Pack a school lunch in an original and environmentally friendly way: 6 ideas

Next time, when you want to buy a packaged ready-made lunch for your child, think about the fact that packing to decompose will take an incredible thousand years! The process of creating these small packages spends important natural resources, including energy for their creation, as well as their transportation. And every year animals around the world suffer because of the plastic that is thrown out by people. Here are six ways with which you can "green" your child's container for school lunch, while saving both the planet and the "greens" in your wallet.

Start with the container

After the recent scandal regarding the amount of lead in lunch containers that children take with them to school, it's time to start looking for an alternative. Fortunately, now there are environmentally friendly containers on the market, which were created after information began to appear on how many different harmful substances fall into the products of children. Amy Hemmert, the creator of one of these ecological containers called Laptop Lunchbox, has experienced all this on herself and her children. "When my children went to primary school in the United States, I packed their meals in bento boxes, which they brought from Japan," she said. "But when I visited the school where my children went, I noticed that most of the children's dinners were made up of processed foods that had been pre-packed in the factory. These containers could not be re-packed, so the children opened them, ate a little, and the rest was thrown away: the container, and the packaging, and the food. Then I thought that there must be a better way. " As a result, a package appeared that combines originality and ecological purity.

Buy in bulk

Forget about individually packaged products. They can look comfortable, but they produce much more waste. Buy large containers that you can reuse to fill them with other similar, but only small containers.

Invest in a reusable water bottle

Forget about juices in small packets that are terrible for the environment, pour the juice or water for your child into a bottle that can be used again and again. You can find quite interesting models in stainless steel.

Give up plastic bags for sandwiches

It would seem that one small plastic bag can not harm the environment. However, if you combine all the packages that the child will throw out within a year, you will get a lot of plastic that is harmful to the environment. And if you count how much plastic is thrown out by all pupils of one school, you will get a very impressive amount. You should think about using safer options for nature. Paper is the simplest of them, but now on the market you can find a special mat that you can use to wrap sandwiches over and over again. It is easy to clean and easy to use. Some parents can save by creating an analog of this device at home to wrap sandwiches in it for their children every day.

Local products

You should think about making purchases on the local farm market, the products from which not only are more healthy, but do not require containers for storage. A fresh apple is already sold in ready-made natural packaging.

Do not forget about the remains

The thermos can keep the heat of any products, not just liquids. Usually there is enough food from dinner to get a full-fledged school lunch for the child. Macaroni, soups and salads are a great option. But you can even put vegetables or chicken in a thermos to make your child's dinner even more tasty and satisfying.