Litter-less lunch

Hard to imagine (wonderful to believe), but the back-to-school season is approaching fast. Last year, my son started all-day kindergarten (amazing – thank you Dalton!) which meant that I had to find a lunch kit for him. When I was a girl, I fondly remember my butter-yellow Cabbage Patch Kids lunch pail, and my sandwiches, wrapped in aluminum foil. As an adult, I’m appalled by what was standard practice back then – aluminum never breaks down. It never breaks down. I don’t even want to think about the kind of garbage we produced in the 80s! Ugh!

So it was my mission to put together a lunch kit for Josh that would result in almost no garbage. This is tricky, since I know well the convenience of ziploc bags. But they so often get thrown out once the sandwich is consumed, and we’re back at square one with the waste issue (side note: whenever I use a ziploc bag now, I wash it out and hang it up to dry. No garbage, constant supply of baggies without having to buy more all the time!) Instead of ziploc bags, I found these:

They’re made from 100% unbleached, recycled and/or renewable materials. And they have a grease-proof barrier lining them (not made from petroleum or parafin wax, which is non-renewable). And they’re compostable. And the box is completely recyclable. And! And! And! They’re great! You can find them here: If You Care (or around town in local health food stores, which is where I found mine.)

While those sandwich/cookie/snack bags are great, the challenge still remained to find something that would still take us away from the disposable nature of lunch time. I also didn’t want something plastic (which leaches toxins into the food) or glass (which is heavy and, of course, highly breakable. We’re talking about a 5 year old boy who often plays kicking games with his lunch sack.) Jackpot! I found these:

Seriously, it’s so great. It’s got two tiers and clips on the side to keep it closed. I put a sandwich on the top tier and sliced up fruit in the bottom (or whatever else I’ve packed to accompany the sandwich). It’s such a great container, I bought a bigger one for Damien to use too. He tells me that every time someone sees it at work, they ask him about it. Good buy and good bye, stupid landfill-producing-wasteful-garbage-yuckiness! I bought mine at a local health food store, but I found them online here: Still Eagle Planetary Persuasions.

Happy lunching!