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Environmentally Conscious Gifts for Mom, with Love

Laurie — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:53:31 +0000

It is possible to find the moms in your life an eco-friendly Mother’s Day gift they’ll love. Case in point: a lunch bag that’s so chic, Mom may want to carry it as a purse. And a cool, colorful set of stainless steel containers with divided compartments to stash her favorite foods!

The Built NY Rolltop Insulated Lunch Bag is stylish, functional, and eco-friendly.

If Mom is into packing fresh, healthful foods, get her this fun set of stainless steel lunch containers. Inside, divided compartments let her stash side dishes, salads, fruit, crackers, or whatever snacks she craves.

: Get 3 stainless steel bento-style containers for the price of 2 with this Lunchbots Bento Box Set!

Do you Have Household Items with Hidden Toxins?

Laurie — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:18:13 +0000

Lunchville friends, here’s an informative article from Mother Nature Network about everyday items–such as perfume and lipstick–that harbor harmful chemicals. We also recommend that you visit the Environmental Working Group’s database of cosmetics, Skin Deep, to research product safety. Buyer beware, indeed.

Photo: SavchenkoJulia/iStockphoto

Enter Lunchville’s Earth Day Daily Giveaway Contest

Laurie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:13:34 +0000

Something for nothing? Absolutely! We’re celebrating Earth Day at Lunchville.com, and you could score some fabulous reusable and nontoxic lunch gear just by liking us on Facebook! To enter the contest, which is absolutely free, simply click on the link below and enter your email address. We won’t share your information with anyone else–promise. We’re giving away 30 items–lunch bags, containers, bottles, T-shirts and accessories–now through May 10. Be sure to enter now for your chance to win!

USDA Lets Schools Opt Out of Pink Slime

Laurie — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:26:03 +0000

Robin Shreeves of Mother Nature News reports on the USDA’s decsion today to let schools decide whether they want to dish up “pink slime” to students. Also known as “lean beef trimmings,” or LBT, this pink substance is made from slaughterhouse scraps of fatty beef and connective tissue that are treated with ammonia to kill bacteria. Pink slime is usually sold to dog food companies, but recently it has been added to pure ground beef as a cheap filler. Fast-food companies recently stopped using it in their burgers, but ABC News reported last week that more than 70 percent of ground beef in supermarkets is blended with LBT.

According to ABC News, 70 percent of ground beef in supermarkets is blended with a cheap filler of fatty slaughterhouse scraps that are infused with ammonia.

Fresh Ideas for Packing School Lunches

Laurie — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:03:31 +0000

For you die-hard lunch packers, here are some fun ideas from Mother Nature Network to freshen up your children’s school lunches. Bon appetit!

Sending a lunch from home is one way to ensure that your children are eating well. Here, a stainless steel Lunchbot is filled with a colorful patch of sandwich flowers.

Edible Food Packaging Could Replace Plastic Waste

Laurie — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 20:55:02 +0000

It may sound like science fiction, but one day you might be eating those single-serve containers that hold your yogurt, cookies, and other treats. Why? About a third of all household waste is food packaging and containers, designed to be used just once and discarded. We’re suffocating our planet with plastic waste that never really breaks down! In this report from the Grist, learn more about a type of edible packaging called WikiCells that could let you have your bottle–and eat it, too.

Is Your Child Eating Ammonia-Infused “Pink Slime” at School?

Laurie — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:39:08 +0000

Its official name is “Lean Beef Trimmings.” Some folks call the stuff “pink slime.” We call it gross.

It’s the fatty scraps and connective tissue left over after a cow is slaughtered. These unappetizing trimmings usually reserved for dog food are treated with ammonia to kill salmonella and E. coli bacteria. The resulting substance is then ground into a pink goo and mixed into ground beef that is destined for school cafeterias. In fact, the USDA plans to buy 7 million pounds of the ammonia-treated trimmings for the national school lunch program. Read the Daily’s report about this slimy partnership between the USDA and the meatpacking industry.

"Pink Slime," ammonia-treated meat scraps, is on its way out of fast food chains, but the USDA still plans to put it in school cafeterias.

Campbells Says “Bye, Bye, BPA”

Laurie — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:04:33 +0000

Soon you can have your Campbell’s soup, and skip the BPA. The company has announced plans to strip the hormone disrupter BPA from the linings of its soup cans, amid public outcry and the FDA’s deliberation on whether to ban the chemical altogether. (A decision by the FDA on this issue is pending this month.) Read the full report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel here.

An Eye-Opening Look at the Price of Lunch

Laurie — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:13:34 +0000

A reusable bag and nontoxic food containers like these from Lunchville.com can help you pack a lunch from home and save considerably on daily expenses.

Is your mid-day meal an expensive habit you need to break? If you’re a fan of takeout, delivery, or restaurants, take note: the average American worker spends nearly $2,000 on lunch! That’s more than their travel expenses getting to and from work (about $1,500), according to the staffing and accounting firm Accounting Principals. They conducted a survey of 1,000 working adults last month and found that two thirds of them bought their lunch in 2011, spending an average of $37 per week. American workers also spent plenty of their hard-earned cash on coffee—nearly $20 per week, or $1,000 a year. Not exactly chump change.

“Small —but consistent— expenses add up quickly over time, and it can be difficult for consumers to realize it because they’re only spending a few dollars at a time. But, as our survey shows, those few dollars can quickly turn into a few thousand dollars,” said Jodi Chavez, senior vice president, Accounting Principals. “Additionally, when you look at it over a worker’s lifetime, that number grows exponentially. Consider the average American who works for about 40 years, starting their first job around age 22. By the time they retire at age 62 they would have spent at minimum $120,000 on coffee and lunch, not including inflation.”

This is especially true for young American workers. The survey found that younger professionals (ages 18-34) spend almost twice as much on coffee during the week than those ages 45+ ($24.74 vs. $14.15, respectively). They also shell out more for lunch, spending an average of $44.78 per week on lunch compared to their older colleagues who spend $31.80 per week.

However, it seems American workers of all ages are starting to realize the effect this incremental spending has on their personal bottom line. According to Accounting Principals’ survey, one-third (35 percent) of employees have made it a financial goal to bring lunch instead of buying it in 2012.

Five Packaged Foods You Never Need to Buy Again

Laurie — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:03:20 +0000

From soup to cereal, here are five packaged food staples you can forget about purchasing at the store again. Making these items from scratch is cheaper, tastier, and infinitely healthier. This post from Grist.com originally appeared on My Five Acres.

Make your own stock from vegetable peelings, cores, and stems. (Image from My Five Acres.)