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Natural Family Living:
Well-packed lunches for you, the kids, and the earth
By Teresa Youngblood
To save money and to be able to provide more healthful food for ourselves and our children, many of us pack lunches nowadays. But even in homes where we all leave the house with reusable coolers or insulated lunch boxes, aluminum foil, plastic baggies, individually packed processed food, and disposable utensils are often accomplices to the mid-day meal. Parents who pack these lunches will be surprised to learn that, according to a New York Department of Environmental Conservation study, their child’s disposable lunch generates between 45 and 90 pounds of garbage per year.
Though packaging allows for the easy transport of varied and nutritious food, it all ends up in the landfill, where it will sit for hundreds of years. We can begin to combat this problem by eliminating disposable items from our and our children’s lunches, turning instead to reusable containers and utensils, and relying more on fresh versus prepackaged foods.
Invest in a good-quality thermos and water bottle that can be refilled. The water bottle can hold juices, teas, or water, adding interest to the lunch, and a thermos can carry anything from hot cocoa to split pea soup.
Buy juice and apple sauce in large glass containers that can be reused or recycled. Using these large containers to refill your reusable, packable containers instead of buying them individually packaged can reduce waste by as much as 90 percent.
Pack cloth napkins instead of paper, and washable utensils instead of disposables. Let your child help pick these items out and you may be surprised how much responsibility they show in keeping track of them. If you purchase them used from a thrift store, they can be inexpensively replaced if lost.
Japanese benta-style lunchboxes efficiently hold sturdy, colorful individual containers that don’t require lids; this type of system is especially good for younger children for whom removing and keeping track of lids may be difficult. The portion-sized containers make food look attractive (an important feature for picky eaters) and are manageable for small hands. Laptop Lunches makes a sturdy, attractive version of this lunchbox that can be purchased locally at Mama and Baby Love, 1122 Thomasville Road.
A good choice for adults is To-Go Ware’s stainless steel lunchbox, which consists of two generously sized steel containers and a plate stacked together and easy to carry. The containers can be either warmed on a stovetop or cooled in a refrigerator. These boxes can be purchased online at www.greenfeet.com.
Parents, teachers, and students are organizing around the country to implement waste-free lunch programs in schools. Check out www.wastefreelunches.com for stories and tips.
Packing a waste-free lunch does take time – usually between five and ten minutes in our house – and a bit more initial thought and preparation. But on mornings that are often harried and rushed, taking a few moments to reflect upon the food we’ll eat that day and the earth that it came from helps to begin the day in a peaceful, thankful state of mind.
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