Plan your zero waste school lunch

School’s back, and that means parents are back on the school lunch merry-go-round. Did you know that getting two kids through primary school means packing 2,400 lunches? Aaaaahhh! It’s enough to turn you into a zombie – hopefully a plastic-eating one, which would solve the problem of all the disposable packaging that lunch boxes seem to attract.

In New Zealand we each throw out 76kg of packaging waste on average every year. That’s a mountain of rubbish going into landfill, where it lasts for centuries. Plastic litter also blows around and can end up in the sea, where it kills and harms marine life. Tiny grains of plastic are all through the sand on our beaches, and currents are collecting millions of pieces of rubbish into vast floating islands in the middle of our oceans.

The good news is that, even though it’s a big problem, it’s made up of lots of individual pieces of packaging – which means what we do as individuals makes all the difference. And school lunches are one of the easiest places to start cutting back on packaging.

In fact a ‘zero waste’ lunch doesn’t have to make your morning any more stressful, or take any more time to make. All you need is a good lunch box, some reusable wrappers or containers and a little bit of practice. Why not give it a try for a term? Here are our top tips for getting started.

Snacks

Stock up on lots of the same reusable containers for snacks and leftovers, as there’s nothing worse than rummaging around in the cupboard trying to find a lid that fits. I have enough so even if half of them get temporarily left at school, I’ll still be smiling sweetly rather than screeching and yelling about looking after your belongings. Look for a recycling number and symbol on the bottom, so they can be recycled if they ever get cracked.

• Nude Food Mover ‘Snack Tubes’ sold in supermarkets, $6.99 for three
• Sistema ‘Klip’ containers sold in supermarkets, $2.49 for three

Lunch boxes

A good lunch box is key. I’m a big fan of lunch boxes with compartments, but some friends swear by the open click-clack containers. Take a minute to think about what your children normally eat before you buy. My kids always take a whole apple, so that narrows the options a lot.

I like the Sistema ‘Quaddie’ lunchboxes (pictured). They usually last at least a year, and you can keep the lids from the old ones and use them as replacements. Nude Food Movers and Tupperware make good compartmentalised lunch boxes too.

• Sistema ‘Quaddie’ sold in supermarkets, $10.99 www.sistemaplastics.com
• Nude Food Mover ‘Rubbish Free Lunch Box’ sold in supermarkets, $17.99-$19.99 www.nudefoodmovers.com.au
• Tupperware ‘Sandwich Keeper Plus’ sold through parties, distributors or at kiosks, $38 www.tupperware.co.nz

Fruit

The great thing about fruit is it comes in its own packaging, and can usually go straight into a lunch box. If your child finds a whole apple daunting (or has wiggly front teeth), invest in an apple spiraller. Browning is not such a big issue because the flesh of the apple is not exposed to the air, and you don’t need to wrap it. Your child gets cred for having the coolest play lunch, and they’ll even want to take them to shared lunches.

• $25 www.ezipeelers.co.nz
• $35 www.mightyape.co.nz

Reuse other containers

Some products come in awesome containers which can be reused. Lisa’s hummus containers are perfect for orange segments – thanks Lisa! A rubber band around it stops any potential leaks. Pesto containers are often a good size for snacks too. Saving money and the planet, love it!

Sandwiches

Reusable sandwich wraps are a great replacement for cling film and last for years. Usually I just wipe the plastic liner each day, but you can throw them in the washing machine if they look grubby. If your lunch box has a sandwich compartment, you can put sandwiches in nude. Tupperware, Nude Food Movers and Sistema also sell sandwich-sized containers.

• Ginger Pye sandwich wrap sold online, $13.95-$15.95 www.gingerpye.co.nz
• 4MyEarth sandwich wrap sold online, $15.50 www.4myearth.co.nz

Veges

The trick to sneaking whole veges into the lunch box is to get your child to feel like they’re a treat, so buy them small and in season. Baby carrots, peas in their pods, little capsicums, cucumber pieces, cooked corn-on-the-cob and cherry tomatoes all work well. With the exception of tomatoes, they’re all pretty robust, so no packaging needed.

Drink bottles

I’ve spent a small fortune on BPA-free plastic bottles and steel bottles, and they’ve all disappeared to the great bottle bank in the sky. Now my boys use the drink fountains at school, which are much cheaper! Steel ECOtanka bottles, and steel and BPA-free plastic bottles from CamelBak are expensive, but less likely to leak or leach than cheaper plastic or single-use bottles.

• CamelBak sold at sport stores, $24-$45 www.bivouac.co.nz
• ECOtanka sold at outlets listed on their website, $20.90 www.ecotanka.com

Popcorn/chips

If it’s a day for treats, buy a big bag of chips and put a few in a snaplock bag, which can be washed out and reused. Quick, easy and much less packaging to throw in the rubbish than mini-packs. Snaplock bags work well for popcorn too.

• Snaplock bags come free with bulk bin purchases
• Glad Snaplock bags sold in supermarkets, $2.99 for 25

Survival tips for busy days

• Use Pam’s imitation grease-proof paper. Keep a roll of this lunch paper for emergency wrapping. Despite the name, there’s no grease or wax coating so you can compost it or recycle it (if it’s clean).
• Freeze half batches of baking. Throw a frozen muffin or pikelet straight in the lunch box and it’ll thaw by playtime.
• Have an emergency kit. Hide some supplies in the pantry for those times when you really, really should have gone shopping yesterday. Dried fruit, canned pineapple, crackers and tuna usually make it through the pantry raids.
• Gadgets are fun, and kids love to use them. My top two are the apple spiraller and a popcorn maker. Now if only someone could invent a sandwich filling machine!