Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... "The 3 R's"

Enid loves that song...

I think you know that a lot of school lunches are not as healthy as they could or should be. Not only is it a good idea to sometimes pack a lunch, it's a good idea to pack it smartly.

I've gathered from various sites that reusable food items saves at least 30 lbs of paper waste per school student every year. The average elementary school can reduce paper waste by over 2500 lbs if 'brown bag' lunches are changed to GREEN bags instead!!

There's a growing bento mania in America, and I am proud to admit I've been part of it for a while. I try to pack Enid's preschool snack in reusable containers, and Gerald rarely uses disposables for his lunch. It doesn't have to be "kawaii" (which basically means cute in Japanese). It doesn't even have to be bento style or Asian food. It can just be a plain old lunchbox with plain old food in it.

I have been asked by a few different people recently to share bento sites for ideas, but here are a few that have simple, non-bento items. These follow the "3 R's" for those of you not interested in bento. BUT, I must say that if you have kids, you can get awesome bento items that are extremely kid-friendly, and they almost always get kids to try new foods and eat healthier! Enid started by getting into foods cut into cute little shapes.

If you are one of the few that wants bento sites, just let me know.

Laptop Lunches

Reusable Bags

To-Go Ware

Oh yeah... and there are several books you can find on Amazon on the subject as well.