Waste Less, Spend Less, EAT WELL
I've been enjoying my Laptop Lunchbox, and it occurred that people might appreciate it if I mention it here. Here it is, packed with one of my lunches (Sante Fe salad [black beans, corn, jicama] tortellini salad [with bell peppers, spinach, vinagrette marinade] watermelon, Girl Scout cookies):
From the website:Tammy Pelstring and Amy Hemmert met one day at the park in 1995 when they found themselves involved in the same new mothers group. As they got to know each other, they realized that they shared an interest in nutrition, fitness, and the environment. Within a year they had become good friends as well as jogging partners.
When their children entered school, they continued jogging together, often talking about their interests and experiences as volunteers at their children’s schools. Of particular interest was the poor-quality school lunches the children brought from home-processed foods high in fat, sodium, and sugar, packaged in wasteful, single-use containers that filled the trash cans and cost a fortune to haul away.
Then, during a morning jog in the fall of 2001 they realized that the best way to help parents pack wholesome, low-waste lunches was to provide them with a lunch system that was not only convenient and economical, but also appealing to kids.
That’s when they started thinking about designing, manufacturing, patenting, and selling Laptop Lunches.
They conducted a national survey and found strong support for their idea. At the same time national headlines on childhood obesity, poor nutrition, and the impact of landfill waste indicated that this was a product whose time had come.
In the winter of 2001, Obentec, Inc. was founded with the mission of helping families improve lunchtime nutrition and reduce waste. And since the two moms believe that healthy kids come from healthy communities, they donate a portion of profits to schools and environmental organizations.
Based on the Japanese bento box, they created a system of colorful plastic containers that fit together inside a lunch box like puzzle pieces. The hot selling kit called the Laptop Lunch comes with stainless-steel utensils, a drink bottle and a user's guide containing nutritional information, recipes and tips on going waste free and healthy; it all zips into an insulated mini-laptop case that's appropriate for kids or adults to carry. (One of the compartments has a cover, and there is a small covered dip container that nests within, not pictured here.) Look at the amount of trash in just one child's lunch, multiply that by the number of school days in a year and then by the number of school-age children in the United States. It has been estimated that on average 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 Laptop Lunchbox is a way to avoid that colossal waste.
I learned about the Laptop Lunchbox when I stumbled across the Vegan Lunchbox blog. This is a site created by Jennifer McCann, a vegan educator who makes and photographs the most amazing lunches for her son every day and posts the information on the Internet to educate others. She is going to be coming out with a book soon on the subject. I bought my own Laptop Lunchbox soon afterwards, and I love it! Packing my lunch in reuseable containers means I reduce waste and I eat locally grown, in-season food, instead of frozen lunches. You can order them from the website, or from one of the retailers where they are carried locally. (Note: Look for a local retailer, as it can be much cheaper; I bought the full kit, including all containers, silverware, insulated cover and recipe book for only $17, versus $30 from the website.) Laptop Lunchboxes will very shortly also be available in Europe. They are also sold in Australia.
If you are interested, you might take a look at the Flickr group on bento boxes, where many people post pictures of their lunches packed in bento boxes, including the Laptop Lunchbox.
From the website:Tammy Pelstring and Amy Hemmert met one day at the park in 1995 when they found themselves involved in the same new mothers group. As they got to know each other, they realized that they shared an interest in nutrition, fitness, and the environment. Within a year they had become good friends as well as jogging partners.
When their children entered school, they continued jogging together, often talking about their interests and experiences as volunteers at their children’s schools. Of particular interest was the poor-quality school lunches the children brought from home-processed foods high in fat, sodium, and sugar, packaged in wasteful, single-use containers that filled the trash cans and cost a fortune to haul away.
Then, during a morning jog in the fall of 2001 they realized that the best way to help parents pack wholesome, low-waste lunches was to provide them with a lunch system that was not only convenient and economical, but also appealing to kids.
That’s when they started thinking about designing, manufacturing, patenting, and selling Laptop Lunches.
They conducted a national survey and found strong support for their idea. At the same time national headlines on childhood obesity, poor nutrition, and the impact of landfill waste indicated that this was a product whose time had come.
In the winter of 2001, Obentec, Inc. was founded with the mission of helping families improve lunchtime nutrition and reduce waste. And since the two moms believe that healthy kids come from healthy communities, they donate a portion of profits to schools and environmental organizations.
Based on the Japanese bento box, they created a system of colorful plastic containers that fit together inside a lunch box like puzzle pieces. The hot selling kit called the Laptop Lunch comes with stainless-steel utensils, a drink bottle and a user's guide containing nutritional information, recipes and tips on going waste free and healthy; it all zips into an insulated mini-laptop case that's appropriate for kids or adults to carry. (One of the compartments has a cover, and there is a small covered dip container that nests within, not pictured here.) Look at the amount of trash in just one child's lunch, multiply that by the number of school days in a year and then by the number of school-age children in the United States. It has been estimated that on average 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 Laptop Lunchbox is a way to avoid that colossal waste.
I learned about the Laptop Lunchbox when I stumbled across the Vegan Lunchbox blog. This is a site created by Jennifer McCann, a vegan educator who makes and photographs the most amazing lunches for her son every day and posts the information on the Internet to educate others. She is going to be coming out with a book soon on the subject. I bought my own Laptop Lunchbox soon afterwards, and I love it! Packing my lunch in reuseable containers means I reduce waste and I eat locally grown, in-season food, instead of frozen lunches. You can order them from the website, or from one of the retailers where they are carried locally. (Note: Look for a local retailer, as it can be much cheaper; I bought the full kit, including all containers, silverware, insulated cover and recipe book for only $17, versus $30 from the website.) Laptop Lunchboxes will very shortly also be available in Europe. They are also sold in Australia.
If you are interested, you might take a look at the Flickr group on bento boxes, where many people post pictures of their lunches packed in bento boxes, including the Laptop Lunchbox.