Dh's lunch

Why a post about dh's lunch?!?!?

Well lunches can be a huge source of GARBAGE and WASTE.

Last year we tried to reduce waste by sewing everyone drawstring lunchbags that could be used over and over. I also made it a point of washing out the necessary sandwich bags and reusing them. They break/rip far too easy! I tried using glass juice jars but when a lunch got dropped there went the jar. I didn't want to use the plastic ones as they often leaked and sending one large tetra-pack or jug of juice for the children to share in their own cups didn't work either.

Then one day at the hardware store I had an epiphany! Those snap-lock boxes with dividers fit perfectly inside Thermos soft sided insulated bags. With the addition of icepacks and juice jars we were ready for another school year. I bought each person in our family a set and we have seen a huge reduction in garbage resulting from our lunches. We do reuse glass juice jars, think Snapple, and they don't break in the bags as they are padded. I do feel guilty about buying plastic but I figure the total is less than all the sandwich bags I didn't use this year.



During the school year I do bake the 'sweet' of the day thus avoiding the wrapper but dh's is the only lunch I pack in the summer and it would take him ages to finish a pan of brownies. I'm saving him the monotony by buying snacks for him. Good wife, bad environmentalist! Next week 3 of the children will be needing lunches so there will be baking in the house and no wrappers in the lunches. We do a selection of tiny plastic containers that are used in the lunches for fruit, trail mix, dip, sloppy sandwich fillings, etc. again I'm taking comfort in the disposable plastics I'm avoiding as these are being reused.

I also find the boxes are perfect for leftovers it the fridge. They fit better than round bowls, need no cling wrap, and stack. Very Handy.

(Did you notice the irony in the lunch, granola bar made in peanut free facility, on a bed of peanuts!)