School Lunch

Each year for Earth Day, we try try make one significant change in our family to become more eco-friendly. Although I have been using cloth shopping bags for years and even use them at non-grocery stores (Old Navy, Gap, LOFT, Gymboree, Target, Hardware store and even restaurants - much to the horror of my teenager!) we were still pretty big consumers of plastic baggies, especially as my germ-o-phobic personality would never allow me to wash & re-use them as I know some people do. I decided our change for 2010 was to ditch the baggies!

I initially tried 2 types of sandwich / snack bags. Here they are with why I love them ----

Snack Taxi.

My total fave and I am in LOVE. Their sizes are just perfect. The sandwich bag can nicely fit in a sandwich without having to smush the sides, yet not leaving so much room that it comes apart and the filling falls out. I often send a thick slice of homemade bread with a thermos of soup for lunch - and even if they bring the bread home (having not eaten it) it is still nice and soft and not dried out at all.

The snack size are great for a substantial snack and even fit the medium sized rice cakes (the one's that Stew's or Fairway make.) I love all the colors and cute designs. The best thing about these bags? They are completely washable & durable. If they've just been used for crackers or bread or carrots or something NOT messy / wet / potentially cross contaminating - I turn them inside out & wipe them with a damp cloth. They dry in minutes and I pop them right back in the drawer to use again. If they do need a "real" washing I either scrub them with some dish soap & rinse or turn them inside out (attaching the Velcro so it won't stick to other laundry items) and wash them in the washing machine & then air dry. A few have accidentally gone through the dryer and come out fine, but I prefer to air dry them.

In dozens of washings they have never lost their shape, faded or had stitching come undone. We have been using these for 6 month now and they still look as great and sturdy as the day we got them.

The only drawback to these is that they are not really waterproof. Jacob will not eat carrots he deems "old" which pretty much means a tiny bit dry or just not cold & crispy. I try to send them to school in a little bit of cold water to keep them fresh - but the water does soak right through the bags. Easy fix, I bought a few very small BPA free, recyclable plastic containers to send watery carrots or celery in and save the bags for other items.

Lunchskins

Truly, I bought these mostly because of the shark & crab prints knowing how happy it would make Jacob at lunchtime to pull them out.

I have not been as happy with these as I was the snack taxi's. They are very cute and they are more "waterproof" than the snack taxi's - but still not completely. They seal a bit better with the Velcro all the way across the top and they have some really great designs.

The drawbacks to me have been that the "sandwich" size really doesn't accommodate a sandwich. It's a really tight fit. They've been washed a few times too and the darling designs have really worn and they now look pretty beat-up and old.

I do actually like the look of the smaller sized snack bag (for when you just want to send a small snack) but cannot vouch for it as I only bought their bigger size to try.

I send my kids with a thermos of soup or leftovers from the previous nights dinner a lot. Yet, I can't bear the thought of them using plastic cutlery, so I was sending my stainless steel one's. Until I noticed that I was starting to run low on cutlery ....

I know there's a lot of controversy out there over how compostable these items are - but I figure even if it takes them 20 years to break down .... still better than plastic! I think there is probably a range in how Eco-friendly these products really are. I keep meaning to call Stone Barns & see which brand they use in the cafe ... because I'm sure they've already done the research to see which is the best!

I have been running these through the dishwasher (mine heats to 160 degrees) and they have held up well. I plan on washing and re-using as long as we can .... and if they get lost or accidentally thrown in the trash in the school cafeteria I won't be devastated!

So, now I can feel as good about HOW my kids take their lunch to school as I do what they're eating!

Eco Products

I had wanted to do this post for Earth Day - but just didn't get around to it ... so here it is better late than never (which seems to have become my motto in life. Sigh.)

Last year for Earth Day I pledged to myself to use only organic gardening methods - which has worked out quite nicely. I also pledged to slowly switch over to using only eco-friendly products. We're not all the way there (the laundry detergent is going to be my hold-out; I'm way too OCD about laundry.) We are using mostly eco-friendly products now, and after a conversation with Corinne about some I love and some I hate - I thought I'd share my opinions.

First up; the only thing I can truly say I hate. Palmolive eco dishwasher detergent. Part of the problem is that I didn't do my due diligence on this one. I took it at face value, without reading the ingredient list. (It was one of my first switches, and it was cheaper than the other eco friendly products.) After using it for a while, I noticed that the inside of my soap dispenser in the dishwasher had a white coating. I tried to clean it off, but it wouldn't budge - then I realized it was actually starting to corrode. Yikes. That was when I read the label and realized that this "eco friendly" product was full of bleach. Bleach. Yeah, it's really earth friendly to be sending that down the drain, not to mention the damage it did to my dishwasher. I had a few bottles in the storage room, so I returned them all to Target.

I don't really like the Method products. I tried several, they work OK, but not brilliantly, and although they have become much better about listing what's in their products, and are phosphate and paraben free, they cold be better - and I just think all that added color and fragrance isn't really necessary. Why would I want to be adding that to the ocean? So Method is not for me.


I do make an exception for this candle - which I really love & keep in the downstairs bathroom. Soy wax, and in a glass jar - which I figure can be recycled. I actually rarely light it, it's a small room so the fragrance just diffuses out.


I won a Watkins giveaway on Lindsey's blog, and was excited to try their products - this is what I ordered.

So next I tried the Watkins citrus dishwasher detergent. It worked well and has good ingredients, but was actually pretty stinky. It had "earth salts" in it - maybe that's what made it smell. Also, not available at Target, and really I am probably not really going to go to the effort of ordering online - plus the cost of shipping, etc. Not for me.
That's when I returned to my longstanding favorite brand. Seventh Generation. These guys didn't just jump on the bandwagon - they started it rolling. Have been around for ages, and are totally reliable. This works well, smells great (I love the grapefruit) is available at Target, and leaves no residue in my dishwasher or on the dishes. We have a winner! I just wish they would sell it in bigger bottles - which would be more convenient for me and would use less plastic. Or maybe they could sell those refill bag things ... I should write to them.

I really like their rinse aid too.

So, while I'm still talking about dishes - here's a review of the dish soap I've tried.

I do love the Watkins, it works really well, smells GREAT and is available at Target. But it is more expensive, than the Seventh Generation, which is also great (about a dollar more for the 24oz bottle.) So I usually buy some of each.

OK, a few more that I feel strongly about, then I'll stop.

The Watkins Citrus Tub & Tile cleaner. Our main bathroom (and only full bath) is the only room in our house we haven't renovated. We also live in a very humid place, so I'm battling mildew all the time. Plus, six people use it every day - it's going to get dirty, and fast. I had such high hopes for this product. I was disappointed. First up - it doesn't small at all like citrus. It smells like tea tree oil - which is a good natural antibacterial, but is a potent smell. It did clean - but it also took off the caulking around the sides of my tub - so it's not for us (back to the Seventh Generation.)

For areas other than the bathroom, I want a good all purpose cleaner. This one I LOVE.
It smells yummy (I like the lemon,) wipes off easily without leaving any residue and does a good job cleaning. I use it on the glass shelves in my fridge all the time, and many times a day on the counter tops. I haven't tried it on the windows, but do use it on the mirrors and it's great.

I like these too (I ordered the first pack online, but have bought subsequent one's at Target.) I like the lemon, and the green tea one equally. I'm trying to reduce our use of wipes in favor of re-usable cloths, but sometimes you just need a wipe - I know all the mother's out there can instantly think of at last a dozen situations where they would really need one), so I keep a pack of these in the car for emergency "there's no water or cloth around" situations.
OK, so there's my belated Earth Day review.

My pledge for this year? To stop using paper towels. I use a lot of terry cloths for cleaning, and have started to gather a bunch of micro-fiber one's. I have many for glass, stainless steel and dusting - but am still looking for a good multi-use one that comes in a pack of several. It seems they all come in multi-packs with other kinds that I do not want or need....

I've heard the "blue wonder" is great, had anyone tried it?

If you have a favorite micro-fiber cleaning cloth, let me know!