Going Green at Lunch

A list of items for the new school year

            Sneakers.  Check

            Jacket. Check

            Jeans.  Check.

            Eco-friendly lunch options?  Plenty.

Come June, the kids’ lunch boxes and bags are fairly trashed.  Stained, crusty, not-so-fresh smell.  You get the idea.  So when it was time to purchase the new lunch bag this year, I started looking at what will actually go in it, and I’m not just talking food.

Schools around the country have developed Waste-Free Lunch programs, where families are encouraged to use non-disposable containers when packing their kids’ lunches.  Although here in Stamford we don’t have such programs, we can, as individuals, save money by adopting these practices in our own homes.

A recent trip to several of our local stores yielded some useful options.  Rather than using Ziploc Baggies, Munchkin Snack Bags offers easy-to-clean bags to use for both wet and dry snacks.  Bed Bath & Beyond in the Ridgeway Shopping Center carries them for $9.99 for a set of three.  They’re perfect for carrot sticks, goldfish, grapes, etc.  They can be cleaned in the washing machine or you can wipe them down yourself.

Another find at BB&B is the Sistema Klip It To Go Lunch Cube.  It has three compartments, one to hold a sandwich and two for snacks or other smaller items.  The lid stays on the cube so that it won’t get lost, and there’s an interior lid to keep all the items separate.  It’s BPA-free and can go right in the dishwasher.  At only $4.99, it’s a pretty good deal. 

For something smaller, try the Fuel Reusable Food Container for $3.99.  It’s shaped perfectly for a sandwich, but you can put anything you want in it.  The best part is its one-piece construction.  Again, no lost lids. 

Over at Target I found a nifty package that keeps your food cool.  The Aladdin Chill Snack Pack is a box that contains a removable ice pod.  After freezing the pod, you snap it into the interior side of the box lid.  Food stays cool and crisp all day.  Both the box and the lid are dishwasher and microwavable safe.  It sells for $3.99 and comes in pink, blue or green.

If you still like the idea of using a bag, you can find the If You Care brand of environmentally friendly products at Shoprite, Mrs. Green’s and Fairway Market.  Perfect for the lunchbox are the 100% Unbleached Paper Snack & Sandwich Bags.  They can hold cookies, crackers and sandwiches.  Made from 100% renewable resources using no petroleum, the bags will keep bread soft and chips crisp up to 6 hours.  They’ll run you around $3.50 for a container of 48 bags.

As for the drinks, consider how much money you spend on milk boxes and juice bags.  Investing in aluminum or BPA-free bottles can be endlessly refilled with whatever the kids want to drink.  No more straws, no more waste.  And you can find them just about everywhere, even CVS and Walgreen's.

Do you have any tips for keeping trash production down in your home? We all want to save some money, and it’s not a bad way to help the environment.  For more information on the Pack-A-Waste-Free Lunch Program, visit the EPA’s website.