Send them off to school with a clear, eco-friendly conscience.

Pack a No-Waste Lunch Box
The idea of lunch brought to and from school in a paper or plastic bag seems so '80s, but the use of an actual lunch box or reusable sack (although they've been around for years, too) is back in style, and choices in material, colors and sizes make your eco-friendly options all the easier.

Save a few trees by using cloth napkins and do your part by lessening landfill waste with reusable utensils. Both can be ported back home the same way they found their way to school: within a lunch box or reusable sack.

Steer clear of prepackaged foods, juice boxes and pouches, which create even more unnecessary hardship on our precious land.

And finally, pack your food and drink in reusable containers. Just think of all the money you'd save per child per school year if you packed just two snacks and a drink in reusable containers.

Lunch Box Alternatives

So, you've gone the distance and prepared your own food. Now it's time to consider your lunch box of choice to put it in.

Laptop Lunch Boxes were created by two eco-conscious moms about seven years ago when the savvy pair realized that the best way to help parents pack wholesome, low-waste lunches was to "provide them with a lunch system that was not only convenient and economical, but also appealing to kids." Thus, the Laptop Lunch Box was born. Made of lead-free plastic, its unique design, reminiscent of a bento box, features single-serve individual containers, reusable utensils, a water or juice bottle and a handy carrying case.

If lunch sacks made from organic cotton or recycled plastic soda bottles are more your children's bag, reusablebags.com offers a cool selection too -- some even come with nontoxic reusable freezer packs.

Include Fun, Organic Snacks That Rival the Vending Machine

Here's a short list of kiddie crowd-pleasers to chew on:
FruitaBü Fruit Leathers: A convenient, organic and fun way to enjoy fruit when you can't find the real deal out of season.
Peeled Snacks>: A great find for the "grab and go" set, Peeled Snacks offers dried fruits and nuts made with no added sugars or oils.
Sweet Earth Fair Trade Certified Chocolates: Organic and vegan chocolate peanut butter cups? We venture no kids will complain about getting peanut butter in their chocolate or vice versa with these hard-to-resist candies made with social consciousness in mind.
Annie's Bunny Grahams: These sweet treats give mainstream graham crackers a run for their money. Made with organic wheat flour and no hydrogenated oils, they're also a great choice for those with milk allergies -- they're dairy-free.
End the Sandwich Doldrums

Kids like to play with their food and eat with their hands (some of us adults still relish those activities, too.) Get them involved in making the foods that they'll be taking for their lunches.

Burritos, quesadillas, soft tacos and wraps are all great sandwich alternatives and travel well in a lunch box. Spend some time with them in the garden choosing vegetables, take them shopping and have them pick out different ingredients like vegetables, fruit, healthy snacks and whole grain pastas for the recipes you make together.

Want to take a more proactive approach to ensure that school cafeteria food meets your green standards? Check out the Farm to School Program, which partners schools and local farmers. This program includes farm visits, farmers' visits to classrooms and students participating in a wide variety of agricultural experiential education programs. The USDA National Farm to School Program is another alternative that works with schools to not only connect them with small local farms to increase the amount of locally grown food served in schools, but also provides health and nutrition education opportunities for teachers, parents and students by means of farm visits, classroom education and school garden opportunities. And one last suggestion: The O'Mama Report offers Eleven Tips for Change that helps you map out a plan for getting organic foods into your school district.

用一顆純潔的環保之心送孩子們上學。

做一個沒有廢棄物的午餐盒

把午餐用紙張或塑料袋包好帶去學校再帶回來看起來完全像是在80年代發生的事情，不過使用午餐盒或者可重復使用的布袋（雖然它們也已經用了很多年了）還是落伍了。材質、顏色和尺寸的選擇可能性會使你的環保變得容易許多。

使用餐巾布能少砍伐幾顆樹木，利用可重復使用的器皿來為減少垃圾掩埋盡到自己的一份力量。裝在午餐盒或者環保袋里，餐巾布和環保器皿都可以被帶去學校，再從學校帶回家。

繞開預先包裝的食品，果汁盒和袋子，這些東西會給我們寶貴的地球帶來不必要的困擾。

最后，用環保容器來裝食品。就想想如果用環保容器來裝兩份快餐和一份飲料，每個孩子每學年可以節省多少錢吧。

午餐盒的替代品

所以，你已堅持到底準備你自己的食物�，F在來考慮一下你的午餐盒里可以放些什么吧。

便攜式午餐盒是由兩位具有環保意識的母親在7年前發明的，當兩位富有生活經驗的母親意識到幫助父母們準備有益的、減少浪費的午餐的最好辦法就是提供一套不僅方便、經濟而且受孩子們喜歡的午餐程序。這樣，便攜式午餐盒便誕生了。盒子由不含鉛的塑料制成，它的獨特設計令人回想起飯盒，由分開的單獨容器、環保器皿、一個裝水或果汁的瓶子和一個順手的手提箱組成。

如果你孩子的午餐布袋更多的是用有機棉或者再生的塑料蘇打水瓶制成，環保袋網站提供了時髦的精選產品——其中的一些甚至帶有無害的環保冰盒。

包括挑戰販賣機的趣味有機快餐

這里是孩子們喜歡吃的東西的簡要清單：

·果泥干：是在找不到這一水果的反季節里方便、有機和美味的享用水果的方法。

·去皮的零食：速食套餐的偉大發現，有不添加糖和油的水果干和堅果。

·甜土自由貿易認證巧克力：有機素食巧克力花生醬紙杯？我們打賭孩子們不會對著這些體現了人們的頭腦中的社會意識的誘人的糖果抱怨巧克力里面的花生醬或是花生醬里的巧克力。

·安妮兔寶寶全麥餅干：這些甜點會對主流的全麥餅干形成競爭壓力。由有機小麥粉制成，不含氫化油，也是牛奶過敏者的最佳選者——因為他們是脫脂的。

結束三明治帶來的悶悶不樂

孩子們喜歡把食品拿來玩，然后用手來吃（我們中的一些成年人也依然鐘情于這些行為），使得他們愿意制作午餐食物。

墨西哥玉米煎餅、起司餅、軟餅、卷餅都可以是很好的三明治的替代品，也便于用午餐盒攜帶。制作這些食物，需要花一些時間在花園里挑選蔬菜，為你同時制作的菜譜挑選不同的成分，如蔬菜、水果、健康的零食和全部的谷物面食。

想要采取更為主動的方法來確保學校自助餐廳里的食物符合你的綠色標準嗎？看看農場至學校項目吧，這一項目將學校和當地農民聯系在一起，八廓農場參觀、農民參觀教室和學生參加各種各樣的農業實驗教育項目。USDA國家農場至學校項目是另一項可替代的將學校與當地小農場聯系起來的項目，用以提高向學校提供的當地食品的自產量，同時通過參觀農場、課堂教育和學�；▓@等手段為教師、家長和學生提供了健康和營養的教育機會。最后的建議是：在《噢，媽媽報告》里為幫助你制定有機食品進入校區計劃提供的11個改變的建議。