A Greener Lunchbox

Good morning! I’m so excited—today I have a story in the Home section of the Los Angeles Times about packing a greener lunch for kids. The story is focused mainly on gear and making smarter choices, ie saying “goodbye” to paper napkins, plastic baggies and disposable utensils. Check out one of Tiny G’s lunches from last week—Kids Konserve makes great mini food-grade stainless steel pots that are perfect for dips or hummus (or blueberries or any other small snacks). And then sliced strawberries and cooked organic carrots stay fresh in silicone pinch pots thanks to a resusable nontoxic ice pack. No baggies required!

Tiny G is still, well, Tiny, but for kindergarten and grade school lunches my friend Jill swears by these Lunchskins as alternatives to sandwich and snack bags and is always getting asked about them by other parents. They can go straight into the dishwasher and are lead-free and BPA-free. Love the designs:

But perhaps the biggest step you can take toward reducing waste in your kid’s lunchbox is to look for alternatives to “snack size” or individual portions of yogurt, applesauce, etc. In the end, buying in bulk is better for the environment and better for your wallet! String cheese seems to be the biggest offender, so I buy an 8-ounce block of organic mozzarella and cube up a few pieces for Tiny G’s lunch (see above). Or, think about buying a 27-ounce container of yogurt and scooping out an individual-sized portion into resusable Tupperware. When researching this story I was kind of blown away by the EPA stat that the average school-age kid (K-12) generates 67 lbs of lunchtime waste each year—that’s over 110 million pounds in LA County schools alone! For more info on packing waste-free, check out wastefreelunches.org and for eco-friendly gear visit greenmylunchbox.com.

Please feel free to email me (thefoodinista@gmail.com) with any gear-related questions because between myself and my neighbor, jewelry designer Dana Kellin McCrane, we have researched most of these brands and can provide pro/con feedback on a lot of these items!

Meatballs! Toddler Edition

Tomorrow wraps up Tiny G’s first summer session of preschool, and then he goes on a four-week hiatus before returning for fall. I’ve learned a lot these past few weeks about packing a balanced and waste-free lunch, and my greatest weapon is the meatball. Each week I make a batch with a some sort of ground lean protein: chicken, turkey, buffalo or lamb. I’ve experimented by mixing in different vegetables—some cooked/pureed, some steamed/chopped, and some uncooked. It’s a great way to use leftovers and to sneak in extra veggies. Here is my basic “master” recipe, but feel free to experiment and find new combinations.

Here are few combos that have worked for us: lamb + fresh chopped mint, chicken and puréed squash, buffalo + cooked/diced carrot, turkey + puréed sweet potato, buffalo + puréed green pepper and tomato

Tiny G’s Meatballs

The following recipe makes about 30 meatballs, but since I just have Tiny G to feed I usually make about 1/3 or 1/2 of what this recipe calls for.

1 lb ground buffalo/chicken/turkey/lamb

1/2 – 3/4 cup whole-grain breadcrumbs*

1 large egg, lightly beaten

veggies (anywhere from a couple tablespoons to 1/4 cup)

* To make breadcrumbs, stick a slice or two of whole grain bread in a mini food processor and hit “chop” until you have fine breadcrumbs. In this photo, I used a homemade brown rice sandwich roll (extra breadcrumbs keep well in the freezer):

To make meatballs, in a bowl, mix together ground meat, egg, breadcrumbs, egg and vegetable. I add breadcrumbs according to moisture—depending on what veggie you are using, you might need to add more breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet. (Below is ground lamb with mint and brown rice flour breadcrumbs)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a tray lined with parchment paper, form tablespoon-size meatballs.

Bake meatballs in upper third of oven for 8-10 minutes, until just cooked through.

A batch of these keeps well in the fridge for lunches or dinner throughout the week. Sometimes I just pack one, like this chicken/squash meatball alongside some whole wheat couscous with red pepper hummus shaped like a rooster (because I’m a huge nerd — I mean, what two year old wouldn’t get this joke?):

Or, for an added baby geek factor, you can cut out little rounds of whole-grain bread for a “slider” effect with buffalo/carrot meatballs. Have fun!

Green My Lunchbox

I’m just going to apologize up front for a weepy week of “firsts” ahead. While last week marked Tiny G’s first day at preschool, it was only for an hour a day and either his mama or daddy was there with him. Today was the first day we left him there on his own, and the first day I sent my little guy to school with a packed lunch. And here it is, packed with love—quite literally, in the form of a heart-shaped sandwich of La Boulangerie whole grain bread and roasted red pepper hummus. (I got a heart-shaped cookie cutter for $1 at Sur La Table.) Organic blueberries loaded with antioxidants and all-natural Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Littles on the side.

And the gear?

I spent hours and hours and hours researching different lunchbox options, my goal being to have a totally waste-free lunch with eco-friendly, reusable containers and no plastic baggies. (For more info on the subject, check out Green My Lunch and Waste-Free Lunches.)

What I quickly found is that most of the eco-friendly stuff is a pain in the neck. You can’t microwave it or put it in the dishwasher. Like you don’t already have enough to do with a two year old but to hand-wash his dishes. Who needs it? I finally went with my own riff on the bento box. The container is the Lunchbots Duo (above)—a food-grade stainless steel box with a lead-free powder-coated orange top that is dishwasher safe. And if you order thru GreenMyLunchbox.com, there is a 10% discount. Granted, I can’t put this in the microwave so if I ever need to pack a warm main course, I also grabbed a Thermos Foogo Leak-Proof Stainless Steel Jar that’s BPA-free.

For the colorful little dividers inside the Lunchbots Duo, I found a set of Le Creuset pinch bowls that are about 2.5 inches in diameter and hold 2 fl oz. Perfect for keeping fruits and veggies separate! They are made from nontoxic, BPA-free silicone and are microwave and dishwasher safe (read: LOW maintenance).

And finally, I love the Kids Konserve company. I have a couple of their stainless steel snack containers, which get heavy use and are up to the challenge. I also picked up one of their nontoxic sweat-free ice packs to keep Tiny G’s lunch from spoiling, as well as some handmade cotton caterpillar napkins with plant-based dyes. A napkin fits snugly between his “bento box” and favorite Sigg bottle in an old-school LL Bean lunchbox made of sturdy packcloth with a BPA-free lining. Tiny G goes green!

Would love to hear your favorite lunch ideas for wee ones!

What to Pack…

After an absurd amount of time hemming and hawing over a lunchbox for Tiny G (I settled on the above LL Bean model, the same one I carried more than 30 years ago), I’ve now focused my angst on what to fill it with. Who knew that the thought of packing my soon-to-be preschooler’s lunch could cause such anxiety? It didn’t help that my friend Shelby said, “If you think that teachers and other mothers won’t judge you based on what you pack for your child, um, think again.” I love the brutal honesty of the confession, especially since it validates my paranoia. And so I sent an email asking for lunch inspiration to a dozen friends with preschoolers and got the best responses! Over the next few months I’ll post some of these great ideas, starting with this simple one based on one of Shelby’s go-to’s. We did a test run last night for dinner and every last bite disappeared.

Tiny G’s Turkey Pinwheels

Tiny G is obsessed with hummus, which is lucky for us as it’s loaded with healthy fat and protein. My friend Shelby uses havarti instead of hummus and serves with apple slices and veggie chips. Snap peas would also be fun as a veggie option.

1 whole wheat tortilla

1 tablespoon red pepper hummus

1 slice organic roasted turkey breast (no nitrates, no antibiotics, no msg—Applegate Farms has a great product available at Whole Foods)

Spread hummus over tortilla. Place turkey slice on top. Roll up and slice into small pinwheels.

NOTE: PLEASE SEND ME YOUR FAVORITE IDEAS FOR TINY APPETITES!