A couple years ago, my then-preschooler went on a field trip to the Garbage Garage and learned about recycling and the amount of waste caused by baggies.  I pack 5+ lunches each day, and usually would use about 5 baggies per lunch.  That means I would go through a 50 count box every 2 days – Yikes!  Besides the environmental impact, I’m way too frugal for that vicious cycle.  To appease my son, and do my little part for the environment, I resolved to try not to use baggies unless absolutely necessary.

For the younger set, 12 and under, my new-found bento investments (see Go Bento) are just the ticket, just big enough for their appetites and still cool in elementary school.  It’s the older set- middle schoolers, high schoolers and husbands- who want old school : the brown bag.  My challenge was to find containers that fit into brown bags.  I was determined to adhere to the “baggie-less” motto so I reuse lots of bread bags which can be recycled right in the lunchroom at school.  Still, there has to be a way to ensure fresh, healthy, beautiful and economical lunches in brown bags without relying on the plastic that inevitably comes home from the market.  I found that I can fit Rubbermaid’s divided rectangle (which happens to be one of their BPA-free products) into a brown bag and my son usually remembers to put it back in his backpack instead of the trash after lunch.  Ah ha, DIY Bento Boxes!  Another great discovery- larger size brown bags (for the same $2 you get 50 instead of 100) fit two divided rectangles.  Ahhhh, more fresh food that isn’t smooshed!

Plus, I don’t like being limited to packing non-perishable lunches so where to put the icee in a brown bag?  Sandwiches can be frozen, sans mayo and lettuce, but with a little herbed butter is great, and they seem to act as an icee and defrost  by lunch time.

This is just the next challenge in my mission to eliminate waste and create healthy, beautiful, and economical lunches.  I welcome any and all tips so I’m ready when the next set enters middle school!