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Sustainable Living is .....

.... packing (waste-free) lunches.

Waste-free lunches is an idea we picked up from the kindy (preschool) our daughter attended over in Australia. The day ran from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm which, obviously, includes lunch time. But contrary to most preschools here in the US, there was no hot lunch served. The children were expected to bring a packed lunch from home. And it was to contain no throw-away waste.

No plastic wrap. No paper napkins. No pre-packaged chips. Or cookies. Or string cheese. Or throw-away yogurt containers. Or juice boxes. 

A long way from most packed lunches here in the US.

And we adapted. I browsed the thrift stores to pick up a few plastic containers with lids; as well as a lunch box and a stainless steel water bottle, which she still has. Once we adopted the mindset, it wasn't hard at all. And our lunches are still packed this way now. 

Fresh foods are packed in washable containers. Forks and spoons from the drawer are included (usually). And at the end of the day, it all comes home, gets washed, and is ready to go out again the next morning.

What do you think?
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  1. Unknown13 April, 2016

    I am embarrassed to admit I couldn't begin to imagine where to start with a totally waste free lunch. When you laid it out, I thought, "Well that isn't so difficult!" It's really sad that we've gotten so used to individually packaged containers, wrapped cheeses, lunchables, etc!

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    1. Ann18 April, 2016

      I get it. When the kindy first told us the lunches had to be no waste, I thought - how in the world? And I fumbled the first week or 2, but before long I worked it out.

      And yes.. so much waste in the individually wrapped stuff. My husband and daughter just came home from the store with ice cream cones. He opened them up to find they were wrapped in plastic, laid in styrofoam, all inside the cardboard box. He said - never again.

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