Eco-Friendly Lunch Tips for Back To School

With some estimates saying that schools accumulate 3.5 million pounds of lunchtime garbage every year (or 67 pounds per child per year), it’s time to get smart about what our kids are or are not eating and throwing away along with the packages in which their food is contained. Here are some very accessible tips to help parents understand and pack their child's “Litterless Lunch” – the now buzz word for an eco-friendly lunch.

1. The Litterless Lunch: Schools everywhere are implementing Litterless Lunches- which means that parents can no longer send their kids to school with any quick fixes: plastic baggies, tetra packs, ready-made lunch packs or other disposable containers. A litterless lunch means that only compostable items should be left over (banana peels or apple cores for example) and everything else should be brought home to be washed and reused. In lieu of landfill cloggers, parents are buying long-term use items such as: Kleen Kanteen stainless steel metal bottles. Others prefer giving their older children reusable single-serve glass bottles or the Swiss-made Sigg bottles (made of metal exteriors with an FDA approved, durable liner) if any “metallic” aftertaste ever becomes a concern. The added bonus- think of the money you’ll save when you dilute bottles of usually overly-sweetened juice for your kids. Moms say 1 part juice to 3 parts water is ideal.

2. Reuse and Waste-Not: Savvy parents are packing their kid’s lunches in reusable, eco-friendly containers (not the vinyl, lead-loaded kind either!) instead of the old-school lunch boxes of yesterday. This also goes for plastic cutlery and paper napkins- replaced today ideally by stainless steel cutlery (or bamboo or potato starch washable, biodegradable cutlery) and cloth napkins. In California, two environmentally-conscious moms developed the lead-free, durable plastic Laptop Lunch Box- like a bento box system with each container having its own fitted lid to keep lunch time tidy, neat and tasty (and in its own laptop bag looking, insulated carrying case). Similarly, Lunchopolis also offers a whole lunch box system- this one stacks and sits in its own carry case for ease- PVC and lead free too of course! For those wanting to eschew plastics altogether, Canadian outfit Greentainer is working on a food-grade stainless steel lunch container concept that stacks much like an Indian tiffin lunch set would. They’re dishwasher safe and come in a variety of sizes- some parents like to use these instead of plastic or glass containers for all of their kid’s snacks/foods.

3. Lunch Time Packing Tips: Eco-Conscious mother of three, Lisa Borden of Borden Communications + Design in Toronto, offers harried parents the following tips on getting a litterless lunch together: Buy in Bulk (from yoghurt to cereal and watch the savings increase), Buy Fresh (local and organic is preferable- try a farmer’s market and take the kids to get them involved- it’s healthier for your whole family and puts dollars back into local farmer’s pockets), Read your Labels (if you can’t pronounce an ingredient- chances are you shouldn’t be eating it!), and Resist the Marketing (food marketed to children is very likely high in unwanted sugars, fats and other non-healthy additives/preservatives - so stick to your guns moms and dads and make the right decisions for your kids).

4. School Programs: EcoSource- an environmental education organization offers Canadian school children and their schools a variety of green-friendly programs including field trips to local farms and community gardening programs that get school aged children involved in growing their own food. This group is also works with local Greenbelt farmers in Ontario to provide locally grown snacks, lunch options and even breakfast programs to willing schools (locally grown freshly popped popcorn is one snack option kids love!).

5. Shop and Cook with Kids: Involving your children in making their own food means they’ll take pride in what they made and are more likely to enjoy eating it. Whether that’s at home or at school, kids who make their food and have fun with it- will be less likely to throw it away without a moment’s thought to the work that went into its preparation. A fun, family-friendly idea that supports the local eating trend thanks to Preena Chauhan of Arvinda's: go apple picking in the fall (or peach picking in the late summer), and make apple butter, apple sauce, apple crisp and apple pies with the kids. Left-overs freeze really well!

For Five More Terrific Tips and a Parental Resource Guide, Click Here!

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