It’s hard to believe that one of the original “green babies” to inspire this blog and our book is officially a kindergartner. Here she is, at six months, taking her first bite of food (avocado).

And here she is on our walk to the neighborhood elementary school last Friday, for her first (half) day of school:

Note her furrowed brow. She has been dreading kindergarten for the last eight months, and she shed a few worried tears on the walk up the hill to the school.

But here she is a few hours later:

Kindergarten success!

Just a few days ago I posted about my conflicted relationship with pre-packaged food. Convenience is expensive, wasteful, and sometimes really, really….convenient. Especially when it comes to packing school lunches, a chore my husband and I utterly dread.

So imagine my surprise when my son’s preschool sent home a notice asking us to exclude all single serving packaged items. What a glorious idea! Having a trash-free policy for packed lunches has a huge impact when sixty students follow it every single day. And since the kids compost and are limited to refillable drink bottles, the daily trash produced will be extremely minimal. But that means no more raisin boxes, or cheese sticks, or fruit leathers. From now on, it’s reusable containers all the way.

I’m actually glad to have the eco-pressure to take that step. It’ll require extra time, but in the long run it will save money and environmental impact. Instead of buying single serving items, we’ll buy large quantities and individually pack them up in the beginning of the week. At this point my inner lunch packing loather is horrified by the change, but like all lifestyle adjustments, I think we’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Cheese sticks will become cheese cubes.
Fruit leather will switch to frozen blueberries.
Raisin boxes will be replaced with homemade trail mix.

In terms of reusable lunch ware, we already love the small compartments in Lock & Lock containers with removable trays. They’re BPA-free, dishwasher safe, microwave safe, freezable and they nest for easy storage.

But we’re also thinking of buying something like Lunchskins so that we can squeeze more in lunchboxes. People also seem to really like the Itsy Ritzy Reusable Snack Bag. Do you have a snack bag solution that helps you pack a zero waste lunch?

I guess the easiest solution would be to wash out zip-lock bags on a daily basis. Are any of you managing on that system?

My son, who helped to inspire our book The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, just turned five. Did he request reclaimed wood toys or organic cotton garments for his birthday? Nope. He’s in the midst of a feverish obsession with monster trucks, which are just about as ungreen as you can possibly be.

On the other end of the gender spectrum is my two-year-old daughter Jovi who must wear the finest dresses available (purchased at thrift stores), jewels, and purses on a daily basis. For her brother’s fifth birthday party (which included “pin the wheels on the monster truck”), Jovi received one special gift: A Green Toys Tea Set.

My thrift shopping habit has wildly skewed my price perception, so spending over twenty bucks on a plastic tea set was slightly painful, but I was happily surprised with the quality of the product. And when I did some research on the company, I was glad that I shelled out a bit more. All Green Toys are made in the U.S. from recycled milk containers. The whole process happens in California which saves the carbon cost of having raw materials shipped into the factory from overseas. They’re BPA free and meet the strict toy safety and environmental laws for the state of California.

I love the practical heft of the plastic, the colors, the simple design, and the fact that all lids are completely interchangeable. Since she got the set two weeks ago, we have had dozens of tea parties, and I think there are hundreds more to come. With a quality product like Green Toys, you get an heirloom toy that is made of recycled materials and costs just a bit more cheap plastic sets made in China. I’d definitely recommend it!

Do you own any Green Toys? Have you been satisfied with their quality?

Babysitting trades have been one of the biggest discovery of my mothering career. My kids are thrilled to play with their friends, my husband and I dash off to the theater with a bag of homemade popcorn, and everyone enjoys a change in the routine! When we’re hosting the swap, we enjoy seeing the budding friendships between our children and their peers.

Before the days of babysitting trades, there were no parenting breaks for me except when my husband arrived home. By then, I was so desperate for company (or privacy) that I’d either talk his ear off or lock myself in the bedroom just to experience a tiny slice of silence. (I don’t own a Snuggie, but the glowing smile in the picture captures how I felt when I crept into my bedroom. “Tee-Hee…no one is currently climbing, spitting up on, or peeing on me! Glorious!” )

Eventually I started to schedule our weeks at home around play dates, which were a welcome diversion for an extravert like myself. But when things evolved into babysitting trade status, life truly eased up–and not just for me! The families I swap babysitting with are just as grateful for the chance to host a play date or to get a sliver of freedom every so often.

Babysitting cooperatives take swaps to a whole new level. In a co-op, parents take on a few more children, but also get more opportunities for free babysitting. The Smart Mom’s Baby-Sitting Co-op Handbook:How We Solved the Baby-Sitter Puzzle can help you create one yourself. It’s gotten rave reviews on Amazon and thoughtfully lays out plans in careful detail for how to put together a community that works for you. It’s so popular that even though it was published over a decade ago, it’s currently sold out! (But should be available again very soon.)

I know with infants cooperatives or exchanges may be more of a challenge, but if you have at least two parents on duty it’s pretty amazing what you can handle. Does anyone else enjoy babysitting swaps? Do any of you have family who volunteer to watch your tot on a regular basis? I plan on doing that once my children get a bit older!

I feel like I must have asked this question before. Believe it or not, almost six years after giving birth, I still have boxes of tiny garments tucked away in my attic. I may have hung on to some maternity clothes, a nursing pillow, and a high chair as well.

I’m sure having a high chair sitting around in the basement will come in handy at some point. . . .

Back when I was debating between the Boppy pillow and the My Breast Friend, one of my big concerns was resale value. Imagine spending under a thousand dollars on baby gear (which I did) and then making most of it back when I sold it at a consignment shop or on ebay (which I didn’t).

Can I interest you in a six-year-old Boppy pillow?

If you want to know how I scrimped and saved on baby gear, check out our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide. And if you want to know the very best way to recoup your expenses . . . well, that’s what I’m asking our knowledgeable readers right now! I’m thinking that selling back these odds and ends might be more trouble than it’s worth. What would you do–make an effort to sell it, or give it all away?

I have a strange relationship with packaged foods. In my heart, I’d prefer to whip up batches of homemade crackers, cereal, cookies, and even yogurt in my spare time. I hate buying pre-packaged stuff and tossing wrappers into the trash, but I’m also eternally grateful to have it on hand when we’re heading off to parks, swimming lessons, or school. I minimize packaged items in lunches, but when I’m in a rush it’s nice to be able to quickly assemble something healthy that my child will actually eat.

So are there some prepared foods that pack more of a nutritional punch and treat the planet just a bit more kindly?

Dry cereal is a great breakfast option but can also be tossed into lunches or stirred into trail mixes. I love Trader Joe’s O’s, but Annie’s Homegrown Organic Bunny O’s are also excellent. Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies are a terrific alternative to the ubiquitous goldfish.

My children can be tricked into eating pumpkin and pureed prunes due to the lovely taste of Kashi bars. At this point in my life, I’ve also realized that I may be the one having the hunger meltdown if I don’t have snacks along on our adventures.

Newman’s Own Organic Raisins are easy to pack up in tupperware or reusable plastic bags and can be thrown into trail mix, oatmeal, or cookies as a great supplement.

Bare Fruit’s 100% Organic Bake-Dried Fuji applies are currently on sale for less than $20 for two one pound bags. I know it can seem costly, but you have to think of the volume of apples that have to be dehydrated to produce just two pounds of dried fruit. (If you have a dehydrator and do the drying yourself, I envy you!)

Stretch Island Fruit Leathers have no added sugar or colors and are made just one state away in Washington. My kids love these and they’re currently less than $13 for a pack of 30 bars. Making fruit leather is an eventual goal of mine, but I’m not there yet…

If you’re trying to get a few more greens into their lunches, consider tossing some boiled and salted edamame (soybeans) in. Somehow the novelty of popping the soybeans out of their shells helps to get these nutritional gems into their bodies. My kids also love roasted Seaweed Snacks. It may sound a bit exotic, but the sheets of nori (the seaweed used to wrap sushi) are seasoned with sesame and then roasted and salted to create a really delicious snack that emulates potato chips.

Although they’re often forbidden in schools where children suffer from allergies, there’s nothing that beats the nutrition and ease of plain nuts. One pound of Raw Organic Almonds can be tossed in with cereal, raisins, and dried fruit to create a killer trail mix that’s easy to transport.

What are your best ideas for simple school lunch snacks? Do you dread packing lunches as much as I do?