Yay burgers *insert happy dance*, it's back to school in South Australia for Term 4!
It's all systems go, for the slippery slide towards Christmas. Izzys class is straight into it next week, with a week of swimming lessons. Rehearsal is well underway for the end of year concert for gymnastics too. I'm on the committee this year, so I am going to busy with this as well.
This first day back Nude Food Day, today, the 17th of October. Nude Food Day aims to raise awareness of healthy food choices and reducing waste for a healthier planet.
It's just a normal week for this household though. I've packed Nude Food lunch box since Izzy was in Kindy.
Last year, Isabel was called up to the front of assembly with her lunch box, because for the whole week, she had accumulated NO waste. That means no unnecessary packaging or wrapping.
This benefits in so many ways-
- Reduces costs of waste removal for the school
- Creates less pollution by using reusable containers, instead of one time use zip lock bags or wrappings
- Reduces rubbish for landfill, creating a healthier planet
- Saves money. Instead of buying individual packets, buy in bulk and use reusable containers
- healhier lunchboxes = healthier kids.
To acheive this, I use a Nude Food lunch box. It has seperate compartments and containers for food storage, eliminating the need for wrappings.
I buy in bulk packets, like sultanas, biscuits and popcorn for example. I then fill the small containers from the bigger packets, instead of lots of small packets, reducing waste.
I do bake on occassion, and try to add fresh fruits and veggies, like carrot and celery sticks.
If I add something like a muesli bar, I unwrap it first and then add it to the lunchbox. It's habit. I am weird I know.
What are you doing to reduce waste at your place?
Summer's got a new shiny bicycle. While Brett dropped her old one at the recycle centre, he scored a bike for me. He drove home with it strapped to his roof racks.
It has a little surface rust, but otherwise, someone has too much money because there is nothing wrong with it. I still has dimples on the tyres! I am now a happy bike rider. We had a lovely Sunday last week, riding to a new café for lunch and then on to the playground. It was a great family outing. Since I have ridden to the library with the girls too. I do need to get a basket though.
I am no stranger to scrounging at the town dump. When I was a child, growing up in country Kalangadoo, Dad managed the local tip.
I spent many a weekend and school holiday foraging and fossicking through the towns discarded waste.
We got used to which bags contained Mrs Hayes' Great Dane shit, and which had toys and books. You never saw five kids move so fast when on of us yelled out "Toys!".
We had endless old cars to play in, and a herd of feral kittens to try catch. Mum never let us take them home.
In those days, all the old tyres were piled high and set on fire. The smell was atrocious, and we were mesmerised at the stories high plumes of the blackest smoke billowing into the sky. We were never allowed near.
General rubbish was graded up into piles and set alight too. These days we scrambled to find empty aerosol cans to throw into the burning flames. The exploding cans was fabulous entertainment for five little kids.
The lady down the road (who became one of mum's best friends), later told Mum how she felt sorry for her with her kids there.
I am aware now that some people probably looked down on us as kids. But it was just he way it was. We didn't feel sorry, we had a great time when Dad managed the dump!
Dad went on to run a successful scrap metal recycling business. We to this day, still call it Dad's supermarket. We'd always find something to take home after having a pick through.
