I had to drop something off at my kids school at lunch time. As I walked by a classroom with about 20 children enjoying their lunch, I was surprised by the amount of plastic wraps and zipper bags overflowing out of a very large garbage can. I decided to take up a challenge. "Lunch with as little garbage as possible". I'm not going to beat myself up if they have wrappers her and there though. It's a mindset. A small thing I can do. It also saves money.
When I started to think about the lunch, I realized it will naturally lead me to making more homemade goodies, which will also be beneficial to our health as well. I've been meaning to share this idea. People who know me may think of me as a bit of a 'health nut' and perhaps I may get excited about organic food and such. In part, it is true. But I live in the middle of prairie where we have short summers and LONG winters. The nearest town is an hour away. I don't buy organic food. I would love to. Just not practical for me. But we try to eat 'real food'. In the last few years, we've been trying to stay away from most prepackaged foods or eating out. Instead, we have well-balanced home cooked meals. I love making homemade soups with lots of veggies. Make pizzas from scratch. Macaroni and cheese, you can make that with whole wheat noodles with homemade cheese sauce. Try to get food with ingredients that you can pronounce. And you know what? My family has been so healthy. We have had maybe a handful of sniffles, but nothing major. And I am pretty certain it's because we eat 'real food'. You might say, well, we have picky eaters....be patient and keep trying. They will come around. Involve them in the process of growing veggies and cooking them. Like I said before, I don't beat myself up over one fast food meal once in a while or a package of Ichiban noodles here and there. After all, although I have good eaters they have given me the "best mom award" for feeding them Ichiban noodles. We have to extend grace to ourselves and allow ourselves to enjoy junk food once in a while. If we have hotdogs, we would make an event out of it. Invite friends over for a hotdog roast in the backyard. If your child wants pop, allow her to have one when out for a meal or I might get healthier kind like "Spritzer" or "Blue Sky". You get the idea.
I wonder if anyone would like to take up the challenge of "no garbage lunch" or "eat real food" or even both?
4 comments:
We are planning on no garbage lunches. I think I'll make some reusable bags for crackers and carrots and such.
Lola has a great idea and Makiko maybe your next 'bag' project can be offering customers on your Etsy store an assortment of reusable drawstring snack bags for nuts, berries, carrots, homemade energy bars etc. for school and work lunches :)
Kiko, it's Ashley here! I was just reading up on "Bento"-style lunches that you pack for kids, and I'm so intrigued. You put everything packed in the little metal (or plastic) box, and there's no need for any other packaging. I think the website by this mom is: www.lunchinabox.com, but I'll write again to confirm it. The other thing I'm fascinated by is the idea of sewing little cloth bags (with zippers or draw-strings) to hold cookies, etc. They can be beautifully embroidered or otherwise made really cute. My kids' lunch bags are cloth, and we use tupperware a lot. But I'd love to get away from plastic all together.
Sorry, the website for Bento-style lunch ideas by a really creative mom, is: www.lunchinabox.net.
She also has tons of lunch ideas, and links to sites where you can order Bento boxes (from Japan and elsewhere). Enjoy. (From Ashley)
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