Packed Lunches

The Husband always takes a packed lunch to work and from time to time the kids take them to school (currently they both get free school meals so I’m making the most of that whilst they get them). We’ve had to wean ourselves off the cling film and now wrap sandwiches in foil or brown paper bags – I bought a box from our local supermarket but I also reuse the paper bags I get at the market. Crisps have been the hardest thing to change. We used to get big multipacks but have now stopped and buy one or two big bags which I then decant into little pots for lunch. It’s not ideal but we all love crisps and we’re finding them one of the more difficult things to give up. I feel slightly better that we are at least creating less waste. One of the shops in our town has just signed up to the terracycle scheme that collect crisp packets for recycling so I’m saving them up to take in there. Waitrose sell mini breadsticks in cardboard tubes so I sometimes buy those as an alternative. The eldest likes mini baby bels and I was struggling to find an alternative as he wasn’t a fan of me putting cubes of cheese in a pot, so I’ve decided to try cheese triangles instead as they’re wrapped in foil and come in a cardboard box. I know I’d prefer the cubes of cheese but I suppose the cheese triangles will be a bit quicker if nothing else!

I always used to put in a cereal bar but have now started making either a tray bake cake or flapjack so I can cut out the plastic wrappers. I either wrap them in foil or in paper bags. My favourite recipes for flapjack is this one – it works well with rolled or jumbo oats:

125g butter

100g caster sugar

4 tablespoons golden syrup

250g rolled oats

Preheat oven to 180 C

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a sauce pan. Turn off the heat and stir in the oats (you could add some raisins or sultanas at this point if you haven’t got fussy kids like mine!). Pour the mixture into a lined baking tray and cook for 15-20mins until golden brown. Cut into squares and leave to cool in the tin.

As the kids needed new lunch boxes and we’ve decided to try and find alternatives to plastic, even if it’s not single use, I found some metal lunch tins on Amazon. One came from a third party seller and was wrapped in loads of plastic so I’d recommend trying to find one from an alternative source. Similarly the eldest needed a new water bottle and I was lucky enough to find a stainless steel one quite cheaply in the local hardware store. The more I’ve researched plastic the less I like it for putting food in. Even the BPA free products can leach chemicals into the food when heated. Ultimately I’d like to replace the little plastic tubs I’m using for crisps and grapes etc with stainless steel tiffin tins but they’re quite pricey so I’ve put that idea on hold for now. I’m also considering investing in some beeswax wraps or I might even have a go at making some.

Have you got any plastic free packed lunch tips? I’m always looking for more ideas and inspiration.