Healthy Lunch & Healthy Planet

The transition into an eco-friendly lifestyle can be difficult, especially when you are unsure of where to start. By choosing a small task to begin with before progressing to bigger items, the overall process appears less daunting. Eco-friendly packaging for meals on the go is an excellent starting place to reduce your waste and single use plastic. Here are a few simple tips and sustainable products that are excellent additions to the kitchen!

Glass Containers

Glass containers are reusable and make for a green alternative to plastic Tupperware. They are often sold in sets of varying sizes and shapes, but single containers are available. I personally prefer ones with snap lids to prevent spilling. Mason jars are also excellent spill safe glass containers, ideal for liquids like soup. When purchasing a set, the larger containers can be used as storage for cut up produce, left overs, or deserts

Bees Wax Wraps

These wraps are an ideal substitute to plastic wrap. The cloths are made of cotton infused with beeswax; meaning they are 100% natural. Beeswax wraps can be used to keep food fresh such as cut or whole veggies and fruits, salads, bread, sandwiches, etc. These wraps are reusable and can be washed, but if they begin to break down over time, they can be composted due to the natural materials.

Plant Fibre Containers

Just like the glass dishes, plant based containers are suitable for both cold and hot foods. They are however far lighter making them a better option if you have to carry the dishes for longer periods of time. The all natural material is durable for day to day use but can be broken down into organic materials if the container is no longer usable.

The brand Keka for example makes hot or cold cereal cups with spoons (and lids), coffee mugs, and bowls all made of wheat fibre! They can be found at Zehrs and Independent Grocer.

Similar products can also be found on amazon

Water Bottles

A huge contributor to garbage in our oceans is the plastic water bottle. These single use items are not biodegradable and very harsh on our environment. A refillable water bottle can save hundreds if not thousands of single use plastic bottles a year.

Products like Nalgene make extremely durable and easy to clean bottles with varying sizes, colours, and patterns.

Companies such as Brita make bottles with built in water filters that offer an alternative to the 'filtered water' sold in the plastic bottles.

Utensils

Packing meals usually involves cutlery. The best option for this is to take some from the kitchen set; however, we are human and the likelihood of losing a spoon or fork somewhere is almost inevitable. To prevent anyone from turning to plastic cutlery in order to avoid losing a utensil from the kitchen set, I would recommend purchasing a spork. They are a combination of a spoon and fork and can be found in sustainable materials like wood and bamboo. If a combination utensil is not appealing, there are also bamboo travel cutlery sets that come in a washable travel case.