Lunch Box Essentials
Living a cruelty-free, vegan, & conscious lifestyle takes time. There are so many questions and what-ifs. One of the most conscience decisions you can make everyday if to reuse things as much as possible. Buying one-use items like plastic utensils, bags, straws, & water bottles is not practical. to be quite honest...it's dumb. For school I always pack my lunch. I get to be creative with my food & make healthy and delicious meals, but most importantly, I can make more conscious decisions on my plastic intake & waste. So I have listed below (with links) to all of my lunch box essentials. Including containers, utensils, and my favorite lunch bag!
Lunch Bag:
There are so many different types of lunch boxes/bags you can purchase. Just being able to reuse it is better than a paper bag or a plastic bag. I have one from ECO BAGS. They are made sustainably and have many different designs and patterns to chose from. I have this one. I love the vegan saying that is printed on it!
Reusable Utensils:
Using plastic forks, spoons, & knives are one of the most destructive things to our planet. They will stay on the planet forever basically. Thanks to newer technology, they are now making compostable utensils, but they are not quite mainstream at this time. Using wooden or metal silverware is much more eco-friendly and economical. I have a set of wooden utensils that I carry with everywhere. You never know when your going to need them. Keep them in your car, purse, backpack, etc. You can also buy sets like these to keep with you.
Water Bottle:
I think that reuseable water bottles have become widely used because of all the media highlighting the immense waste of plastic water bottles. I don't know one person who doesn't have a reusable water bottle. I always carry mine around wherever I go. Staying hydrated is really important and carrying water with you is very helpful. I like insulated water bottles to keep cold liquids cold and hot liquids hot. I also like to bring smoothies with me and having an insulated water bottle really helps. I have a HydroFlask and I love it. They are a bit pricy but definitely worth it if you are serious about bringing smoothies or always having cold water. I have this one in white.
Metal Straws:
Straws are another consumer item that is detrimental to the environment. Straws NEVER decompose. They end up in the ocean or in the ocean and stay there forever. Buying reusable straws is a great way to cut down on plastic waste. There are so many sizes and they are very affordable. I have multiple sets but here are my favorites: I use these with my HydroFlask and these with regular drinks and smoothies at home.
Containers:
I have lots of different types of containers for packing lunches. I use bento boxes, stackable containers, foldable silicone containers, etc. One of my new favorite one is this Russbe Perfect Seal Bento. It is super affordable and comes in multiple colors. They have many different lunch systems on their site including reusable lunch bags.
Reusable Sandwich Bags:
Ziplock baggies are a common way of packing food to go. They are easy, relatively cheap and come in many different sizes. I have a Stasher bag that is very handy. You can pack anything from chopped veggies, chips, trail mix, and sandwiches in these. They are made from silicon and are dishwasher safe which makes cleaning them super easy. They make different colors and sizes. They use a ziplock-like closure to seal everything inside. I have this one and I use it all the time!
