Pack it In! Reusable lunch boxes are cool!

I've noticed that there are lots of lunch boxes out there now. Metal ones (cool, like we had as kids!), insulated bags, cloth bags, bento box style - you can find just about anything.

Litterless lunches are in.  And this is a great thing. Not only is it environmentally friendly, it's also cheaper to eat this way.  Hmmm.. I think I'm beginning to see a trend - green often equals money savings.  But I digress.  Here's what you need for a litterless lunch

• A container - a large rubbermaid, insulated bag, metal lunch box, cloth drawstring bag - you choose  your container.
• cloth napkin (buy them or make your own as they are simple to sew up)
• set of utensils - I like to have a set of metal ones, but you can buy bamboo or just keep re-using your plastic ones that you'd bought to throw away.
• smaller containers - these are for snacks, sandwiches, salads, etc. 
• baggies - I love the baggies I mentioned in an earlier post - they are re-usable and my little guy loves his crackers in them.   I do still use some ziplocs, but these are brought home to be re-used.
• re-usable juice/water bottle
• re-usable coffee/hot drink mug

When you shop, don't buy the individual size items.  Instead, buy a larger container and split it up into your little containers.  I have a big bucket that is filled with snacks.  There are mini rice cakes, crackers and so on, all repackaged into smaller containers. You can also your own  puddings/jello into small tupperware containers.  I do use ziploc baggies, but I reuse them until they fall apart.  This makes it easy to grab and go.  I also keep  large tupperware containers of things like goldfish crackers and just scoop those into a re-usable container when I'm packing lunches.

You can go bento box style, where all your little boxes fit tightly into a bigger one - or you can toss them all in a bag, it's up to you.  When you have a reusable lunch box and containers, you don't have garbage to throw away.  Bring home your egg shells and scraps for the compost. If you do put in a soda or a juice container, then bring it home to recycle.

It's easy to go green with your lunch - so pack both school and work lunches like this and tally up your savings while you're at it!