The process of "de-plasticing"

[northcountrymamma]

So we have a goal in my family to ban the use of all plastic. I don't know when this goal will actually be acheived, but we really are getting on track. So I am right now trying desperately to find stainless steel lunch containers. Dd and I take little snacks to work/school and I have been using plastic so long as it's dry food and then otherwise I use glass (soups, berries, hummus). I don't know but the thought of dry foods (crackers, nuts, seeds) in plastic doesn't worry me as much.
So where on earth do I find stainless steel lunch sized little containers? Glass is not idea for the wee one or me, we are not graceful folk and I really would hate to have them broken in a lunch kit.
I can only find those stackable snap together kits, but I don't think that we really need that...or do we?
Input, thoughts, ideas...??? I'm open to anything really, just not plastic. Or some other nasty chemical ridden option.:
Also, I'm working on making us some lunch kits. Any suggestions there? What do I insulate with? How do I make the insides wipeable? I have the cuttings done for the outside, just canvas hemp, but stumped on the insides? (I will crosspost in sew/knit/serge)

thanks fellow earth lovers!

[jillian+1]

Have you tried http://www.reusablebags.com/? They are always good for non-disposable stuff.

[doubledutch]

you could use enamelware, if you are okay with the lid being plastic, or you could use thermoses. those also have plastic on the outside of the lid, but the entire inside is stainless steel, so the plastic doesn't touch your food. they make short, fat thermoses for food, not just the tall ones for beverages.

[Ruthla]

If your child attends school, there may be rules against glass. I can send my 13yo to middle school with a glass bottle of water, but the elementary school won't allow that. I assume enamelware is the same problem- it's breakable and potentially dangerous for little kids.

I haven't fully gotten away from plastic bags in the lunch boxes, although I do have cloth lunch bags. DS has a plastic bottle for water for school, but I fill it up with fresh water each morning (as opposed to filling it the night before and putting in the fridge) to minimize leaching. I use plastic bags to hold his snacks (he buys lunch at school.) One of these days I want to sew up some small drawstring bags for dry snacks such as popcorn or crackers.

It actually does make sense to use plastic for dry cold stuff- water and fat help to leach stuff from the plastic. Cheese in a sandwich bag is more likely to contain plastic chemicals than, say, crackers in a plastic bag.

[northcountrymamma]

So I don't use plastic bags at all. And yes, I am allowed to send my dd to school with glass containers, but they don't necessarily like it. And we do use thermoses for lunches (soups, pasta etc), but it's the little things, like hummus, or cheese, or grapes? Stainless steel little containers *Must* exist? No? I checked reusable bags...no go there, I buy lots from them and I thought they would have it too.

So just to clarify, this is what we have been using:
Insulated lunch bags
Small thermoses for main course
Kleen Kanteen water bottles
glass snack containers or little plastic containers. (this is what I want to rid!)
Bamboo utensils


Still open to ideas...
I do like the thought of sewing little bags for crackers and the like, thanks for that!

[MomToKandE]

Doesn't Reusablebags.com have little drawstring bags that you could use for crackers and grapes? I know I've seen them somewhere.

Would a Wrap-N-Mat violate your plastic rule? If not it might work for cheese.

I don't have any good non-glass ideas for hummus. For work you could use heavy glass like a small reused jelly jar or baby food jar. That might not be allowed at school though.

Target sometimes has little "tin" containers in their $1 area but I'm not sure what they're made of and wouldn't trust them to be food safe.

I'm sure you've seen this type of thing: http://www.greenfeet.com/itemdesc.as...007-00185-0000 but I don't think you can use just part of it. I think you have to use the whole thing to clamp it shut.

[doubledutch]

http://www.lhasaoms.com/stainless_st...-938-page.html

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/10819

http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com/cart/storagecont.htm

a few other options

[northcountrymamma]

Thank you all for the options!
Those links were helpful...I think I also may have gotten a lead from a friend...
http://www.healthykitchenware.com/in...b5fefa4ac940a7

I know I'm a bit crazy with trying to entirely give up plastic, but I think it's for the good of not only our health but the health of the earth. It's likely going to be an eternal endeavor, but it gives me something to focus my energy towards.: ( Does anyone else lurve this smilie!!!!!?)

[tbone_kneegrabber]

What about those stainless steel spice jars that you stick yo a magnetic strip?
Like
http://www.amazon.com/R-S-V-P-Spice-.../dp/B0000VM00W

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Oh also wax paper bags. They come in natural unbleached.

[Nico DeMouse]

My MIL gave me a bunch of stainless steel stuff -- mixing bowls, glasses, and small lidded containers. I haven't tried to purchase any new, but she bought them at the Indian grocer where she shops. Have you tried your local Indian grocery?

[sugarmoon]

I use the tiny ( 1/4 pint size) mason jars for yogurt, hummus etc.

Mason jars are pretty sturdy -- my kids are in pre-k and haven't managed to break any yet.

They do have padded/insulated lunch boxes though.

[askew]

Foogo makes SS food containers and there is a coop just opened here.

They also have those Indian lunch things that have stackable SS containers for 3 different items. Like they serve on trains in India. We get them at Elephant Pharm if you are in the Berkeley area.

[Flor]

subbing.

I use little glass jelly jars now. Ds is in Montessori so they are all pro-glass.

[EmsMom]

You could try these. They seem a bit pricey, though. http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/...rep-bowls.aspx I have purchased stainless steel bowls with plastic lids off of ebay in the past but they are usually gradiated in size so there are only a couple that are good for a lunch box.