I love the back-to-school season more than any other time of the year. One of my favorite school-time rituals is packing lunches. I'm a firm believer in plant-based power lunches and tasty little treats, especially when packaged in functional, durable, nontoxic containers. Here are three tips to help bust the plastic bag habit if you're looking to reduce your plastic use this school year:
1. Reuse Jars - When I find a nice-sized salsa or jam jar, I'll run it through the dishwasher and give it a second life as a to-go container for drinks or little snacks. I have a whole shelf of Trader Joe's corn salsa jars (one of the most divine condiments around) that are perfect for little glasses of juice for breakfast on-the-run. The two jars pictured contain mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and vanilla oat milk - What a fun and tasty little treat to share with a friend at school! The best part of reusing jars like this - The empty containers can be brought home for another use, or just placed in the recycling bins at school.
2. Pepper Dippers - Bell peppers are one of our favorite veggies, and since we often use them in snacks or meals that are better with a little side of salsa, hummus, or dressing, I recently decided to see if I could use the bottom portion of a pepper as a condiment dish. The result: Huge success! Instead of using your tiniest Gladware container or a messy plastic bag, just pop a little hummus in an edible pepper dipper right in your lunch container.
3. DIY Bento Box - I love the look of bento-style lunchboxes with perfectly portioned little sections. Create the same effect with a regular glass container by positioning sandwich halves on opposite sides and sticking snacks in the center. This lets you pack a single compact container instead of multiple plastic bags, and even as an adult I think it's fun to eat out of a bento-style lunchbox.
And a bonus tip: Let nature package your snacks by packing sweet in-season fruits like apples, nectarines, pluots (our current favorite), peaches, and pears - These are the fruits that are plentiful at our neighborhood farmers market right now, where we are lucky enough to find locally-grown pesticide-free fruits and veggies for cheaper than the conventional produce at the grocery store. I love that I can give one of these a quick rinse, wrap it in a cloth napkin, and stick it in my bag for a quick and easy packaging-free snack. If you're trying to reduce your pesticide intake, use the 2013 Produce Guide when you shop.
Breakdown of the lunches pictured (including recipes and product details) below!
Containers:
- Glass Snapware is my favorite food container system - Check Costco for a great deal (I even saw a $6 off coupon in the September coupon booklet). These containers are microwave and dishwasher-safe and have a super tight seal - As in you can toss a container of soup in your backpack and not worry about leaks. It's pretty incredible.
- This Takeya glass water bottle is sleek and elegant but also durable - I've dropped mine on the street a number of times and the only damage is that little dent on the plastic cap. If you prefer a stainless steel water bottle, I love this insulated one that keeps cold drinks cold for a whopping 36 hours.
- That adorable tiny lime green silicone salad dressing bottle is part of the Zing! line at Target - It was $3.99 and comes in green, orange/red, and blue/purple. Silicone doesn't break down and leach at high temperatures like plastic, which means you can run it through the dishwasher without worrying.
- The canvas lunch tote is from Homegrown.
- The pineapple juice is from Trader Joe's, my favorite place to find BPA-free canned items. The two glass jars are both from Trader Joe's salsas.
Food:
Bento box lunch
1. Toast and slice a whole wheat bagel.
2. Spread hummus on both halves.
3. Top one side with veggies of choice (such as slices of cucumber and bell pepper, or pre-shredded carrots and pre-shredded cabbage if you're short on time).
4. Top the other side with half a ripe avocado.
5. Add a dash of spicy barbecue sauce for a tasty twist, then clap the two halves together.
6. Slice down the middle and arrange on opposite sides of your container, then fill the middle with one or two tasty snacks (we love cherry tomatoes and Inner Peas from Trader Joe's, great with hummus or on their own).
Simple salad
Rinse and combine any and all vegetables in your fridge! The salad pictured has romaine, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers, and is topped with sunflower seeds and ground flax seeds. Here's my no-fail salad equation for a classic, crisp green salad:
One or more leafy greens [romaine, spinach, kale, etc] + one or more crunchy veggies [carrots, cucumbers, snap peas, etc] + one or more big-flavor veggies [tomatoes, peppers, avocado, etc] + one or more textured toppings [sunflower seeds, flaxmeal, almond slices, etc] = one delicious salad eagerly awaiting the dressing of your choice!
Veggie & hummus snack
Slice bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers into sticks and pack tightly in a small container alongside a narrow pepper tip stuffed with hummus - This would also be tasty with cherry tomatoes or pita chips! The hummus pictured is the mediterranean hummus from Trader Joe's.
Burrito bowl (If I could only eat one meal over and over for the rest of my life, this would be it)
1. Add 1/3 cup dry quinoa and 2/3 cup water to a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 15 minutes until light and fluffy. (Have leftover brown rice? Put it to use here in place of cooking quinoa)
2. Rinse and drain half a can of black or pinto beans.
3. Cut off the tip of a rinsed bell pepper, fill with salsa, and prop it up in your lunch container.
4. Layer cooked quinoa and rinsed beans in container (this will stabilize your pepper dipper).
5. Cover beans and quinoa with any of the following: chopped bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, avocado, corn salsa, and crushed tortilla chips.
6. For extra flavor, add cilantro, hot sauce, or a squeeze of lime!
Mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
The exact recipe for these addicting cookies stays in my family :) Here are a couple of tips to turn your favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe into a tremendous hit:
- Grind your oatmeal! Pulse your oats in a blender or Magic Bullet before adding to your cookie dough. Grind them as fine as you'd like (a flour-like consistency will give your cookies all of that delicious oatmeal flavor without any oat-y texture).
- Use half white flour and half whole wheat flour to boost nutrition without sacrificing flavor.
- Substitute coconut oil for butter (1:1 ratio) - Use expeller-pressed coconut oil if you don't like the subtle coconut flavor that unrefined coconut oil contributes to the cookies.
- Use a crushed dark chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips.
- Add a teaspoon or two of cinnamon to your cookie dough.
- Make the cookies tiny! Tiny cookies are always more fun.
*A big thank you to Paul Jones for doing the photography for this post! It was so much fun to work with him and get to know his sweet family. You can check out more of his stellar photography here. Thanks Paul!
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*In this post, I've linked to products in the Harmless Home Amazon Shop, an Amazon.com storefront curated by me, filled with products that I use and love. I'll always let you know if there is a cheaper place to find any of the products I recommend. When you add items to your cart and check out via the Harmless Home shop, you'll be taken back to the main Amazon.com site and will make your purchase there, but a portion of the proceeds from your sale will support this blog. You pay Amazon.com prices, Amazon manages your order, and Harmless Home gets a little love - It's a win-win :) For free 2-day shipping, sign up for a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime here.
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