gluten free by nature — casein, soy and entirely almost sugar free…

It’s back to school time.  My niece is starting first grade this year. And I really wanted to give her something for her first day of school. I thought a new outfit could be quite fun. Then, it occurred to me that I could get her a really cool set-up for  waste free lunch.  Grandma beat me to the punch and already gave her a very stylish lunch bag. So, I decided to do some research to find some “everything free” containers – especially ones that would keep her sandwich from getting smooshed into oblivion by her water bottle or the piece of fruit beside it.  These stainless steel boxes are awesome. I ordered two: one that fits a whole sandwich and another little divided box for a snack that could, say, hold a hummus and vegetable combo  or some sliced apples paired with nut butter on the other side.  I found a few sites that carry them but only Amazon offered free shipping. Lucky lucky, Amazon is also currently offering a special on LunchBots:  buy 4 get,  (but only) pay for 3.  So, I saved $15.  Plus free shipping.  Nice.

I don’t think I really need to justify the expense on these little gems.  They pay for themselves in less than a dozen uses.  I admit I  had a heavy dependency on Ziploc bags at one time. Truthfully, I  tried to get rid of them on more than one occasion. But, what could take their place as an alternative? Using plastic containers was out because of “leaching” concerns. Instead, glass storage containers had become my go-to vessels for leftovers and such.  But, I could hardly send my children out and about with glass snack containers. So, I resorted to environmentally friendly recycled paper snack bags.  However, we were going through those quite quickly (all year round) and the monetary and environmental expenses  were just too overwhelming. Alas, I made the leap. We are now zero waste snackers and lunchers.  It feels good.

There are 4 choices for boxes: the Eco (largest), the Uno(sandwich size), the Pico(smallest) and the Duo(2 compartments).  There are several other green choices I considered before settling on these: the waste free bento box called Laptop Lunches and Lunchskins snack and sandwich bags.  I chose LunchBots for several reasons:  1.) portability 2.) food remains intact (non-crushability factor) and 3.) they are dishwasher safe.  These could be used for just about any activity: picnics, camping, car snacks, not to mention they are small enough to fit into your backpack for hiking or for skiing, etc.  At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which one you choose.  I for one am grateful that these products have become so widely available.  One can never underestimate the impact of using green items such as these.  The message we send to our children is invaluable.  It can only ripple outward from there.

Tags: kids snack containers, LunchBots, stainless steel containers, waste free lunch

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 8am and is filed under recommendations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.