According to New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation each typical school student produces 45 to 90 pounds of garbage a year in disposable lunches. Now consider all the adults who also lug lunches around. That’s a ton of trash. Bags, plastic wrap, foil, straws, juice boxes and more all add up to a whopping load of garbage, and while some workplaces and schools do recycle, people just don’t recycle all they should.

Here are some ideas for packing a trash-free lunch…

1. GRAB A REUSABLE LUNCH CARRIER - Any old reusable lunch carrier will do but points for looking for one that’s made from eco-friendly materials and that will last a long time. Insulated carriers are also a pro as they allow you to carry colder foods even in the summer heat. Shown above are some great reusable lunch carrier options.

1. Bento Box Set – cool and come in many colors.
2. Built NY’s lunch tote – Sophisticated pick for adult lunches, safe, and comes in many color choices.
3. Waste-free lunch kit: Reusable, waste-free lunch kit includes recycled cotton sack, cloth napkin, food-grade stainless steel beverage bottle, food kozy and two food-grade stainless steel food containers. Many color styles available.
4. Lunchopolis kits are safe, cute, and hold a bunch of lunch goodness.
5. Basic 100% certified organic cotton lunch sacks. Many designs available.

2. GRAB A REUSABLE DRINK CONTAINER – see the links below for good choices…

• NEW SIGG Wide Mouth Bottles!
• The Best Looking Reusable Water Bottles on the Planet
• Kid’s reusable bottles
• G2 Stainless Steel Drink Bottles

3. GRAB SOME REUSABLE FOOD CONTAINERS , WRAPS & BAGGIES – Nowadays there are plenty of good reusable bag, wrap, and container options available that can take the place of plastic baggies, foil, and plastic wrap.

• 10 oz Leak-proof Food Jar – BPA free
• Plum Creek Mercantile Reusable Cloth Snack Bags
• Reusable food containers
• Reusable sandwich bags

4. PACK FOODS & DRINKS FROM HOME – Ban prepackaged foods and instead make food that will save up nicely in your reusable lunch gear.

Are you still carrying around paper or plastic lunch sacks? Have you been considering a switch?

Post from: Blisstree

Plan for trash-free lunches

I’ve offered to make their guestbook… I would like to make myself a new outfit  and am trying to  make a set of linens as a bridal shower gift.

I think I need more coffee

This is what I’m doing for the napkins:

The napkins are already hemmed and I’ve placed the iron-on pattern approximately where I’d like it on the napkin.

I’ve got the tranfer face down on the napkin and will iron it 0n, according to the directions that came in the transfer book.

I wasn’t careful enough and managed to get a patchy image on the first transfer.  It’s not a big problem, because the ink  will be covered by thread when I’m done.  In order to avoid this in the other napkins, I need to make sure that the iron is flat on the surface (I had the iron resting on the napkin hem) and don’t move the iron around – it will blur your image!

Here are all 8 of the napkins with the celtic interlace ironed onto the corner.  The next step will be free-motion embroidering the interlaces… but that’s for tomorrow!

Post from: Blisstree

embroidered napkins