Category — sustainability

When you combine the cost of school hot lunches with the sheer lack of nutrition parents are looking for a better way to feed their children. Enter the lunchbox! When you pack a healthy, nutritious lunch for your kids, you know that they are getting the good stuff that they need – and you can save some money! For our 2 girls it would cost $100 per month to pay for the school-provided lunch of pizza, hot dogs or chicken nuggets. Why pay for junk food when you can send them to school with something healthy for less?

To this end I have been looking for a good lunchbox that would cut down on the about of waste that a typical cold lunch can create – ziploc baggies to keep everything seperate, aluminum foil, wax paper or plastic wrappers for the foods inside, etc. Did you know that it has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year? That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school!

In my searching for a solution I recently discovered a new kind of lunchbox for my girls – one that cuts down on the amount of waste each day.

They are called the Laptop Lunchbox, and they are available online, or in many health food & eco-concious stores around the country.

What is a laptop lunchbox you ask? A very nice way to pack a lunch for your child – or your self!

Each laptop lunchbox comes with 5 containers inside – 2 with lids. They all fit together perfectly into the case, and they make you think about the lunch that you are preparing for your kids.

There are 2 large containers – one with a lid. They fit a sandwich cut in half very nicely, and I usually put some applesauce & granola in the one with a lid. There are also 2 smaller containers that are perfect for trail mix, carrot sticks, mandarine orange wedges, etc, and a mini container with a lid that is perfect for your child’s favorite dip. And they come with a fork & spoon.

All of the pieces go into the dishwasher – yay! – and clean up very easily.

My girls use these every day – I just wash out the containers in the sink & dry them to be ready to use the next day.

Things I love about the Laptop Lunchbox:
- multiple containers make me think about how to fill them with healthy food
- a dip container that holds just enough, but not too much
- a specific place for everything
- fun color combinations
- the recipe/lunch ideas book that comes with it

Things I think can be improved:
- I wish one of the small containers had a lid – they are the perfect size for yogurt or applesauce
- it took the girls a bit to figure out how to open them, but once they figured out “their way” it hasn’t been a problem
- if the cutlery section was a tiny bit bigger you could fit a cloth napkin in too

I have gotten each of the girls a small tote bag that their laptop lunchbox fits down inside – along with their water bottle or juice and an ice pack to keep the contents cold. They slip these into their backpacks and they have an easy way to carry their lunch over to the lunchroom.

Because everything has a specific place inside, it is obvious if something is missing. They have been using their lunchboxes for almost a month now, and we haven’t lost a single piece – pretty good for a kindergardener and a first grader!

If you are looking for a lunch time solution, I urge you to take a look at the Laptop Lunchbox. They have 4 different color combinations to appeal to a variety of tastes, and your kids will have fun putting their lunchbox puzzle back together after they have eaten a healthy, nutirtious lunch!

To order your sets, please visit LaptopLunches.com

I recently came across a site with a great idea…

Break the Bottled Water Habit, Win a Prize and Cut Your Carbon

When you want pure, healthy drinking water, you should reach for bottled water, right? Surprisingly, on neither a personal nor a global level are you making a healthy choice.

For each gallon of water bottled, two gallons are wasted; producing the plastic wastes the energy equivalent of a quarter-bottle’s worth of oil. And what’s in the bottle could just be tap water.

This October we’re asking you to think about where the water in that bottle came from, and where the plastic is going…take the Carbon Conscious Consumer pledge and drink to a healthy ecosystem.

Each month from July to December, Carbon Conscious Consumer (c3.newdream.org) will highlight a new, simple way each individual can make an impact, plus show the difference each person makes both individually and along with the people they’ve influenced; prizes go to participants who influence the most new pledges.

During October, make a conscious choice to slake your thirst without drying up our planet’s resources. In addition to benefiting the environment, participants will have a chance to win a free condo for a week at a ski resort in Idaho. Visit the website now to get started.

We have recently done this in our home – I picked up a “Laptop Lunchbox” for each of the girls and A has a Kleen Kantene that she takes to school each day with her water in it. I switched to a SIGG water bottle that I get compliments on almost daily. M & E each carry a Nalgene bottle with them everywhere… we refill them numerous times each day, and we aren’t adding to the plastic waste from water bottles OR ziplock baggies in their lunch boxes!

What will you do to help clean up the enviromnent?

I recently commented on a post over at activist mommy, and realized that the comment was a pretty good post on its own, so I thought I’d share.

Here are some of my tips on living a “greener life”

Green tips…

bring your own bag when you go shopping! A good one will carry more than the icky plastic bags and you are helping our everyone.

If you must get plastic bags, be sure to recycle them. My kids school is doing a plastic bag recycling fundraiser through Wal-mart – they raised almost $5,000 for the school last year from kids bringing in plastic bags. Not too shabby.

Join a CSA farm. The produce is picked within the past 36 hours, it tastes great, they farm sustainably, and the prices beat out the grocer & the farmer’s market. And you help the local farmers make a living.

I used to sell Tupperware, and I got into the habit of taking a small container with me when we go out to eat to bring home leftovers. Do I get odd looks, sometimes, but I’m not using more styrophom.

However, we ony eat out once or twice a month – cook at home! You’ll save money, feed your family better food, and you might be healthier.

Grow your own food -whenever possible. You would be amazed what you can grow in a container on the back porch. I had a great container garden when we lived in Phoenix – peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beans… where there’s a will, there’s a way.

I recently joined paperbackswap.com to get rid of some of the books overflowing from our library shelves, and to save money on getting the books that we want to read next. I had been donating them to the library, but they don’t always take in books (I guess they ran out of room too).

I have our milk delivered. With 2 kids that are growing like crazy, we go through a gallon every 2 days – or less. Now the milk is delivered and I don’t have to run to the store every other day. They also bring eggs, butter, ice cream…

Tell others, tell others, tell others! When others see you doing something to help the environment, they can be curious. Talk to them about why you are doing it, and you might be suprised at the changes you can help bring about!

These are the tips that I have off the top of my head! I hope they help someone…

Do you love to garden? We purchased a new home this year that came with a fabulous garden – garlic, herbs, trees, bushes… lots of beauty. Not one to leave well enough alone, I had to add more flowers to the bounty.

I received a catalog from Michigan Bulb and of course had to get some new plants.

I have to say I am impressed with most of what I ordered. They ship many plants just as a root system – something I hadn’t realized before. I trusted them and put these gnarly looking roots in the ground around our yard and prayed that something would grow.

As the Summer is coming to an end I have been blessed with 3 colors of balloon flowers, peony’s that should bloom in the next couple of years, and a hibiscus bush that is almost 2 feet tall. The only one that I had a problem getting to grow are the poppy’s. I have always wanted a large red oriental poppy bush, but I have heard that they are very finicky. I will be giving it another year to see if it comes out of dormancy, but I am hopeful! Everything else is beautiful, and already grown quite large.

If you are looking for a place to get your fall bulbs or some plants next year, I recommend Michigan Bulb. Did I mention that I have some Asiatic Lilies coming too? Gotta go get them in the ground this month!

I hae recently begun to have a greater dissatisfaction with the overuse of plastic in our culture. EVERYTHING is packaged in plastic, and it is all thrown away almost instantly. One of the worst is the plastic bags you get from the grocery store, Target, etc. the things are everywhere – stuck in fences & trees, billowing down the road, floating in our waterways, etc. This got me to thinking… is there anything I can do to help cut down on the amount of plastic that my family is contributing?

I did think of something – and I made up a fabric grocery bag that I can take with me to the store and use instead of plastic bags. Do I get wierd looks from time to time? Sure, but I know that I am doing something to help – and my grocery store gives a rebate if you bring your own bag – that makes it double plus good!

Another side bebefit of using a fabric bag that I bring with me is one that helps the pocket book… now when I go grocery shopping, I keep in mind that I have 1 or 2 bags that I need to fit everything into… sure cuts down on the crap that gets thrown into the cart! I also remind myself that I will be carrying whatever I purchase in 1 trip -in 1 bag.

Are you looking at this too? Are you looking for tips to help you get started? I found this lens on squidoo that I thought I’d share… http://www.squidoo.com/NoPlasticBags/
Here are a few other articles about this new “green” movement:
Paper Nor Plastic
Are Plastic Bags Sacking The Environment?
Save Oil, Save Trees: Reuse Your Grocery Bags!
S.F. FIRST CITY TO BAN PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

Another thought for those not ready to take this plunge… my kids school has a plastic bag recycling program (that few schools know is available) and they raised almost $5,ooo last year – their first year doing it – to be used for the school. Find out if your kids school or a school in your area has heard of this program (I think they go through Wal-Mart) and take your bags there!

JUST DON”T THROW THEM AWAY