Fun Finds: Packing School Lunches! Plus a giveaway!!!

Kirsten is in Pre-K three times a week, and I've now ventured into the world (that I will be in for QUITE a few years ahead of me!) of packing school lunches.  Her school strongly encourages parents to pack a "litter-free lunch" with no individually packaged snacks and ideally nothing that has to be thrown away.  This was a great new challenge for me, since I've become a bit too reliant lately on the handy Ziploc baggies.  But I love the idea!  So great to save money by not buying pre-packaged stuff and Ziplocs, plus we get to teach our kids how to reuse and reduce waste.  :)  In my quest to find litter-free lunch packing supplies, I have come across some GREAT stuff!

One amazing place to find supplies is from Mighty Nest!  Their website has all KINDS of safe and non-toxic products, with a really awesome reusable lunch gear section.  All products they sell are guaranteed to be BPA free, phthalate free, PVC free, melamine free, and lead free!  And they offer free shipping on all orders over $50!

Some stuff I'm loving that I found there includes...

The Lunchbots Stainless Steel food container!

  This is my first ever stainless steel lunch supply, and I'm super impressed!  It's healthier and better for the environment than plastic, and it's dishwasher safe!  It's also cute and the perfect size.  I love the divider so it can contain two different kinds of snacks!  I want to get these in all the different sizes now.

I am also loving the Bigger Bites Silicone Storage Jars!

The bright, fun colors are adorable, and they come in a set of 2!  These are so unique and inventive!  They are microwave-safe (tough to find with food storage containers that aren't glass!), freezer-safe, and dishwasher-safe, and the silicone material is bacteria-resistant.

It's so easy to find fun and reusable lunch supplies at Mighty Nest!

Another handy little supply I've found that is seriously genius is the Tiny Bites Food Shears!  These food shears cut absolutely everything!  They make it insanely easy to cut food into bite-size pieces for little ones, or into fun shapes, letters, and numbers!  These won the National Parents Center Seal of Approval and the Mom's Choice Awards in 2010.

Created by parents, these Food Shears have stainless steel blades and come in a pack of 2, so you can take one wherever you go in your diaper bag and stop asking for knives to cut your child's food at restaurants!  They come with childproof protective blade covers, and are dishwasher-safe, BPA-free, and lead-free.

And such a super deal, at $9.99 for a set of 2 including free shipping!

They will cut through pretty much any food you'll want to feed your child, and they have a great page with feeding tips and ideas for what you can use your food shears for!  See how handy these shears are?

And another place to find great reusable supplies for lunches or all aspects of your life is reuseit.com.  They also offer free shipping on orders over $50, and they have a rigorous selection products for which items they will sell.  If products earn their seal of approval, they will sell them!  So you can rest easy knowing that everything you buy from their website has been thoroughly tested for high quality.

I absolutely adore what I selected to test out from their shop. . . 

the Slice of Summer Dabbawalla Lunch Bag!  Seriously, how cute is that???

Why it's so great:

*It's made of neoprene!  This material is incredibly insulating and keeps cold foods cool for hours.  It's also lightweight, so it protects food without adding bulk.  Plus it's soft and really easy for kids to carry!

*It's freaking adorable!  I love the watermelon design!

*It's really big!  It's the perfect size to fit all those cute little reusable lunch containers that I featured up above, plus a drink!  And it zips up easily too.

*It folds flat for easy storage!

*It's actually machine-washable!

This is just my favorite lunch bag I've ever seen!  You can get one for your kids (or anything else from the reuseit.com website) if you enter this giveaway. . . One winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to reuseit.com!

I'm using Rafflecopter again (loving this!  It's SO easy to enter stuff!  If you have feedback about it, please leave me a comment!)  So comments made on this post will not count as entries.  To enter, please use the widget!