So today we sent three lunches, in years old lunch boxes, but with saran-wrapped sandwiches, bananas and a little debbie that wa on sale for a dollar a box- these are prepackaged snacks.  One daughter took applesauce in a cup with a lid and a rubber band for security, two others took ziplocks of little damp carrots- then two preschoolers also took Ziplocks of little carrots to work- So far today we are up to 10 throw-away packaged things and four reusable. 

I don't know why that one school  would not allow lunch boxes to go back to the class- do they take paper bags?

Anyway- my score is 10 throwaway to 4 reusable, what's yours? I think I get three bonus points for the bananas' natural wrapping.

Tracy 

 

 

Deb, for a time, I was in a position more like yours when it comes to trash. We were living in town and there were many more regulations than where I am now. I missed  things like being able to take advantage of a yard and space to compost when I didn't have it. I have been slow to pick it all back up though.

 

 

 

 

Tracy, most kids take pre-packaged snacks like chips, mini packets of biscuits and muesli (granola?) bars, and packaged juice boxes. At lunchtime they take their whole lunchbox outside to eat if they want to, and can return it to their schoolbags to play.  My sisterinlaw was a primary teacher in a poor area, and she said most of the kids took -everything- in packets - including lunch - no sandwiches or fresh fruit. Many of them would miss breakfast or have Macdonalds breakfast.

My kids are allowed Maccas breakfast once in a blue moon for hotcakes but I refuse to pay over two dollars for a single serve of cereal!

With small ziplocs the kids can pop the empty bag in their pocket at playtime. I'm trying out some home-bake cookie and health-food-bar type recipes that I can send with lunch.  I figure sometimes a bit of plastic wrap is preferable to a thick, printed commercial wrapper. I do use commercial packaged cookies but now we are on a budget I probably won't. I might discuss the issue with the teachers too, see if there's a way to make lunch boxes easier to deal with.

Oh and yep, definitely bonus points for the organic biodegradable banana packaging!

Regarding the plastic bags: yes they do matter, but it is only a tiny, tiny issue. There are far bigger things that people should be worrying about, such as general overconsumption, the waste produced in manufacturing petrochemicals and metals - computer and other electronic and electrical waste is becoming huge - short haul flights (the night-time temperatures dropped significantly around New York when flights were stopped after 9/11) .... overpackaging of products, and did I mention overconsumption? The people on this forum are being green simply by virtue of avoiding excessive consumption. Consumerism is killing the planet. (oops....sorry.... I'll get of my high horse now...... !)

latenightleader:

So today we sent three lunches, in years old lunch boxes, but with saran-wrapped sandwiches, bananas and a little debbie that wa on sale for a dollar a box- these are prepackaged snacks.  One daughter took applesauce in a cup with a lid and a rubber band for security, two others took ziplocks of little damp carrots- then two preschoolers also took Ziplocks of little carrots to work- So far today we are up to 10 throw-away packaged things and four reusable. 

I don't know why that one school  would not allow lunch boxes to go back to the class- do they take paper bags?

Anyway- my score is 10 throwaway to 4 reusable, what's yours? I think I get three bonus points for the bananas' natural wrapping.

Tracy 

 

 

We use the reusable "glad" ware or similar for sandwiches and fresh veggies--there is a big variety of shapes and sizes, also if you buy margarine in the little containers they are perfect for your veggies, little crackers, cookies, etc.  The great thing about packaging the lunch up in containers is that you don't have to worry about smashed sandwiches and leaky veggie bags.

 

helen:

Tracy, most kids take pre-packaged snacks like chips, mini packets of biscuits and muesli (granola?) bars, and packaged juice boxes. At lunchtime they take their whole lunchbox outside to eat if they want to, and can return it to their schoolbags to play.  My sisterinlaw was a primary teacher in a poor area, and she said most of the kids took -everything- in packets - including lunch - no sandwiches or fresh fruit. Many of them would miss breakfast or have Macdonalds breakfast.

My kids are allowed Maccas breakfast once in a blue moon for hotcakes but I refuse to pay over two dollars for a single serve of cereal!

With small ziplocs the kids can pop the empty bag in their pocket at playtime. I'm trying out some home-bake cookie and health-food-bar type recipes that I can send with lunch.  I figure sometimes a bit of plastic wrap is preferable to a thick, printed commercial wrapper. I do use commercial packaged cookies but now we are on a budget I probably won't. I might discuss the issue with the teachers too, see if there's a way to make lunch boxes easier to deal with.

Oh and yep, definitely bonus points for the organic biodegradable banana packaging!

Regarding the plastic bags: yes they do matter, but it is only a tiny, tiny issue. There are far bigger things that people should be worrying about, such as general overconsumption, the waste produced in manufacturing petrochemicals and metals - computer and other electronic and electrical waste is becoming huge - short haul flights (the night-time temperatures dropped significantly around New York when flights were stopped after 9/11) .... overpackaging of products, and did I mention overconsumption? The people on this forum are being green simply by virtue of avoiding excessive consumption. Consumerism is killing the planet. (oops....sorry.... I'll get of my high horse now...... !)

You are right in stating that plastic bags are a tiny, tiny, issue MULTIPLIED by millions thrown into polluting landfills by people every single day.  As individuals, we can not "fix" world wide pollution unless we fix our own overconsumption of the very items that contribute to the need for the manufacturing of the items.  So, although I agree with the general topic, those plastic bags DO matter.

Tracy and anyone else,

What do you put the containers in to keep them all together and easy to transport?

 

 

A bit of an opposite question...on my to do list for cleaning and organising is tossing out some old t-shirts. What cleaning projects do you find these work best for?

 

We have reusable "lunch" bags--they are actually six pack coolers which allow us room for those big refreezable "ice" block things to keep foods cold, we also have a few reusable lunch bag size ones also.  The traditional lunch bags are ridiculously overpriced, imho--our six pack coolers cost peanuts--they are the soft box shaped ones with a zipper, not the hard molded plastic cooler types.  You could make/purchase small cloth book bags for this purpose also.

Once there was a sale on pint-sized square plastic boxes with tight-fitting lids -- by a no-name company, at my Chinese produce/grocery store.  They were 6 for $1.50.  I bought 10 of these sets, giving me lifetime usage.  How I store them is to keep towers of the boxes nested together -- they take up very little space in the cupboard, & stacking the lids in a plastic produce bag with a tie on the top to keep them straight (all of the lids fit into one bag), which also takes up little space.

I have so many that I am able to give folks food in these containers & not worry about whether they will return the boxes.

One serving perfectly fits in each box.  One has to leave some headroom for use in the freezer.  I do not know whether they are microwave safe but I doubt it since there is no marking on the bottoms.

As with many types of food-grade plastics, tomato products can stain the containers.  So long as teh containers are clean, I, personally, do not care, but if you do, does anyone have info about how to remove them?

I forgot to say that I use office file folder labels (that I cut in half) to label each container with contents & date.  After the labels build up to about 6 on a container, they peel right off, & I start over again.