According to Waste-Free Lunches, “a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school.” The good news is, parents can lessen their child’s daily impact on the earth by packing their lunch in a reusable lunch system comprised of non-toxic components containing no disposable materials. Here are three reusable, waste-free lunch kits that will make your kid’s meals away from home healthy – for their bodies and the planet.

1. Citizenpip

Seen at the top of this post, the “Soup to Nuts” reusable lunch kit from Citizenpip truly lives up to its name. Included in the kit are a reusable insulated lunch bag, available in a variety of kid-friendly designs, a stainless steel water bottle (which may double as an ice pack), a stainless steel insulated food jar, four BPA-free airtight food containers, a stainless steel fork and spoon set and five (one for each day of the school week) 100 percent cotton napkins. I really like this lunch kit for older children in elementary school, because it can hold a good amount of food, and it keeps food fresh, and saves it from getting squished! The insulated food jar also means you can pack healthy soups during the winter months.

Citizenpip also offers each piece in their collection a la carte. You can buy every component separately to create a personalized lunch system for your child.

Citizenpip Soup to Nuts Kit $69.00

2. Laptop Lunches

Laptop Lunches bento-box sets are my top pick for preschoolers and younger children. They are dainty in size and therefore easy for little hands to tote to and fro, but they pack quite a lot of perfectly sized portions when it comes to food organization. The system is free of phthalates, BPA and lead, and they are made in the USA.

Each lunch set has containers and two stainless steel utensils. The design of the lunch tray keeps foods separated, while delightfully presenting each course, making the meal appeal to the senses of small children who may be picky eaters. The Laptop Lunch site also features a photo gallery and menu library to offer suggestions of what to pack for lunches. Just looking at the meals makes me hungry!

Laptop Lunch Set $24.00

3. Kids Konserve

High schoolers may be more comfortable bringing a sack-style lunch to the cafeteria table, as opposed to a lunch box. Kids Konserve‘s signature waste-free lunch kit will have their peers green with envy. Also BPA-, lead-, and phthalate-free, this lunch kit includes a recycled cotton sack, a stainless steel beverage bottle, a cloth napkin, two stainless steel food containers and a food cozy.

Kids Konserve also offers a variety of food storage and packing options so kids can pick and choose the best components to meet their mealtime needs.

Kids Konserve Waste-free Lunch Kits are on sale for $30.00.

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Besides being impossibly adorable, this painted enamel adaptation of the Asian field worker’s tacked lunch box is the ideal container for a dieter on the go.

I received one as a gift from my boss over a cup of Joe and a lesson on social networking. She said, “Here, take this and have fun with it. Maybe your kids can use it.”

Maybe, not! I’m not about to let them have another cool gift of mine so they can abandon it on the blacktop, allowing the contents to rot over the course of several months or convert it into a Barbie submarine bath toy.

Noooo. I’m going to pack healthy snacks in the tiered compartments because every dieter knows, failing to plan is planning to fail. If you don’t have those chopped organic veggies and fruits handy, you reach for the so-called protein bars (a.k.a. candy) or bagels (six points).

I know this sounds a bit crazy (’cause I am) but I even take it downstairs into the basement with me while I write so that I can keep nose to keyboard and not have to flee every time I get a craving for a chunk of jicama. I’ve also taken it with me when I have to drive a distance and get lots of looks from people who see me toting it. “That lady is stacked,” they’re thinking, and I like the fact they envy what I got on me, you know what I mean?

The best news is my bento is yet another way to eliminate throw-away bags and plastic and is awfully stylish compared to many of the reusable lunch containers made for work and school. It doesn’t leak and is dishwasher safe, too, for those who are sticklers about sanitation – and you should be.

And guess what? VivaTerra is even offering to give away this ultra-cool lunch box for you EcoSalon readers. Just post a comment on how you think you would use it to be entered to win one of your own!

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