Comments on: Gearing Up For Back To School – Packed Lunch Ideas

By: Nutritioulicious

Nutritioulicious — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:48:16 +0000

Great post and quite a timely topic too! I just wrote 3 days worth of school lunch tips on my blog, Nutritioulicious (http://nutritioulicious.wordpress.com/). Check them out for more ideas!

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:47:01 +0000

Ok so I decided to do my own research and found this very interesting editorial from the NY times:
How Green Is My Bottle?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/19/opinion/20090419bottle.html?scp=1&sq=earthster&st=cse

I especially like the last line about water fountains!

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:38:01 +0000

Just for discussion purpose. Why would stainless steel be better than plastic, environmentally speaking? When you are done with both, they both need to be disposed of, hopefully by recycling. I don’t think people always take into consideration the production of a product in its environmental impact. I’m not saying I know either way, if the production of plastic is any better/or worse than steel production. For me there is also a taste factor and I think a lot of people have this. Lot’s of people don’t like the metal taste that comes from metal containers. And if you are talking about plastic chemicals getting into food is there proof that the metal does or doesn’t get into the food and cause harm? These facts may be easily accessible and I haven’t investigated it, but I always tend to go this way when talking environmental impact and to a certain extent health impact.

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:10:24 +0000

LOVE THIS POST…ladies, bring on the comments…I need all the help I can get.

I’ve been feeling rather virtuous using my little tupperware containers instead of the baggies…never occurred to to me to look into a stainless alternative for that. Though, I wonder if the lunchbox would become too heavy? I don’t think one can *conceive* of the amount of food I am packing for a 7 & 9 year olds.

My kids seem to be excited by these “exotic” items in addition to regular lunch fare:
cold pizza (uncertain it meets the high nutritional standards of this site)
Trader Joe’s frozen vegan pad thai (packaged in eco-crime plastic, but excellent at room temp
sub rolls (instead of bread)–they feel they’re having Subway
plain pasta…booorring…but easy and *always* eaten
peanut butter on *Saltines/Wheatthins*…they won’t touch a regular PB&J but seem to love this for some reason

Last point–I was packing stainless waterbottles last year, but got annoyed that they came back FULL. Scandalous…but I told them to use the water fountain if they are thirsty.

Sarah, Treehugger.com probably has posts on eco containers…did you try them?

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:48:38 +0000

The laptop lunch is great. We did make the mistake of putting the pieces in the dishwasher (a drawer dishwasher, so there’s not really a top shelf, per se). They’ve held up well, and don’t smell like plastic. There is even a new version (which we plan on getting) that has lids for every compartment and a mix-and-match set of inserts. Child #1 eschews sandwiches most days, and subsists on pasta, quinoa, or tofu leftovers–all of which are hard to transport any other way. Nothing is reheated in them. They’re also great for hummus, fresh veggies, etc.

One friend uses these: http://www.stainlessseal.com/Home.html and http://www.sanctusmundo.com/products.html. (She found them in Canada.) We have thought of getting those as well, at least for the house. (The kids do use the kleen kanteen stainless water bottles.)

Good luck!