homemade sandwich is a great lunch
There are easy ways to go green when you take a lunch to work or to school, so try these suggestions for making your lunch a healthy, eco-friendly, green experience.
Instructions
1. We are all aware of the state of the planet, the high cost of everything, and the urgent necessity for living a greener life. One of the ways to do this is by taking an aspect of your life and making it more eco-friendly. This article is about ways of packing a green lunch.
Let's start with the container we put our lunch in. You don't have to rush out and buy the latest, expensive, eco-friendly lunch container to go green. You can if you want to, but if you want to save money and reuse or recycle what you already have, that's even better.
Reduce is one aspect of going green that is very important. This means use less, buy less, and make do with what you already have.
Most of us have a lot of stuff, even in our kitchen, so go through everything you have stored away in your kitchen and see what you already have that might make a great lunch container.
Some of us have those old-fashioned tin lunch boxes, and if so use them. (Make sure it's not a hot collectible item first though). If you find yourself with a kids hand me down Spiderman or Barbie lunch box, then make it more your style with stickers or paint a design on the box more appropriate for you.
If you can't find an old metal lunch box, how about using a paper bag? Most people have plenty of them and they can be reused and recycled too.
Maybe you have a plastic container with small sections that would be perfect to use for lunch. It doesn't matter what its original use was (as long as you didn't store chemicals in it that is), just wash it thoroughly and use the sections for your different food items for your lunch. Fancy Bento boxes and the new briefcase use the same principle, with several sections for different foods. You can buy them of course, but if you're trying to save money why not see if you have a sectioned container already that you could use for your lunches.
You might have an insulated lunch bag or two from the past too, so start using them again. They still do the job just fine and you're not out any money.
2. Save small containers with lids from dips and the like, for your work lunch salads, or for trail mix, or sliced fruits, etc. Cleaned and dried they work just fine to keep your food separate and fresh.
Plastic sandwich bags are handy but not very green so some folks are suggesting a sandwich wrap that you wipe and clean between uses. An expensive but viable option I'm sure, but you could also just save plastic containers that would be perfect for holding a sandwich, and wash them between lunches. Chances are you a plastic container that would work perfectly to hold lunch sandwiches.
Use real silverware, not plastic throwaways, and cloth napkins for your lunch. Sure you have to take them home and wash them between uses, but how hard is that?
3. For drinks, water is the best. You can take water in a steel or aluminum thermos container or in a recyclable bottle.
Avoid single serving drinks (or anything!) in your lunch boxes, there is too much packaging being thrown away if you do that. Buy larger sizes and pour into your own containers if you must have juice. It's cheaper too.
4. If you have any food waste (banana and orange peelings, apple cores, etc), left over after lunch, then take it home with you and put it in your kitchen compost pile. Food waste is a huge problem now in our landfills and from work lunches is just as bad as home .
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