Your Food Can Help Save the Planet

In 2012, I began the year by making a promise to the planet and our environment to begin to recycle on a higher level. We did recycle before that but this was different. I am talking about every scrap of paper, every piece of cotton that you pull out of an aspirin bottle and every plastic bag that should not wind up in a landfill somewhere when it could be recycled instead. (In case you need a fast re share, click here to see what I mean) At first, it began with eye rolls from my family each and every time I reminded them "That can be recycled". Then it filtered into our donations to Goodwill (I always donated but I began to donate anything and everything that I may have just thrown away in the past). Lastly, it moved into our kitchen directly and began to show us how our lives without paper products can be just as easy and normal as when we used to use paper products. Save a bunch of trees, teach your family a new routine and life will hand you back a heap of good karma in return- I truly believe this.

Revamping Our Pack Its With food allergies in our home, we have always packed foods anyway. But with the revamping and recycling, I had to look at more eco-friendly ways to save the earth and to save my family from continuing previous bad habits. Then one day I spied my first New Wave Enviro Lunch Kit. Actually, NutriDaughter saw it first (click here to read how she tormented me). Soon enough, we were the proud owners of our lunch kit and on our way to helping the environment. Plus, you have to admit that the kits are pretty stinkin' cute.

Flash Forward Years later, we still had the same lunch kit! It traveled all the way through Elementary School. Until, one day, NutriDaughter revealed that the lining was ripping and the water bottle was just about unusable. No complaints I mean, over two years of not using paper bags or cases of plastic water bottles that are adding up in our landfills. It was time to trade up and renew. The good news- all of the containers from the last kit fit so we instantly had a backup set of containers as well. Yup- the rest of the containers are still saving the planet and going strong.

Each kit includes the bag, reusable water bottle & 4 containers

More! I Need More! Our package also arrived with a stainless steel insulated food container (aka mini thermos), a stainless steel water bottle and a stainless steel leak-proof food container. Here are my thoughts on the cool extras that have also made our lunch-packing a ton easier ~

Stainless Steel Insulated Food Container The air-tight container that truly does keep warm foods warm and cold foods cold. No leaking at all and it fits into almost any lunch bag that you are using, including New Wave Enviro's kit. The only (tiny) mommy-pet peeve I have is that the inner plastic is a bit on the sharp side. Not that you would normally open it up and swirl your fingers around, especially when there is food inside but as a mom who gets super paranoid, this would make me uncomfortable if NutriKids were younger and didn't know any better. Meant as constructive criticism only my New Wave Enviro peeps. And, if you are new to the whole thermos thing, I have some tips to make sure this little guy lives up to what I say it does:

• For Warm Foods- Heat water to fill the inside of the food container. Add to the food container  and close it up. Heat 1-2 cups of water in a pot large enough to insert the food container without having the water overflow. Once it's boiling, remove it from the heat, place the filled food container  into the water and allow it to sit until you are ready to fill it with your heated food. Close tightly and pack. 
• I recommend waiting until right before you leave to ensure warmer temperatures and I do recommend that you consider packing anything cool/cold in a different place or separate it with a cloth napkin or other food containers to minimize the cold effecting the warming of the container.

Stainless Steel Water Bottle I personally love this water bottle option. Obviously, because it's stainless steel and my son (who I uses it daily in his lunch bag) has told me that it keeps the water cooler than other bottles. It comes with a "Flip-N-Sip" cap which is like having a built-in straw without a straw. For those of you who have skin reactions around your mouth when you sip out of the mouth of a stainless steel bottle (which NutriSon does) this bottle is a great option. No mouth contact to the steel means no skin issues (at least for my son). Another mom tip: the Flip-N-Sip top is very easy to clean (moms, you all know what I mean).

Stainless Steel Leak-Proof Food Container This container is good for anything from a bowl of pasta to a sandwich to anything else that you are afraid of packing inside of your lunch due to a fear of spilling. (Spilling or leaking leads to gross things and unhappy people, especially the people who are left to clean out the lunch bag when this happens). I will say that I was having trouble with the lid which (I believe) may have been caused by the heat of the dishwasher but I could be wrong. I did find that as long as I packed the container and placed something on top of it, the lid stayed secure and no leaking occurred. The fact that it's stainless steel is also a huge bonus since our family does not use plastic for heated foods. 

More Reasons I Love New Wave Enviro Not only is our family reducing our family's waste as well as the landfill waste but New Wave Enviro also has their own environmental passions as well. Their products are BPA free, a portion of product proceeds are donated to support the Worldwide Preservation of Endangered Species and they are partnered with Healthy Child Healthy World which helps both parents and children learn how to pack a healthier lunch that is litter free. For more information on the full line of New Wave Enviro products, where to purchase them and to keep up on the latest news about what they are doing, please visit them on their website, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

I'd like to send additional hugs out to the people at New Wave Enviro for asking to get my thoughts on the newest products. As always, I do not receive any compensation for my product reviews other than the products themselves as my opinions and thoughts are my own.