How to Reduce Plastic Waste: Lunch Edition....
Part ii lunch
This really doesn’t have to be ‘back to school,’ because lots of people need to eat!
As someone who has always functioned on a school calendar, as a student, then teacher, now parent, I find that shift is a great time to restart routines and goals. But also, all that needs to be sustainable (as in achievable, not as in eco friendly). Lately…well I’m not the best at packing my own lunch (embarrassingly the Slacktide crew is well aware). I used to be..but life has made that challenging, so time to get back into the swing of things!
So we already know we may or may not need new things depending upon what we have and whether or not that's working for us….
For lunch vessels we are huge fans of Planet Box. Why? They last, they are dishwasher safe, non toxic, fairly indestructible. We’ve used both the shuttle (small meals & snacks) and the rover (bento style lunch).They are great AND we love the little containers separately, the little and big dippers because they don’t leak! Perfect for salad dressing, hummus, whatever!
Rover Lunch photo sent by a customer who I would like to please pack my lunch. K thanks
Easy way to help you be more sustainable with the rest of the lunch stuff? Stop buying your trash. Ziploc bags, individual snack packets, single use water bottles. You don’t need em. They end up right in the trash. Grab the big size bag, pop them in a reusable snack bag, like these stashers*, done. Waste aside…
-
SAVE YOUR MONEY. If you’re buying goldfish in the individual packets, you are spending over .50/ounce on those. Grab a bag you’re around .40/ounce….grab the really big box and you’re closer to .35/ounce
-
Less food waste. You control the amount. You know your kids. Some eat more, some eat less. If they have an individual snack bag and there is some left, that's going in the trash. Have some left in a reusable bag? Snack for tomorrow 🙂
-
Single. Use. Water. Bottles. Some folks seem to be under the assumption that single use water bottles are better? Ya’ll that stuff is usually TAP WATER. It’s not fancy water. Then put into a plastic bottle, those things have more microplastics than the tap. So just stop. Get a reusable water bottle.
Do we do single use sometimes? Yes….bc life. Do I wish/aspire to make more of my own snacks? Yeah I’d love to make our granola bars or what have you. But yeah, I don’t have time, and I’m a tired working parent of three. We all do our best.
*a quick aside on Stashers bags, since we are big stashers fans around here. I am always on the hunt for affordable alternatives…so yeah, we tested some over here and lets just say…well…they stunk. The $3 in savings was not worth it (and we don't stock things that are just going to frustrate you). I love our Stashers. Last forever, work for snacks, and non snacks (cell phones, throwing a stash of cough drops in my bag, whatever!). They are super easy to open/close for most kiddos. (pst, first timers? Don’t forget to practice at home). Pro tip? I store them on a bamboo “drying rack.”
And remember to LABEL ALL THE THINGS. Seriously. If I’m spending $10 on a stasher bag, it’s sure as heck coming home. Soliciting opinions here….Sharpie often comes off (but it works), and I like the “name labels” and other similar stickers (but not eco, and do fall off occasionally).
As someone who was just walking by a school lost and found with no fewer than $400 worth of unmarked/unnamed water bottles…well I have serious questions.