Guest blogger Stacie Connerty of The Divine Miss Mommy returns with great ways to pack your kids a lunch that’s good for both your kids and the environment.
“Did you know that the average child generates 66 pounds of trash or waste each year from school lunches?*
That is a huge amount and as I pack lunch for three kids on a daily basis, there is bound to be a lot of waste. Things like plastic bags, water bottles and more fill our landfills every year. These numbers concern me so I made my children aware of them as well so we could come up with a plan. Last year, we made an effort in our household to fully switch our kids’ lunchboxes to be 100% eco friendly.
There are many ways to pack an eco-friendly school lunch. Here are some ideas for how you can reduce your carbon footprint while making lunch fun for your kids:
1. Start off with one of these fabulous lunchboxes from Personal Creations!
These lunchboxes are perfect for children. They are cheerful and colorful. Each lunchbox is made from a heavy duty polyester. Lunchboxes are fully lined, insulated and have an inside mesh zippered pocket perfect for snacks or utensils. There is also an outside pocket for a napkin or note to brighten your child’s day.
Personal Creations also has some great lunchboxes for boys.
2. Water bottles
We found that when we made the switch to personalized water bottles, that our kids consumed much more water. We let them pick out their favorite bottles. My son uses a hard water bottle and the girls each use a collapsible water bottle.
3. Napkins
This was a fun one! We went to the fabric store and I let each kid pick out cotton in a pattern that they really liked. We cut them into 10 inch squares and now the kids each have their own cloth napkins that we just throw in the wash to reuse each day.
4. Fabric Snack bags
Photo from Bagitconscious on Etsy
It took me a while to find the perfect fabric snack bags but now each child has their own set of fabric snack bags and we have one extra set to spare.
These bags have lasted for a few years now and they hold up well to washing. They come in a few sizes that make it easy to pack snacks of all sizes and shapes.
5. Sandwich boxes and soup thermoses
Make certain to invest in good ones because you will want them to last a while. We also love that all of these items are safe for washing in the top rack of our dishwasher.
Switching to eco-friendly lunches is something that we have worked hard on as a family. By reducing our carbon footprint, I feel so much better about my kids lunches.”
For more information, visit the United States Environmental Protection Agency page:
You will find checklists, tracking charts, fun infographics and more.
Also, please comment on this post if you have any tips or favorite ways to go eco friendly with your kids’ lunches!
* Facts from Lunchbox.org