- free, lead free. good stuff. oh, and if you go with one of the many other brands on the market, just be sure to read what materials they are made of. ours (and some others out there) get high marks for keeping food fresh as well as contained. others on the market (a bunch that i looked at on etsy) were more about containing and less about the freshness factor. that's all good and fine until your organic kettle chips loose their crunch and your cucumber liquid seeps out onto the bread of your turkey wrap (just writing that kind of made me gag in my mouth a little bit). anywho, you get the point.
last but not least, we bought an insulated food jar from crocodile creek. this little number is a gem. its job is to keep things warm or to keep things cool. it can hold anything from gazpacho (ha- as if e would eat that! just daydreaming for a minute.) to spaghetti and meatballs (a more realistic suggestion for our delightfully picky first-born). basically, you fill the sweat proof, double walled container up with your warm (or chilled) food item of choice, screw on the lid and into the lunchbox it goes. this number was $15 bucks at whole foods.
so, if you add it up, for a total of $98 we have ourselves an eco-friendly lunch system. $98???? i already knew the number and it made my mouth drop on the floor for a few minutes...
let me break a few things down for you- you already spend that much money each and every year!
i did a little rough estimating and discovered that the average lunchbox (from target, walmart or a bunch of other random spots) costs $12.00 (and as a bonus comes filled with lead, bpa, phthalates and a bunch of other known carcinogens- but hey, to each as own). those little plastic numbers run about $.20 a bag (you can find them cheaper but you end up paying membership fees and/or shipping fees to get those lower prices = not so low when it is all said and done). on average, you use about 5 of these a day/lunch (snacktime snack, sandwich, carb, veggie and "sweet" item). there are about 180 days in the average u.s. school year, which equals about $180 in plastic bags and that doesn't even factor in the extra amount you spend on pre-packaged snacks and drink boxes. already, you are over the amount that i've spent. and remember, we've used our sigg for three years and counting and our lunchbox for two. i don't even know how to factor that savings into the equation, but it basically reduces our cost/year by 50%.
for some of you, this post is a snooze. but my hope is that it gets you thinking. if more and more of our families start going in this direction, we'll not only save money but save start saving the planet as well. that's a good thing.
what are you doing for your kids lunch? i'd love to hear your ideas. this is my first year of packing a lunch, so i'm sure i've got a bunch to learn.
No comments:
Post a Comment