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Showing posts with label we eat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label we eat. Show all posts

07 April 2017

Why it is better to eat seasonally




Seasonal eating is often promoted by heath practitioners for it nutritional benefits. When produce is harvested at the peak of its season, it is full of beneficial nutrients and flavour, however there are additional benefits to seasonal eating that extend beyond the body and tastebuds.

When you eat produce that is grown locally and in season, you not only support local farmers, but reduce your environmental footprint by minimising your food miles. We are fortunate to live in an era and country where we have access to a large array of produce year-round, but what can be deceiving about this is the environmental impact of this offering. Like flowers, fruit and vegetables grow in season. Citrus fruits are at their peak in winter or cooler climates, and tropical fruits ripen in summer or in tropical climates.
When certain produce is out of season, supermarkets import them from other countries with opposing seasons to maintain their offering. The imported produce has usually been harvested earlier to ensure it doesn’t spoil and will be ripe by the time it reaches stores. The produce is placed in a shipping container and shipped to its intended destination, using countless tonnes of fuel and expelling pollution in the meantime.

Instead of eating produce that is available from supermarkets opt for purchasing produce from your local farmer’s markets or green grocer as it would have been grown locally, picked in season and have significantly less impact on the environment.

Below is a guide to help you buy produce in season. This guide may differ slightly depending on your location.

Autumn:

Fruits: avocado, apple, blackberries, banana, cumquat, custard apple, feijoa, fig, grapefruit, grapes, guava, honeydew, kiwi fruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, mango, mangosteen, nashi, orange, papaya, passionfruit, peach, pear, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, prickly pear, quince, rambutan, raspberries, rhubarb, rockmelon, strawberries, tamarillo

Vegetables: artichoke, asian greens, avocado, beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celery, choko, corn, cucumber, daikon, eggplant, fennel, leek, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onion, spring onions, parsnip, peas, potato, pumpkin, radish, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, squash, swede, sweet potato, tomato, turnip, watercress, witlof, zucchini

Winter:

Fruits: Apple, avocado, cumquat, custard apple, Feijoa, grapefruit, kiwi fruit, Lime, mandarin, nashi, orange, lemon, Pear, persimmon, pineapple, quince, Rhubarb, tamarillo, tangelo

Vegetables: asian greens, avocado, beetroot, broccoli, broccolini, broad beans, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Chokos, fennel, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leek, Lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onion, spring onion, parsnip, Peas, snow peas, potato, pumpkin, radish, shallot, Silverbeet, spinach, swede, sweet potato, turnip

Spring:

Fruits: Apple, asparagus, avocado, banana, blueberries, cantaloupe, Cherry, cumquat, grapefruit, honeydew, kiwi fruit, lemon, Lime, loquat, lychee, mandarin, mango, Mulberries, orange, papaya, pepino, pineapple, Rhubarb, strawberries, tarfruit, tangelo, watermelon

Vegetables: Artichoke, asian greens, avocado, beans, beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprouts, Cabbage, capsicum, carrot, cauliflower, celery, choko, corn, Cucumber, daikon, eggplant, fennel, leek, lettuce, mushrooms, Okra, onion, Spring onion, parsnip, peas, potato, pumpkin, Radish, shallot, silverbeet, spinach, squash, swede, sweet potato, tomato, turnip, watercress, witlof, zucchini

Summer:

Fruits: Apple, apricot, banana, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, Cantaloupe, cherries, currants, fig, grapefruit, Grapes, honeydew, lemon, loganberries, lychee, Mango, mulberries, nectarine, orange, passionfruit, Peach, pear, plum, pineapple, rambutan, Raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, tamarillo, watermelon

Vegetables: Asparagus, avocado, beans, beetroot, cabbage, Capsicum, carrot, celery, corn, cucumber, Daikon, eggplant, leek, lettuce, okra, Onion, spring onion, peas, snow peas, sugar snap peas, Potato, radish, shallot, silverbeet, squash, Tomato, watercress, zucchini, zucchini flower


Related: Because native bees matter; The health impacts of synthetic fragrance; Plastic free living

08 October 2014

Alexx Stuart 30 day low tox life e course


So peaceful and clean.  Image source: http://bestpaperz.com/ct/8903757-stone-mountain.html

Lighten your toxin load to end the year on a healthy high with Alexx Stuart's 30 days to a low tox life e course. starting 15 October 2014.

For only $49 for the month of sessions plus all the course materials, you will learn how to:
  • shop green
  • make more green stuff yourself
  • be a peaceful person
  • choose great pantry, cookware and bake ware
  • minimise your electronic exposure effects
  • avoid 'greenwashing'
  • avoid the top carcinogenic chemicals
  • avoid hormone altering chemicals in your personal household care
  • become a super sleuth that can spot a dodgy ingredient a mile away
Alexx has a lot of expertise to share and the e course is her way of sharing that knowledge with a whole bunch of people as time effectively as possible.  The 30 days to your low tox life e course is a simple, guilt free approach to lowering your toxic load. Your journey to ditching the weirdo, harmful chemicals all around us will be fun and empowering, NOT filled with fear, guilt or difficulty.

We're really looking forward to the course ourselves with several of the Biome team signing up; plus, Biome founder Tracey Bailey will participate in the expert sessions.

We love that it is all about positivity, encouragement, empowering you with the knowledge and motivation to make small but significant changes.

Among the course inclusions are a private Facebook group, expert interview sessions, an email a day, e course book and product guide, giveaways to the participants, access to Alexx to answer all your questions & more ...

Learn more and enroll in the 30 days to a low tox life e course here >
This is an affiliate link for which we may receive some commission.


About Alexx Stuart





Alexx is an avid researcher and recipe creator and shares her findings, recipes, endeavours and experiences on her blog and through her Facebook community. Her food philosophy: Keep it real. Keep it unrefined. Try for organic as much as possible.  With thyroid issues and PCOS, Alexx tends to stay away from most grains and sugars. She is also interested in traditional foods & food as medicine, how big business affects the food we eat and the products we use today. 

Alexx's Real Food Manifesto image is popular on Pinterest!

16 May 2014

What is the planet happy to give me to eat today?

Yallingup Wood Fired Bakery, Dunsborough, Western Australia uses locally grown biodynamic flour. Photo credit: my bro.

Let's flip around the concept of looking in a recipe book for something that we would like to cook, heading off to the supermarket to buy the required ingredients then coming home to make that for dinner.

Most of us love a little food homage whether admiring the artfully plated meals on MasterChef or glistening images in Donna Hay magazine.  They entice us to create such a delectable dish, but often without thought for whether the planet has those ingredients to offer us sustainably right now.

If we reverse that process, we can instead go the local farmers' market or grocery store, buy what we know has been grown locally and freshly harvested (or even browse our own veggie patch), then look in our recipe books to find a dish that can be crafted from the produce.

For me, the meal at the end of this approach nourishes our family with more than nutrients, it connects us with the earth and the people that grew the goods, and enhances our contentment with life.

Some tips to help you move towards more sustainable food choices:
  • Do what you can.  Don't be overwhelmed by changing everything, just open your mind to the possibilities and start!
  • Try researching just one food a week to see if you can find a locally grown alternative. 
  • Choosing a final product made in your area is a great start, but you can also move on to thinking about where the ingredients were grown.
  • Define your own limits for "local" - for example, 200 km may work in the city but not for those living in remote areas.
  • It may be challenging to find alternatives, but there are resources to help - seek and you'll find. 

One of the greatest joys of a local, seasonal food approach is that it simplifies life.  You might think it is more complicated, but actually, limiting choice is liberating.

About Yallingup Wood Fired Bread

We visited Yallingup wood fired bakery in December 2013.  Hand crafted, traditional wood fired bread is baked fresh every afternoon (check the time, but usually comes out around 4pm).   Western Australian Certified Biodynamic grown grain is stone milled to the finest flour, gently kneaded in a slow moving dough mixer and fermented over many hours. The loaves are hand-moulded and rested, then baked in wood fired ovens built from volcanic stones.








08 May 2014

Dairy farmers direct



Since the supermarket price wars, many consumers have made a conscious decision to support Aussie dairy farmers by choosing branded milk (such as Dairy Farmers, Pura, Pauls) over the supermarket home brands. 

We think that by choosing the more expensive milk we are helping the farmers.  It's an important gesture, showing with our purchasing power that we believe the production of milk has a true value of more than $1 per litre.  Unfortunately, according to The Checkout on ABC1 by buying those big brand names we're not helping the dairy farmer.  The farmers are actually paid the same for the milk because the milk that ends up in either branded or home brand bottles is bought from the same farms and is processed in the same plants (by Lions and Parmalat) - it's just different packaging. All we're doing by paying more for these big brands is increasing the profit Coles and Woolworths make on the same milk!  

This episode of The Checkout explains, recommending that the best way to help dairy farmers is to buy milk from collectives or direct from a farmer who produces the milk in your region (see a list below).

For those that can, the benefits of buying from local dairy farmers include:
  • the milk is less processed and more fresh (retaining more of the nutritional value)
  • it has travelled less food miles
  • we know the actual farm that produced the milk and thus we can learn more about animal welfare and sustainability practices
  • they tend to offer more unique choices such as unhomogenised and glass bottles.  
The welfare and treatment of dairy cows is also of great concern to many people - that is why growing numbers of people choose not to eat any dairy products at all, or want to know specifically how the cows and calves are treated.  Calves being sent to abattoirs is a concerning reality of the dairy industry.  When you know exactly which farm the milk is coming from you can ask the farmer (or even visit to check for yourself).  For example, Barambah Organics gives this statement on its website:
At Barambah Organics all the calves that are born on our property stay within our care. Our calves are not considered by us to be waste products.  At the age of 6 months we take the females and males to our other properties... No Barambah calves are sent to the abbatoir.  We often get asked the question "When are the calves separated from their mothers?" Each calf is different and needs to be individually assessed and monitored after birth... The calf is not separated from its mother until it is truly on its way and fit and healthy.

 

We started a list of dairy farmers direct milk that may be local to you, but then we found this very comprehensive list by Flavourcrusader.com  Thank you to them for the research to help us all.  We have not assessed the sustainability or animal welfare practices of the below.

SE Qld
Scenic Rim 4Real Milk (only distributes within a two hour drive of their South East Queensland farm)
Barambah Organics
Maleny Dairies (seen at FoodWorks)
Cooloola Milk (Gympie region, seen at IGA - Rainbow Beach)
Cooloola Jersey Organic milk (available at Food Connect)

SA
Bd Paris Creek Farm
Fleurieu Milk Co
Alexandrina Milk

NSW
Liddels for lactose free milk (Murrary Goulburn Co-operative)
Devondale long life (Murray Goulburn Co-operative)
Norco (seen at HIlls Bakery - Ferny Hills, Megafresh - Carine, Woollies - Annerley)
Country Valley (Picton)

VIC
Organic Dairy Farmers

WA
Brownes

For unhomognised and unpasteurised (straight from the cow) you can consider raw milk marketed in Australia as "bath milk" (i.e. apparently for bathing in, not for human consumption).  Heavenly Bath Milk from the Northey Street Markets in Brisbane and Cleopatra's Bath Milk at organic/wholefood stores.

As Flavourcrusader.com says:
While supermarkets compete over the price of milk, dairy farmers step out of the ring and compete with quality. For distinct flavour, seek low temperature pasteurisation and milk from a single-origin herd. For creaminess, look for Jersey and Guernsey cows, or unhomogenised milk. For a better world, support those who cultivate rich soil, minimise plastic and go above and beyond for animal welfare.

07 May 2013

Australian made goodies

Mungalli Creek Dairies ~ North Queensland, Australia

To help support Aussie industry and encourage us all to choose locally grown and made, we recently asked our Biome blog and Facebook followers to share their favourite Australian-made products. Here's a compilation of their suggestions to look out for next time you are shopping.*  Please feel free to share your favourites in the comments.

Food

Alexandrina Cheese Company
Angelica Organic Farm:  Australian Certified Organic garlic - seasonally available.
Barambah Organics:  Certified organic dairy products made on the NSW/QLD border.
B.-d. Farm Paris Creek:  Organic & biodynamic dairy products.
Buderim Ginger:  Ginger products.
Bundaberg:  Brewed drinks.
Cafe 26:  Dressings, sauces & marinades.
Carmans Kitchen:  Muesli products.
Chocolatier
Daintree Estates:  Chocolate made from cocoa grown in Australia.

Daintree Tea. One of the nicest teas I have tasted and anyone who comes to my place and has a cup of tea has commented...grown without the use of insecticides or fungicides.” Sharyn W, via FB

Darrell Lee
Dick Smith Foods
five:am:  Certified organic flavoured yoghurts.
Fountain Sauces


Green Grove organic licorice ~ Junee, New South Wales

Green Grove Organics:  Certified organic chocolate and licorice.
Haigh’s Chocolates
Highland Organics:  Organic dairy products.
Hightree Estates:  Organic coffee from northern NSW.
Kenilworth Country Foods:  Gourmet dairy products.
Koko Black:  Chocolates.  
Kurrajong Kitchens:  Lavosh made in NSW.
Loving Earth:  Raw chocolate and other raw foods.
Maleny Dairies:  Cow and goats milk, Queensland.
Melinda’s Gluten Free Goodies
Meredith Dairy:  Handmade goat and sheep dairy products.
Mungalli Creek Dairy:  Biodynamic milk, yoghurt and cheese made in North QLD.
Nudie:  Juices and smoothies.
Outback Spirit:  Chutney, preserves, sauces, dressings, and herbs.

“We love...Oz Tukka for their amazing range of authentic blends and easy to use products.” Theresa W, via FB

Pana Chocolate
Queensland Yoghurt Company
Table of Plenty:  Spices, cereals, snacks and breads.
Vanilla Australia
Yarra Valley Dairy
Yummabubba:  Brisbane-based home-style baby food.

Bathroom cabinet (skin, body & hair care)

A'kin
Aesop
Aura
Beauty and the Bees
Cleopatra's Bath Milk


Corrynne's Soaps ~ Dunsborough, Western Australia

“I love Corrynne's Eco Soap - orange, patchouli, clay and red ochre! Love the natural scent on my body, and look forward to having a shower especially in the warm summer! The scent gives a very relaxing and soothing effect...best of all it is made of natural ingredients! Love me, love my skin and love nature! A must have, must buy!!!” Lorraine K, via FB

Davroe
De Lorenzo
Eco Tan
Gaia

“I love the Jack ‘n Jill Natural Calendula Toothpaste Raspberry Flavour that I just bought for my toddler! It is natural product, best for toddler, and amazingly the toothpaste is safe to swallow...which I hardly can find other products in the shelf!”  Yew J F, via FB

Kosmea
Jurlique
MooGoo
Sukin


Cleaning supplies

Clean Conscience cleaning products from fabulous Tasmania....ethical, vegan, environmentally sound and they smell great (plus they get the cleaning done really fast)!!!”  Fiona L, via FB

EucoClean

"Discovered Kin-Kin Naturals recently. Being super sensitive to chemicals, was delighted that their wonderful range - dishwash, laundry liquid, oxy-bleach - did not give me any skin reaction. I am actively supportive of locally grown businesses also, especially eco-conscious ones!! ps. their products smell wonderful too.”  Sharon L, via FB

Orange Power
Planet Ark
Thursday Plantation
Tri Nature


Lifestyle products

“I love my Keep Cup. Reusable, and no polystyrene after-taste.” Pauline O, via FB

Driza-Bone
Inky Co.
Lambykins:  Australia merino products.
Master & Miss:  Organic childrens clothing designed and made in Australia.
Pure Pod:  Australian made sustainable womens fashion.
St Albans   Mohair and alpaca products.

If you loved this list, check out the products made in Australia from Biome.

*While we have done our best to confirm that these companies produce their products in Australia, please check for yourself and let us know if we need to update our information.

09 March 2013

Organic coconut oil





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Where can you buy certified organic coconut oil?


You can buy coconut oil online and in store at Biome  Brisbane.  We are impressed by the Niugini Organics story, which being produced in Papua New Guinea, has the lowest food miles for delivery to Australia.  It is extracted without heat and is jarred and boxed by the community of growers who grow the coconuts from which the oil comes.  The other organic coconut oils also have good features. Choose from at Biome:

Niugini Organics certified organic coconut oil  

Coconut Magic
Banaban coconut oil
Oil4life organic coconut oil.
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We've learned many times at Biome that every idea will have its day!  And it appears that the time has come for the idea of Organic Coconut Oil.  Although some people, like Bruce Fife of the Coconut Research Centre cracked this coconut wide open many years ago. 

Fife believes that in the 80's coconut oil was wrongly lumped in with harmful saturated fats (partly due to propoganda by the soy bean industry) and it was replaced in general food use by hydrogenated soy bean oil, with devastating economic impacts for the Pacific communities that grow organic coconut oil.  He says:
The connection between heart disease and coconut oil that frightened so many people never existed. What most people didn't understand at the time was that there are many different types of saturated fat and that the fat in coconut oil is completely different from that found in animal fats. This difference is important because it's what makes coconut oil unique and gives it its remarkable healing properties.

Of course, there are some who are not so upbeat about coconut oil, so please do research and decide for yourself.  Remember that virgin (unprocessed or raw) organic coconut oil is very different to hydrogenated coconut oil, which is not healthy.
 
Biome has sold organic coconut oil for about two years.  Originally it was a customer in store who suggested we should take a look.  Then it turned out that some of the healthy living Biome team were already experiementing with coconut oil!

Healthy eating role models like Sarah Wilson have promoted the organic coconut oil message for many years (here is a 2011 post from Sarah Wilson that explains perfectly what is so great about coconut oil).  Sarah is now regularly called upon by the media to talk about coconut oil.

Yet, it was way back in 2004 that Bruce Fife released The Coconut Oil Miracle  where he outlined his research that found when taken as a dietary supplement, used in cooking, or applied directly to the skin, coconut oil could:
  • Promote weight loss
  • Help prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and many other degenerative diseases
  • Strengthen the immune system
  • Improve digestion
  • Alleviate premature aging of the skin
You can read more about Coconut Oil on the Coconut Research Center website, where Dr Fife explains the drastic economic impact there has been for Pacific communities.  He writes: Up until the mid-1980s coconut oil was commonly used in many foods. The anti-saturated fat campaigns sponsored by the soybean industry and misguided special interest groups succeeded in frightening the public away from using coconut oil and food manufacturers and restaurants eventually replaced it with hydrogenated soybean oil. By 1990, coconut had virtually disappeared from American and European diets... Demand for coconut products plummeted and the coconut industry fell into a deep depression that lasted for two decades... Literally millions of farmers, pickers, consolidators, truckers, and processors were no longer able to earn a living...They barely eked out a living year by year on a pauper's wage.
 

Why is organic coconut oil finally having its day?

It appears that the relationship between coconut oil and "sugar" has propelled it into the mainstream.  We have seen the Sweet Poison and no sugar diet phenomenom, coupled with more people needing to manage Type 2 Diabetes.  And, as Sarah Wilson explains, coconut oil helps stop sugar cravings and energy slumps.  Your body sends medium-chain fatty acids straight to your liver to use as energy. This means that coconut oil is a source of instant energy to your body, much like when you eat simple carbohydrates. But although they both deliver quick energy to your body, unlike the carbohydrates, coconut oil does not produce an insulin spike in your bloodstream. This saves you from a slump, and is good news for anyone struggling with insulin issues.
 
Niugini Organics claims that reliable scientific evidence indicates that coconut oil stimulates the metabolism without the production of insulin, assisting with the management of Type 2 Diabetes and Cholesterol.

Secondly, we are also learning that some vegetable oils, like olive oil, can be harmful when heated - whereas organic coconut oil can be heated to 170 degrees Celsius without turning itself into a trans-fatty-acid or transfat.  People using safe, non stick cookware such as Neoflam, know to use coconut oil because it does not ruin the non stick cookware surface.

24 January 2013

Lunch box ideas

Zucchini & Sweetcorn fritters.  Lunch box ideas photo source: www.taste.com.au

Lunch box ideas to make it easy & nutritious

Biome's eco and health-minded community recently shared a bunch of brilliant ideas to help make packing a waste free, nutritious kids lunch box easy peasy!   They entered our survey competition to win a $200 voucher from Eeni Meeni Miini Moh.

We were overwhelmed by the organised and inspired minds out there!  The primary idea is to make it just as easy and fast to use home-made foods in reusable containers, rather than feeling you only have the time to grab pre-packaged, individual serve foods.  There's no doubt that this bulk buying approach will save money; plus, home made avoids the additives and preservatives in processed foods.  Further, more schools are requiring parents to not send any disposable plastic wrap or pre-packaged food in lunch boxes.

To ease the strain on morning brains, many survey respondents recommend writing a menu plan for the week, rotating set menus or following the same formula every day.   

Following a routine or formula for the lunch box contents each day also helps with making children responsible for packing their lunches from an early age (another popular theme).  A simple break down such as this works well:
1. Sandwich or pasta
2. Fruit or vegetable sticks
3. Yoghurt or sweet home bake from the freezer
4. Savoury dry snack or home bake.
5. Something extra if they want: egg, cheese, dip

The most popular lunch box idea is to home bake and freeze or prepare ahead ready for easy picking in the morning.  Kids love a variety of snack size goodies and you can pack a lot of nutrition into small things that make lunch more interesting and fun.  See the ideas below on what you can bake ahead and freeze. And, of course, get the kids to help with the baking so they have ownership of what they're eating.

We were also motivated by the number of organised people who recommend packing most of the lunch boxes the night before to save stress when the morning rush is on.


Lunch box ideas - Mini foods to bake ahead and freeze



Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Mini eggless banana choc chip muffins (link below)
You can easily Google recipes for most of these ideas: pikelets and scones, wholesome vegie muffins, eggless banana choc chip muffins, banana and cranberry muffins, home made museli bars, healthy slices, vegetable fritters or patties, vegemite/pizza scrolls, quiche/omelette slices, banana bread, zucchini slice, apricot logs, date loaf, sausage rolls, arancini rice balls, meat balls, pizza on wholemeal base. Often you can bake them to enjoy on the weekend, but make extras to freeze.



More ways to be organised in advance
  • On the weekend, pre-pack dried fruit, organic corn chips, dry biscuits into little reusable containers ready for five days of snacks. 
  • Cook up bulk amount of pop corn at the beginning of the week (popcorn maker recommended for ease and low fat content). 
  • Make a dip early in the week and then simply cut up vegetable sticks on the day.
  • Cut up vegetable sticks and cheese (use mini biscuit cutters for fun shapes) for a couple of days supply - or, while making dinner the night before, cut or grate extra for lunches the next day.
  • Make extra quantity of noodles/pasta/sausages at dinner and use for lunches. Can be sent to school hot in an insulated food thermos.
  • Make a salmon or tofu spread at the beginning of the week to put on sandwiches each day.
  • Fill a week's worth of refillable Squeeze pouches with yoghurt or milk and fruit smoothies

Some favourite lunch boxes

Goodbyn - is much loved because it has only one lid to keep track of!  The Goodbyn Bynto is a one meal or small meal size.

Sandwich wrap - saves wasting plastic wrap, the wraps are a good style as once kids open the wrap it acts like a plate





More healthy lunch box ideas
  • Steamed chicken makes yummy fresh wraps with salad and sweet chilli sauce for older kids.
  • Bulk tubs of Greek yoghurt and spoon into reusable containers with honey, tinned, fresh or frozen fruit.
  • Vegies: Cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, celery sticks, capsicum
  • Smoothie or protein shake
  • Frozen grapes and berries
  • Boiled eggs
  • Home made chocolate milk slushies (freeze ahead and by lunch time it's a slushie)
  • Frozen yoghurt in small containers.
Lunch box ideas from others
Here's two of our favourite posts by others with lunch box ideas
Natural New Age Mum ~ Healthy Lunchbox ideas and none of them are sandwiches
The Organised Housewife ~ Freezable Lunchbox Baking recipes

And see more ideas in our earlier lunch box ideas post.

Menu planning
In the words of one our respondents: A few minutes over the weekend plotting out lunches for the coming week means you buy/make what you need so you have it there on hand and it saves SOOOO much angst. You just read what you've arranged for that day, pop it all together and away you go. Highly recommended :)

Here are some of the lunch box ideas that impressed us most (we received so many that we'll post more in the coming weeks)

Make up five days worth of sandwich/wrap items and cook and cut up a healthy slice/tray of muffins that are freezable with the kids on Sundays. Use 4 my earth wraps to store items 'ready to go' in the freezer and grab them out the night before (or in the morning on a really hot day), add a piece of fruit/vege or two, a bottle of water and off to school!!

Don't try to be too fancy or have too many options. My kids happily take and eat basically the same things every day. Sandwich fillings change depending upon whether we have roast or if chicken fillets are on special. I cook chicken fillets then slice them up and freeze in portions. A homemade banana, cranberry & choc chip muffin (from the freezer and zapped for 20 seconds then into small container and insulated lunch bag). Some fruit, chopped for easy consumption and either some carrot sticks, grapes, cucumber sticks or yoghurt - rice crackers or chicken crimpys occasionally.

Use containers with lids attached so you are not looking for lids. Line up containers and cut each persons fruit and then cut each persons lunch,fill each water bottle and place in lined up bags. Don't spend time in the morning looking for containers. Label all items.

I make 5 sandwiches at the beginning of the week & freeze in a Keepleaf wrap. Take it out of the freezer the night before & the next morning pop fresh veg such as avocado, lettuce or tomato on it!

I dont buy plastic wrap so if its not there, it cant be used.

My kids get "bits & bobs" in their boxes everyday = they want variety! The compartments in the Goodbyn make it easy - all fruits cut up in one (stone fruit, pears, berries, etc), all veg in another (peapods, cuc, capsicum, cuc, carrots, celery), salami/bbq chick/salmon/protein in another, naan bread/crackers/grain/muffin in another and a sweet. Goal in our house is a lot of variety everyday and it is all healthy - and gobbled up!

I place all the containers in a zipped up fabric carry bag with a frozen drink bottle wrapped in a tea towel to keep everything nice and cool (old fashioned & a bit daggy but works a treat!)

[Note: this person has five children and has a precision scheme going on :-) !] On shopping day I freeze cheese or vegemite sandwiches into loaf shape containers (I use one container for cheese and one for vegemite).  The slices that don't fit in make sandwiches for that days' lunch which I make at the same time :) This also helps to keep the lunchboxes cool and the sandwiches nice and fresh) They are easy to add salad, chutney, cold meat to when packing or to just grab and go on busy days. With 5 kids I find that making a few loaves of sandwiches doesn't take that much more time than making them 1 each.  If i'm organised I make the lunches after dinner using leftovers if possible or just grab a frozen sandwich on a shelf in the fridge dedicated to lunches/leftovers.  I also try to cut up any vegies such as carrot or cucumber sticks as I'm cooking dinner eg if I'm making a salad I'll cut up the cucumbers for lunch at the same time and pop straight into the lunchboxes.:)

You can find another great list of lunch box ideas in our earlier post and Biome's large choice of lunch boxes and sandwich wraps hereLunch boxes also available at Todae Lifestyle Store.
Lunch box ideas photo courtesy of Squeeze ems reusable pouches
A final word on replacement parts

Part of Biome's eco philosophy is to think about prolonging the life of a product and often a bit of a lunch box or water bottle or drinking mechanism will break or wear out long before the main body of the metal or BPA free plastic bottle or lunch box.  That is why Biome encourages all our suppliers to offer replacement parts.
We offer Thermos plastic straw and Thermos silicone mouth pieces for the Thermos insulated Funtainers.  You can find the Thermos Spare Parts here.
Kids Konserve replacement lids


 


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