http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js// The first day of school is quickly approaching and I cannot be in denial about it anymore. I have put our “back to school” shopping list in my pocket book so that when I stop procrastinating I will have it at the ready. It is just so difficult for me to take time off from these magnificent summer days to drive an hour to enter a fluorescent lit warehouse filled with tempting merchandise. Maybe even have some coupons gathered and organized.

My children have informed me that they will refuse to go to school if they end up getting the only notebooks remaining on the shelves again which are usually the pre-school superhero notebooks.

Staying Green with School Lunches:

There will be one fundamental change on my personal school supply list this year. We will be focusing on being as environmental as possible with our lunch packaging. No more plastic sandwich bags, or plastic bottles and no prepackaged snack items. We will buy in bulk and pack the lunches in something clever like the Laptop Lunch Bento Box Set, listed below. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generate some 80 million tons of waste from packaging, labeling and empty containers. Buying in bulk saves you money and helps the planet.

School Lunches:

As for food, creating healthy lunches that the children will eat and actually look forward to is my biggest challenge. I will try my best to bake fresh bread at home and include veggies in every meal as well as a homemade dessert made with whole grain and natural ingredients thus obliterating high fructose corn syrup from their diet. It seems like an overwhelming ambition but I can at least try.

In all my research on finding new products to help ease me into lunch preparation, I am glad to see that America is going green. We are lucky that it is getting easier to help save our planet with these great new environmental products that will save us money and time in the end:

 

Etsy EcoGreen Bags

Dajo bags

Wrap-N-Mat

 

Cellulose Bags made with biodegradeable cellulose

 

Laptop Lunch Bento Box Set

 

And for those of you who are looking for decorative environmental bags for your groceries go to http://www.saxsystuff.com

For other ideas on how to stay green check out the following article:

 

It’s back-to-school time, and this year Sprite and TwitterMoms have partnered with bloggers like me to share back-to-school tips and tricks, advice, stories and more! Visit Sprite’s back-to-school channel on TwitterMoms to get helpful ideas, learn how to survive the back to school rush, seek out advice from other TwitterMoms and join the conversation. You can learn more about donating your My Coke Rewards Points to support your local school, how to enter for a chance to win some Back to School cash, check out recipes, or even play some fun games. Here’s to a successful and stress-free back to school season from Sprite and TwitterMoms!

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