Veggie-Bento

Yup, glass! Even BPA free plastics are not free of toxins so I’ve been trying to transition my family towards metal and glass instead. It’s not easy! I love my EasyLunchBoxes so much, I still use them about 90% of the time. However, I *have* found some great products to make the switch easier at home and school.

Plastic Free at School and Work

Glass with a silicone wrap is the way to go! We LOVE the products below.

Cora uses these water bottles daily (middle picture) and I find not only do I like the glass better than plastic or metal, I also like the tops better. The metal water bottles are cute, but the paint scratches off (hmm maybe some nasty toxins there). Also, she doesn’t always manage to close them all the way so lunch and backpack come home a wet mess. We’ve lost many an art masterpiece this way! These lids are either on or not so no more leaks! I use one of the large bottles (top left picture) at home and also have one of the Cora-sized bottles to bring milk to work for my coffee. I drilled a hole in the lid of the larger one to hold a metal smoothie straw (right picture). It works great!

I love these containers for my lunches! I usually bring two, one with salad and one with taco flavored lentils or refried beans mixed with salsa. I pop the latter in the microwave, then dump them together on a couple baked corn tortillas and voila, yummy taco salad that make my co-workers jealous! I use them occasionally for Cora as well. They are a bit heavy but I do feel they are safe with the silicone case if dropped. The main reason I don’t send them with her daily is that I’m hooked on compartments and the ELBs work so well. So far, Cora has been great about not losing lunch materials, but the cost of losing one of these babies is also a consideration.

Plastic Free at Home

To smooth out the edges and ensure Cora gets enough variety in her diet, we make her a smoothie for breakfast every day. We start with a veg juice I make on the weekends (beet, carrot and apple), add in a pear, melon, and fruit scraps leftover from making lunch the day before and round it off with a scoop of our favorite vitamin protein powder. This concoction keeps her regular and I worry less about food jags. The smoothies go great in the mason jar glasses we ‘made’ using two craft hole punches and grommets. It is really easy and the end result is so fun, especially with the Ball Heritage jars! The straws fit tightly in the hole with the grommet, making spills very hard to accomplish. I put a tiny little hole in the lid as well (the reason for the second hole punch) to reduce suction and allow for airflow despite the tight fit around the straw. We use metal straws, but if the texture puts you off, you can get glass straws instead. I assume they are durable and safe, but we haven’t tried them so I can’t vouch for them. Cora was a straw chewer so I was worried how she would do with the metal. Switching to the metal straws was seamless AND broke her of the habit.

To make the smoothie cups:

To make the smoothies: