Reduce the Waste AND Cost of School Lunch

I’ve been seeing those back to school pictures all over my Facebook feed these past few days. We still have a few weeks before we go back but we are definitely thinking ahead and starting to plan. One of the things I need to plan for is Josh bringing his lunch to school as he’s been doing that since 6th grade. I’m thrilled to be partnering with our sponsor, PackIt, to share some ways that we will be cutting back on both the cost of lunch and the amount of waste that is produced each day.

I know everyone is interested in saving money, but why should the amount of waste produced by “brown bag lunches” be a concern? Well, each child that brings a lunch from home with individual servings of things like chips and drinks and tosses all of that at the end of lunch creates over 65 lbs of trash in a school year. Multiply that 65 lbs times every student in the school, and you’ve got a significant amount of trash! It’s estimated that each school produces about a ton of waste – A TON!

While the amount of waste that is produced is staggering, each of those items that is thrown out must be replaced the following day. So even if you are a bargain shopper and get your paper bags, sandwich bags, fruit cups and juice boxes at just pennies each, multiply each of those items times 180 days a year over the course of a K-12 education and you’ve thrown away some serious cash.

While we have had a PackIt lunch bag for several years, this year we are getting super fancy with a bigger case and a bento box! If you’re not familiar with the PackIt brand, let me fill you in. (Personally, I think they are brilliant!!) PackIt products are freezable, gel-lined and act as a cooler and ice pack all in one. One of my favorite things is that the bags fold up to practically flat and hardly take up any freezer space, yet stay cold for hours.

Since Josh likes to take sandwiches with lunch meat and mayo, I get a little paranoid about his lunch sitting in his hot locker until lunch. With PackIt, I’m not worried anymore. The bento box is a great accessory to complement the PackIt bag. It’s fully customizable and we can easily reconfigure it depending on what that day’s lunch consists of.

I “borrowed” it one day this summer when I brought some sushi on a road trip with me. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of packing sushi in a lunch that was going to be spending hours in the car, but it stayed ice cold in the PackIt!

I particularly love the small container that comes with the Flex bento box. It actually clips onto the edge of the main box so it doesn’t get tossed around inside and open accidentally. It’s perfect for dipping sauces, yogurt or pudding or whatever your favorite condiment is.

Like I mentioned, we’d been using a PackIt bag for years, but I am head over heels with the bento box and matching bag. Just when I think a good thing couldn’t get any better, the folks at PackIt prove me wrong!! There are two different boxes to choose from. The Mod has three of the flat dividers to configure however you’d like. The Flex (what I have) has a dip cup in addition to two dividers.

Want to snag your own PackIt? I’m giving away a PackIt Bag on Instagram!! To enter, head over to this Instagram post and follow the instructions!