1.Hot or cold, the lunch has to make it to lunchtime without spoiling
- As eco-friendly as possible (re-usable, safe materials)
The links below are items I found on Amazon while I was doing research so you can conceptualize what I am talking about! I'm not endorsing any specific product or vendor.
Keeping hot food hot, and cold food cold. An easy solution—a stainless steel thermos. I didn’t want it too big as the kids can’t eat a whole lot of food and I certainly don’t want any to go to waste. Stores like Walmart and Target carry 10-oz thermos containers, a perfect size. The two cup+ ones may look like a better deal, but you’ll likely be getting ½ of your lunch back at the end of the day. A tip here – the rubber ring on the lid can get a little odoriferous; each cleaning take the rubber ring off and clean it separately. The best part? Stainless steel won’t leach horrible toxins into your food! I had picked these up earlier this summer and love them, but if you are looking for a place to buy online:
Eco-Friendly; Reusable. Next I found at a farmers’ market some great washable cotton food holders. If you are handy with a sewing machine, they are easy and cheap to make. They come in various sizes: a big pouch to fit a standard sandwich; a small pouch to put in a stack of carrots or apples; and a larger square that folds up and Velcro’s together to fit all sorts of larger, odd-sized items like chicken legs and wraps. Do a search on the web for “organic cloth bags”. You’ll find a lot to choose from.
These are not so pretty, but they are organic.
Other options for food holders (which I bought tonight) are in stainless steel:
Stainless steel is my favorite food container - lightweight (love glass, but not for lunch boxes), sturdy and safe. By buying a bunch of different sizes, I should be covered for the various foot items I place in there. Wish I had bought them sooner!
Eco-Friendly; Reusable & Safe. The lunch box itself should be PVC-free. PVC is unique among plastics because it contains dangerous chemical additives. These harmful chemicals include phthalates, lead, cadmium, and/or organotins, which can be toxic to your child’s health. Vinyl is a common PVC plastic product, and it's often called the "poison plastic" because both its production and its incineration during disposal create carcinogenic dioxins. Exposure to vinyl has been tied to asthma, obesity, learning and developmental problems, and even childhood cancer. Other plastic to avoid that pose a threat to your kids’ health are polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene (PS) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).(1)
Here's a very inexpensive option, not sure about durability:
Here is a great kit for a child if you want to get all the items together.
This one I'm thinking about getting for myself! :)
Cloth, stainless steel and bamboo are good alternatives. Also, try a bento box! These handy boxes carve out individual containers that keep the different food items in their own ‘box’. This can also work as portion control. Take the largest box and fill it with vegetables. The other boxes can have your grain, your protein and your fruit. You can easily do a search for “PVC-Free Bento Boxes” on the web.
This looks like a great Bento Box - I may get it later. It's eco-friendly plastic:
If you must choose plastic items just be sure that the recycling symbol doesn’t have the number 3 and/or the initials PVC. If you don’t see a symbol, call the customer service number on the packaging and ask.
Lastly, for the ‘wetter’ items, I found waxed paper bags that won’t let the food leak all over the rest of your lunch and can sometimes be used more than once. I got some from a friend of mine, but looks like I can order it on Amazon too!
OK, wish me luck, tomorrow is the first day!
Footnote: (1) Center for Health, Environment and Justice; www.chej.org: August 2010
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