Last August, I posted some suggestions for helping your kids get back to school with fewer toxins HERE. In that post I shared this information about packing a less-toxic lunch:

“…Since then, I have tried to minimize how much ‘plastic’ my son’s food actually touches. Instead of placing sandwiches, veggies and fruits in Ziploc® or plastic zipper baggies, (while they are super-convenient, cheap and easy), I try to wrap foods up – much like little presents – in wax paper. To make sure they stay closed, I seal them with fun labels printed with my son’s name and images of things in which he’s interested.”

Sometime after writing that post, I discovered a new (to me, at least) product – Natural Value Waxed Paper Bags. My husband and I have both found that using these “baggies” saves us time in the mornings when we’re scrambling to get Ethan’s lunch packed. I appreciate that they are made from unbleached paper, are non-toxic and compostable. Because they have a gusseted bottom, we can use them for Ethan’s GF sandwiches, chips/crackers, veggie slices, etc. Made with an open top, we fold the top down after filling them and still use labels printed with Ethan’s name and a colorful logo (currently Mario Bros.) to keep the bag closed until Ethan is ready to open them. Like most anything else on the market created in a less-toxic and/or greener fashion, these bags are slightly more expensive that mainstream plastic baggies…but to help keep Ethan healthy, we feel the extra expense (roughly half of a cent per bag) is worth it.

So, if you’re looking for a non-toxic, green alternative to plastic baggies, I would highly recommend trying Natural Value Waxed Paper Bags. I’ve found them at Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market locally, but they’re also available online from GreenFeet.com and other various online vendors.

How are you working to make your child’s lunch less toxic this year?

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Leigh Attaway Wilcox is a writer and editor for the projectLD family of companies. Leigh is Assistant Editor of the internationally acclaimed AutismSpot.com and her work can be found on many of the pLDNetworks sites. Leigh is the author of ALL BETTER: A Touch-and-Heal Book published by Piggy Toes Press in 2007. Leigh lives in North Texas with her husband and young son who loves reading, LEGOs, Mario Bros. and also happens to live with Asperger's Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum Disorder.