3.7.08

Eco-Friendly Lunches for Kids

In about a month, the malls and Targets of America will be buzzing with lots of students gathering up school supplies and new clothes for the upcoming school year. Of course, part of going to school everyday is eating at school everyday.

Anybody who has seen a school lunch room by 3:00pm knows that garbage and waste is a major problem. Garbage cans are generally overflowing and bags once filled with snacks that end in "-itos" are strewn all over the floor. Eventually, all this stuff ends up in the dump where it will sit for your child's lifetime, or longer.

If you want to send your kid back to school this year a little greener, there are a few things you can do to avoid filling the dump and polluting the earth.

  • Use Reuseable Lunch Bags: Cloth lunch bags are easy to store in a backpack and can be thrown in with the laundry at the end of the week. Most aren't plastic (which is made using petroleum) and the whole family can share one set rather than buying individual lunch boxes. Plus, you won't have to worry about buying new paper bags each month.
  • Buy the Family Size: There is a push to package everything we eat in individual size containers. This is a bad direction to go in. Rather than creating waste each time your child eats some chips, buy the big bag and give them a handful for lunch. This will save you money too.
  • Get Reuseable Food Containers: Since you are buying the family size bags of food now, use small, plastic resueable food containers to hold snacks rather than buying plastic baggies that will be thrown away everyday. Many can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
  • Feed them Organic Fruit: We have a little obesity issue in America's schools right now, feeding our kids fruit instead of fruit snacks might help resolve this problem. Make sure your kids snacks are organic so they don't consume pesticides or hormones.
  • Use Reuseable Drink Bottles: Rather than sending your kid to school with a juice box or a soda can, buy a non-toxic, eco-friendly, reuseable drink bottle. Sigg bottles are among the best and there are tons of different color and design combinations to help your child express themself. You can see them HERE
So when you're shopping for all those school supplies this year, avoid the aggravation of constantly buying disposable packaging and the expense of the individually packaged products by giving your child a greener lunch. They might even learn the importance of protecting our world.

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