This is a follow up to this post, where I let a little bit of my hippy hang out. Where I talked about my passion for water and our ocean. My passion for cutting down on one use plastic and trash. This post talks a lot about that. I promise it isn’t preachy. I also promise it has lots of good info and links. You should check it out.
To refresh, one of the things I spoke about was how I cut down on the amount of trash I sent to school in lunchboxes. Really the amount of trash we sent everyday for four kids was REDONKULOUS. So I started the last school year with re-usable lunchboxes. When I wrote this post, I hadn’t found my perfect system, so I linked to several lunchboxes that I had seen online or used personally. Upon a friend’s recommendation, I linked to these lunchboxes. The founder, Caroline, got in touch with me and asked if I would like to try one out.
This was in April. And the reason for this entry. I had to follow up and share what works for me. We have used it every day that we make lunch ever since. It is that good. FYI – I am not getting paid for posting about this lunchbox. I just love it, and I plan on buying one for each of the kids.
This is why I love it:
Easy to wash - One of my problems with a lot of the re-usable lunch boxes out there are the individual pieces you need to wash everyday. With four kids, there were days I was washing 16-20 individual containers and lids. Um, no thank you. With Planetbox, there are no separate containers, and yet the food stays separate.
No weird taste – I was worried it might leave a metal taste on the food. It doesn’t.
It’s not geared just towards children – the look is great for older kids or adults – a lot of the bento boxes and re-usable lunchboxes on the market are geared towards the younger crowd. My middle school kids can take it.
No leaking – the strawberries don’t leak into the chips. Liquid items can be placed in one of the extra containers.
(FYI – We also still use our contigo water bottles – they have held up and only needed one lid replacement in all this use. Highly recommend those suckers as well.)
Anna is currently the one who takes the Planetbox to school. She is asked quite often about what the lunchbox even is, which is great. She is not an adventurous eater, so her lunch always includes a turkey sandwich and jalapeno chips. The last two large openings are typically used for fruit, but sometimes I throw in a muffin, or another crunchy snack. The tiny square in the center is perfect for a surprise treat. I love that little detail. I often throw in a few mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, or a tiny little cookie or candy.
I am teaching my children why we do this, and they will teach their friends. They will teach their children. I didn’t just hand them a snazzy new lunchbox, I told them WHY. Kids LOVE to have a cause – they want to help the world. At the beginning of the last school year, we dedicated time, money, and energy to make these changes, and I am proud to say that at this point, I send ZERO TRASH TO SCHOOL, SIR! I have not sent one water bottle, not one plastic bag, nothing. I know it is expensive to start out – but in the long run you save money on all the snack items, baggies, and bottles you used to buy. It really is worth it. In my other post, I shared more information about other options for lunch, water bottles, and food storage – it is worth checking out if you haven’t read it before.
You guys, I REALLY want to keep trash out of the ocean. I REALLY want to keep plastic bags and plastic bottles out of our landfills. They never, ever leave. It hurts my heart when I see plastic bottle caps in the sand at the beach. It is so sad to see all the trash that makes it’s way to the cans at lunch everyday. Sandwich baggies, carrot baggies, cookie baggies, chip baggies, water bottles, gatorade bottles, etc etc etc. It is such a huge sad waste of our resources. Just buying those things in bulk and choosing re-usable lunchboxes, bags, and water bottles would make so much difference for our world.
And it is actually pretty fun to pack lunches this way, it’s kind of like playing Tetris, so. Double bonus.
xo
Tara
Post edit:
Some questions in the comments that I wanted to address here.
Do the chips or bread get stale?
My kids are VERY picky about food quality and I haven’t heard any of them complain about that. And trust me, they would.
Could a young child open and use the box?
Yes – I asked Anna if she thought she could have used this in Kindergarten and she said yes. The metal handle that you pull down doesn’t have much resistance. The hinge opens easily.
Can you send liquid items?
The lunchbox can be purchased with some extra containers they call Little Dippers. There is a pocket on the outside that they can slip into, or they can be put inside in the largest opening. There are photos on the website.
