waste-free lunches

B's first day of preschool 2008

It's very important to me that I pack my children "waste-free lunches" when they go to school.  The school has a very good recycling program but I feel that we can take it one step further and not bring any waste to school.

We use the same supplies when we picnic or need to take snacks on the go with us, I feel these products are invaluable and I can't imagine not having them.

There are so many statistic flying around the web that all prove that packaging is harmful to our planet so I won't copy and paste them all here, instead I thought I would share with you the products we have chosen and what we like about them.

Crocodile Creek lunch box

 To carry everything we bought Crocodile Creek lunch boxes as they are PVC free, phthalate free, BPA free and vinyl free.  We have had them two years now and they still look great, they are very durable and wipe easily with a cloth. 

Onyx two layer sandwich box

Onyx two layer sandwich box

To hold food we chose the Onyx large two layer sandwich box.  It measures 17.5 x 13 x 6.2 cm and holds more than enough food to keep my hungry guy going all day.  I put dry foods in one tray and wet in the other.  The best thing about this product is that there are only 3 pieces to keep track of.  I have seen children come to school with half a dozen small plastic containers all with lids, and then the parents complain about washing up and losing pieces!?

fyi:  this is the same company that makes the super cool stainless steel ice pop molds which are on my "wish list"!

I also have some small stainless steel "dip sized" containers with lids that I bought when Linens and Things closed and sadly can't find a reference for them.

Klean Kanteen water bottle

For water bottles we are diehard Klean Kanteen'ers!  We chose this company several years back (even before they sold coloured bottles) as they were one of the first to offer a BPA free stainless steel water bottle.  We LOVE these water bottles!  They are durable, easy to clean and I feel safe filling them with our filtered water and not have horrible things leach into it.

Klean Kanteen Insulated

 

And new to us this year we have just purchased the Klean Kanteen Insulated!  Why did we wait so long to buy insulated bottles?  Because no one until now, made an insulated bottle that was all stainless steel inside (no plastic on the inside of the cap!) and sold them in Canada.  Hot food touching plastic = leaching, so we waited until someone got the message!
We're very happy they did!

As you can see we prefer quality products (we like to only have to buy once) and stainless steel as it can be scrubbed clean.  We bought all of these pieces in stages as we could afford them.  And I really do feel that it saves us money in the long run.  

 I would love to know what you use to pack your foods in.  Or if you have any questions about what we use please feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by,

~ joey ~