Bento Boxes

As a kid, I had a She-Ra Princess of Power Lunchbox w/ Thermos which I rarely used because (a) I was too lazy to pack myself a lunch and (b) everyone at my small South Dakota public school ate hot lunch including the teachers.

It wasn't until my first official "office job" after college that I started packing a lunch on a semi-regular basis and, even then, I was often lazy choosing to microwave a Smart Ones or Healthy Choice frozen entree out of convenience. Did I mention that I am lazy....?

Ok, less about me and more about something much more awesome.

Recently a friend told me about Bento Boxes, a trendy and sensible substitute for the lunch boxes of yesteryear. First of all, they have compartments!! They are also stackable and can reasonably accommodate a variety of meal options. Considering the quality of meals provided in school cafeterias today, packed lunches are bound to gain popularity. If it weren't for the tasty free meals provided by my employer, thanks Hilton!!, I would purchase one now...right now...do it!! Ok, ok, don't do it, but you should at least consider it.

The Bento Boxes pictured below are diswasher safe and can be found at http://www.plasticashop.com/ for $38.



One great substitute deserves another. Stop throwing away endless amounts of plastic sandwich bags and switch over to the Wrap-N-Mat. The Wrap-N-Mat is machine washable and can be found at http://www.reusablebags.com/ for $6.95. Adorable and economical!

Happy Munching!!

TerraCycle Expands....

Last year, I purchased a bottle of TerraCycle All Natural Liquid Fertilizer made from worm poop for the summer garden. Created from recycled material, Terracycle's products are beyond eco-friendly. They are down right genius in my opinion. Warning: I also think silly putty and the Magic Eight Ball are genius so you might not want to put too much stock in the next few lines.

Seriously though, as an individual I have made a personal commitment in recent years to reduce the amount of waste I produce. I heart nature: hiking, gardening, picnicking, swimming, fishing etc. I have never been one to take such things for granted and have no plans to start doing so anytime soon which is why I love companies like TerraCycle.

Since their initial launch, Terracycle has come out with some innovative products.

The following are some of my favs:


8" Urban Art Pots

Made from 100% e-waste (such as crushed computers and fax machines) that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill, these pots are painted by inner city artists. Each pot is unique and individual.





The "I Used to be a Plastic Bag" bag

This adorable high quality reusable bag was made by fusing together over 20 plastic bags.

Honorable mention: Terracycle cleaning products which include All Purpose Cleaner, Window Cleaner, Bathroom Cleaner, Natural Degreaser and Drain Cleaner.

For those of you who are really serious about reducing waste, TerraCycle also has an Oak Rain Barrel and Oak Rotary Composer.

TerraCycle products can be found at Target, Walgreens, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Office Max or online of course.

Traditional Ironing Substitute

I totally have a linen/cotton blend shirt that always needs to be ironed. Hello! Linen!! Cotton!! Yeah, I really need to pay more attention to clothing labels. Anyway, I recently received a great tip from the pages of Self magazine: When in doubt, flat iron it out!!!

For those annoying wrinkles at the hem line or fly away back pocket flaps, heat up your flatiron and skip the board.

For polyester and silk, set your iron to 200 degrees. For wool, turn the heat up to 300. Cotton and linen require even more heat at 400 degrees. Whisk the material through the plates and, presto, you're wrinkle free.