Garbage-free lunches help reduce waste
Times Colonist
Published: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
This is a New Year's resolution without any extra waste. It is not individually packaged to appeal to your eyes. It is not a sugar-laden, transfat-loaded, nutrient-deficient promise. This is a resolution all parents should make with their children this year.
Commit to sending a "garbage-free lunch" to school with your students from now until the end of June. You are getting a bit of a break as the school year is half over. This commitment ensures that your kids don't add extra garbage to our waste system.
What does a garbage-free lunch look like? It looks like an assortment of foods rather than an assortment of colourful plastic. Get your child a metal water bottle. Get a container system going inside the lunch kit. I use metal but any reusable containers will do.
You will find these lunches are cheaper and more nutritious overall. It is said that a school-age child creates about 30 kilograms of waste per school year.
Do we want environmentally responsible students graduating out of our school systems or do we want students who expect their lives to be individually wrapped in shiny plastic and handed to them on a non-recyclable platter?
Lana Popham
Saanich
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
A favorite lunch snack......
My son has this in his lunch everyday. "Yogurt and Frozen Fruit" Sounds simple enough and the good things about it are many. We use a reusable container of course, and send in a real spoon. Our version of this great snack can be adapted to anything your kids would favor.
Put an amount of yogurt into a reusable container. Most of the time we choose organic vanilla yogurt.
Cover the yogurt with frozen fruit. We use frozen raspberries or frozen blueberries.
The neat thing about this snack is that the fruit thaws before the kids eat it but in the meantime, it keeps the yogurt at a safe temperature in the lunch kit.
I bring my son to a Blueberry farm in the summer to help me pick our winter supply of blueberries. Picking fruit yourself or buying pre-picked fruit from a local farm is usually more cost effective than buying frozen bags of fruit in the winter. It is also a good idea to help your kids make a connection between local farms and what they eat for lunch.
We grow our own Raspberries and freeze them for the winter as well. This year we will try growing Strawberries for the freezer. We do grow them but they never seem to make it into the freezer.
Put an amount of yogurt into a reusable container. Most of the time we choose organic vanilla yogurt.
Cover the yogurt with frozen fruit. We use frozen raspberries or frozen blueberries.
The neat thing about this snack is that the fruit thaws before the kids eat it but in the meantime, it keeps the yogurt at a safe temperature in the lunch kit.
I bring my son to a Blueberry farm in the summer to help me pick our winter supply of blueberries. Picking fruit yourself or buying pre-picked fruit from a local farm is usually more cost effective than buying frozen bags of fruit in the winter. It is also a good idea to help your kids make a connection between local farms and what they eat for lunch.
We grow our own Raspberries and freeze them for the winter as well. This year we will try growing Strawberries for the freezer. We do grow them but they never seem to make it into the freezer.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Garbage Free Lunches.....a New Years Resolution!
Big ideas are often easier to come up with then to carry out. This holds true for most things but not this big idea! Last September I decided that I would not send my son's lunch in plastic anything. I tend to be a bit of an extremist...So I went on a quest to find the perfect lunch kit. I think I have found not only one, but two choices, that fit the bill. The first lunch kit is a four storey stainless kit. This is perfect for most days. And it looks cool. We can put 4 choices in this lunch kit without a stitch of packaging. We don't wrap his sandwiches with cellophane or put his cookies in foil. We just put them inside each compartment.
Our next find is a 2 storey kit. This is great for days that we opt for soup. We send a thermos along with this lunch kit. We have prided ourselves in not adding any garbage to the local landfill, due to his lunches, since September.
We have also gone to metal water bottles. These are a bit of an investment. They cost around $25.00. But he will use this metal water bottle indefinitely. We only send water for liquid refreshments. I don't think juice is necessary at school. Juice in the morning and juice after school is sufficient. Sending only water also keeps us away from juice boxes. I think they are a real waste for what you get out of them.
I will also be including some great choices for a great "Kidfood" lunch!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sneaky Spaghetti
Almost every kid loves spaghetti. I have been using this recipe for years and vary it as the seasons vary. It can be adapted to all eating styles, including vegetarian, wheat intolerant, meat eaters, etc.
The trick to this recipe is not to let your kids see you make it. Why you ask? Because if they knew what was in it, they may protest. The sneaky part of this recipe is the finely grated winter squash. Winter squash is seasonally available most of our Westcoast winter. It is very nutritious and adds needed fibre to our kids diets. Once added to the tomato sauce, it breaks down and turns red. It is unrecognizable!
You may leave out any of these ingredients except the tomato sauce and the squash.....
1-2 tins of your favorite tomato spaghetti sauce.
1lb ground meat such as turkey, hamburger, bison or tofu products.
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
2 cloves chopped garlic
1-2 cups chopped vegetables ( I use peppers, finely chopped chard, chopped kale, mushrooms)
1 cup finely grated winter squash
Saute meat in large frying pan with garlic and olive oil until browned. Add chopped vegetables and saute until cooked through. Add tomato sauce, parsley, and grated squash.
Simmer for approx 20 minutes.
Serve over your favorite pasta. Don't mention the squash!
P.S. My son is 9 years old. He tells people he will eat any vegetable except squash. (He has been eating it all his life in this recipe)
The trick to this recipe is not to let your kids see you make it. Why you ask? Because if they knew what was in it, they may protest. The sneaky part of this recipe is the finely grated winter squash. Winter squash is seasonally available most of our Westcoast winter. It is very nutritious and adds needed fibre to our kids diets. Once added to the tomato sauce, it breaks down and turns red. It is unrecognizable!
You may leave out any of these ingredients except the tomato sauce and the squash.....
1-2 tins of your favorite tomato spaghetti sauce.
1lb ground meat such as turkey, hamburger, bison or tofu products.
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
2 cloves chopped garlic
1-2 cups chopped vegetables ( I use peppers, finely chopped chard, chopped kale, mushrooms)
1 cup finely grated winter squash
Saute meat in large frying pan with garlic and olive oil until browned. Add chopped vegetables and saute until cooked through. Add tomato sauce, parsley, and grated squash.
Simmer for approx 20 minutes.
Serve over your favorite pasta. Don't mention the squash!
P.S. My son is 9 years old. He tells people he will eat any vegetable except squash. (He has been eating it all his life in this recipe)
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