Laptop, lunch
Posted by: Beth on February 21st, 2009
This month, something embarrassing occurred. I was in a rush, and my three school aged kids needed lunch money. I wrote out personal checks to the schools (for a month’s worth of school lunches, pre-paid) apparently too quickly not realizing I used the wrong bank account. The checks bounced by a few dollars, and they were sent back. Not only did I have to pay fees, I am totally embarrassed.
I could have avoided this mess by having stuck with packing lunches. I was packing lunch until I realized that my spoons were not coming home, and we were losing bits of reusable containers, and it was getting quite expensive.
However, it’s the right thing to do. Packing lunch, can be a good way to start ‘going green.’ You don’t realize how much WASTE is in a brown bag lunch until you break it down, it’s a lot!
From Wastefreelunch:**
WHAT DOES A WASTE-FREE LUNCH LOOK LIKE?
| A Typical American Lunch (DISPOSABLE)
|
A Waste-Free Lunch (REUSABLE)
*With this type of lunch, lunch food items can be bought in larger quantities. The packaging can be left at home for reuse or recycling. Waste-free lunches are not only a wise environmental choice, but they are less expensive as well. |
WHAT DOES IT COST TO PACK A WASTE-FREE LUNCH?
A Disposable Lunch
| 1 egg salad sandwich |
$1.25 |
| 1 yogurt |
.85 |
| 1 granola bar |
.45 |
| 1 apple |
.30 |
| 1 package of carrots and dip |
.65 |
| 3 plastic bags |
.12 |
| 1 juice pouch |
.35 |
| 1 plastic spoon |
.04 |
| 1 paper napkin |
.01 |
| TOTAL |
$4.02 |
A Waste-free Lunch
| 1 egg salad sandwich |
$1.25 |
| 1 serving of yogurt |
.50 |
| 1 serving of granola |
.35 |
| 1 apple |
.30 |
| 1 serving of carrots and dip |
.25 |
| water |
0 |
| cloth napkin |
0 |
| stainless steel spoon |
0 |
| packaging |
0 |
| TOTAL |
$2.65 |
|
Disposable Lunch |
Waste-Free Lunch |
| $4.02 / day | $2.65 / day |
| $20.10 / week | $13.25 / week |
| $723.60 / school year | $477.00 / school year |
Packing lunches in reusable containers and sending home-made food does save money. After, of course the initial investment in those containers. Nobody says you have to buy fancy Bento boxes and so forth, but the better quality, the longer they will last (my kids) you.
I have been considering these, Bento-styled sets,** even if it’s going to cost me $100.00 to buy several, since my school lunch fiasco just cost, well more than that.
Do you pack school lunches (or work lunches)? How has it been going for you? Any tips for a newbie green girl? To be honest, the hardest thing about this, is the picky kids. I can imagine sending my boy to school with an empty box, just a plain peanut butter on wheat, because he likes nothing. Really. How do you do it?
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We just got our bento boxes today. We are pretty new to packing lunches. Because of my husband’s job and my daughter’s school schedule and the distance from our house we’ve started packing lunches instead of eating out. I’m pretty excited about these. I’m not so sure it holds enough food for your average adult. We’ll see how it goes for my DH. But for a child or WLS patient it’s the perfect size. I have no advice on the picky eater. Mine hardly eats anything I put in front of her. Grapes and cheese are her favorites. Best of luck to you!
peanut butter is banned for schools in my area, so your son would starve here. bananas are a great fruit, they come “prewrapped” and our schools here have a green program set up that accepts “leftovers”. if you wrap a sandwich in a paper towel, it can go into the green bin as well. the schools here also recycle juice boxes and plastic water bottles.
when my kids were in elementary school, i always used a thermos to send them a hot lunch, left over pasta with grated cheddar cheese was always a success.