February 11, 2009

Laptop Lunches

Last summer I came across a great product called Laptop Lunches in a parenting magazine. I immediately ordered one, and after seven months I still think it’s great.

Laptop lunches is a reusable lunch box that keeps me from using any plastic baggies. It all started when Caleb went through a very—what would you call it?—environmentally conscious phase. We were reading lots of books about saving the earth at that time, and it really got me thinking about how wasteful we were. Laptop Lunches was one of the best changed we made.

After seven months of continuous use the box still shows no sign of wear or tear. It came with an idea book, and I get a monthly e-mail with new ideas. I always thought of Caleb’s lunch as a creative outlet for me anyway. I like Caleb to open the box and smile. He always tells me that he had the best lunch in the class, and I love to hear that! It’d be so boring to get the same thing day after day, so I never send the same items in the same week.

Our main dish usually includes some type of pasta salad, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, banana bread with peanut butter, or turkey and cheese. A fruit and a veggie are a must have too. I play around with the rest. Also earth friendly is a thermos which Caleb takes once a week with a hot pasta or soup.

The Laptop Lunch comes with real silverware that stays in the box. All of the pieces are removable which makes cleaning easy. Caleb has never accidentally thrown away any of the reusable pieces. I absolutlely love it, and it has paid for itself over and over again with the money I save on Ziplocs. Here is a sampling of a week’s worth of lunches. Caleb has a 4-day school week.