I always thought individual wrappings were a waste. I still do but despite my best efforts at accumulating Tupperware containers... we seem to be buying more and more individually wrapped snacks for the children.
It started with cheese sticks. For some reason that I cannot imagine, packing actually cut up cheese (even in the shape of a "stick") and putting it in a lunchbox just isn't received well. For some reason, Liam just prefers his cheese to be stringy or twisted together (cheddar and mozzarella) and my self-cut cheeses just can't compete. Plus a cheese stick is much like a Twinkie. They just don't seem to go bad (which is dangerously counter-intuitive considering that they need to be refrigerated). There isn't even a sell-by date stamped on them (also a little disconcerting).
For years I've seen kids coming to school with lunch bags full of prepackaged snacks. 4 packs of Oreos, small bags of chips, even pre-wrapped pickles. Naturally, I thought I was better than all of their parents and that when I had children, all of their snacks would be snuggly fit into Tupperware of varying sizes. I thought I would buy big bags of snacks- economically and environmentally friendly- and then repack them into said Tupperware. I thought I would reuse plastic bags. That's hilarious. Right now I suppose my track record isn't too too bad. For the most part, when we have a big bag, I certainly do find an appropriately sized Tupperware. And the same goes for the cookies. But I've certainly had to get off the high horse. Instead of buying large yogurt containers and giving just a little bit to Liam each day, I've gone the way of the Go-Gurt (in my defense, I usually try to get the brand with less sugar). It's hard to pass up the mom-tested-and-proven trick of freezing the Go-Gurts and then the next day not only will your child get a cool yogurt treat (a smoothie, if you will), they will also get a decent ice pack in their snack bag to keep the water cool for the morning.
I admit, I slacked off during our vacation last year. We saved hundreds at Disney by stuffing prepackaged snacks into our backpacks to tide us over between meals. Instead of snacking on $10 bins of popcorn and heated up pretzels, adults and children alike all munched on Rice Krispie treats, cereal bars, fruit leather and crackers. Side note: the bakery on Main Street had humungous cinnamon buns which were a perfect exception to our snacks-from-the-backpack rule. I got a little spoiled by pre-packaged snacks on vacation so this summer as we headed out for science classes, swim lessons and play dates, I packed up a lunch bag full of treats, mostly pre-wrapped and ready to eat. And as a result, we had handfuls of plastic wrappings to show for it, including those little clear plastic straw wrappers that static cling to your hand when you try to throw them out and inevitably end up on the ground as litter.
I suppose it's not just the children I need to blame here for pushing me into the realm of individually wrapped items. After all, for years now I have been taking a Lean Cuisine lunch to school in my lunchbag. This includes a plastic container (if microwaved, could cause cancer), plastic film as well as a cardboard box. If I get the Lean Cuisines from the wholesale store, not only will they have the plastic container, film and cardboard box, they will also be reinforced with an extra sheet of cardboard and then plastic wrapped. What's up with the Fort Knox of Lean Cuisines?
Maybe I'm old fashioned. I kind of wish we could go back to the days of individual wrapping meaning the peel of a banana (or an orange). It just seems that after all of those lessons I learned in elementary school about "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle"... we've actually taken several steps backwards instead. Maybe we're afraid of contamination and want to keep our kids' snacks clean and disease-free... or maybe we're all just lazy. I can admit to that. I suppose it is a bit easier to pack Liam's snack with a small bag of Pirate Booty, a packaged fruit leather and a cup of applesauce. Is it good enough that I tell him not to throw out the spoon so he can re-use it tomorrow?
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