Rachael's Random Ramblings

Alternatives to plastic sandwich baggies...and lunch ideas...

School is upon us!! Isabelle is sooo excited to be starting Kindergarten! She will also get to experience riding the bus which she is very excited about also. I've been reassured by the bus driver that the youngest sit together up front where she can watch them, and the oldest sit towards the back.

We've looked over the lunch menu and have decided what days she will take her lunch and what days she will purchase. Looks like next week she will be bringing her lunch twice, and I'm busy planning what she will take.

I've decided I just cannot bring myself to do the plastic sandwich baggies. The teachers have the kids dump out their trash at the cafeteria everyday, and all those baggies going into our landfills is enough to turn me off from the whole idea forever. Now, I must say, I do use plastic baggies sometimes, for freezing, candies, etc, so I'm not totally "green", but if I can find alternatives to wrapping sandwiches and other food in that can be reused easily, I'm all for it.

So, I'll be using wax paper and cloth for her sandwiches, and reusable containers for her fruit, puddings, and other messy or wet items. There's a site called reusablebags.com that sells some interesting, earth friendly lunch wrap alternatives....their sandwich wrap is especially cool!

Isabelle will be using a metal lunch box, a stainless steel insulated, wide-mouthed thermos for casseroles, hearty soups, etc., plus another insulated stainless steel thermos for hot or cold drinks (I can pack her some hot chocolate in the winter).

As far as lunch ideas, Isabelle LOVES ham sandwiches, so there's one. She also mentioned wanting to take some of my taco casserole as her school lunch. Of course, carrot sticks, celery, bananas, peanut butter crackers, popcorn, granola, and grapes are good side item ideas.

Desserts will be baked on Sundays, and then frozen for the weeks ahead, that way when it's packed frozen it'll be thawed out (hopefully ) and fresh tasting by lunch time. Each Sunday I'll bake a different dessert so that there are a variety in the freezer to choose from so she won't be subjected to the same thing all week (sugar cokies are great, but day after day would get tiresome).

Puddings, muffins, cookies, and brownies are just some of the ideas I have for yummy treats this year. Oh, and Isabelle saw a commercial for this new Oreo thing, instead of a crunchy cookie, it's cake-like with the cream filling. So basically a Suzie-Q or whoopie pie. I saw them at the store, and I "may" buy her some when I have a little more money, but at dang near $2.50 a box for just a few of them it'll have to wait awhile. In the meantime, I've found a recipe for whoopie pies which sound delicious!! So I'm going to whip up a batch and see what the kids think of them, and pack them as desserts in the lunches instead of the store bought Oreo cake things. Hopefully she'll forget ALL about the store bought stuff! (blegh!) LOL!

If they're good, I'll post the recipe!

Well, off to get clothes washed!

Untitled Comment

{ 11:47 , Monday, September 3, 2007 } { Posted by TheWedhornFamily }

I love this time of year.When school starts it means fall is not too far behind:) Hope you have a blessed day:)

I enjoyed reading your blog today...

{ 02:35 , Monday, May 5, 2008 } { Posted by lancelotacres }

I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your blog today. My 6 year old also loves the TV. We have had to limit it or she'd just spend all her free time with it. It's a bit different though, she doesn't care much for the teeny-bopper shows, she loves PBS Sprout (which is my preference).

Instead of telling her we are limiting the TV, I'll say that I need her help and can she come and ??? (help me bake bread, or make supper, or move the chicks outside, or misc other chores). This way it doesn't look like I'm limiting her TV, but it gets her up doing other things.

On the lunches...I bought DD a laptop lunchbox and I highly recommend them. They are pricey...$35 each for the entire system, but they are so worth it. My DD is very picky and she loves it. It is very 'green'. It comes with a box with several bowls inside it. Only two of the bowls have lids, the rest just close when the box is closed. There is no garbage because everything is in the bowls. DD loves oatmeal cream pies, so she does usually have a wrapper from that, but otherwise she has no garbage at all. It comes with a reusable water bottle as well and she takes milk for her lunch in that. The entire box is made with safe plastics (BPA-free).

I hope you work things out with your DD. It must be very hard with her going back and forth from her dad's to your house AND being exposed to older siblings. Good luck and big hugs,
Lisa