Last week, we heard the news that kids will be going back to school in person this fall. As was the case last year, kids may have additional anxieties after being away from in-school learning environments since April.

As I ready myself for this next transition, I’m grateful that the packed lunch not only gives my kid nutritious food, but also delivers a bit of comfort from home during the school day. Packed lunches are also an opportunity for me and my family to make thoughtful choices about what waste we may be creating and sending to landfill.

Here are my top 10 tips to help make our lunches litterless.

1. Don’t buy pre-packaged food and beverages

Reducing waste inside the home requires us to change our habits outside of the home.

When we are grocery shopping, instead of reaching for a package of cheese strings, consider buying a brick of cheese and cutting it creatively. Rather than buying pre-packaged produce, opt for the unpackaged options and bring your own produce bags.

Consistently choosing lunch snacks that have limited or no packaging is a great way to reduce waste. As with many sustainable choices, reducing the packaging that comes into your home not only benefits the planet but also your health and the health of your kids.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report in 2018 acknowledging the growing body of evidence that suggests chemicals added to food directly or indirectly via packaging, adhesives, etc. could have long-term developmental repercussions in children.

2. Involve your child in the lunch planning and packing process

This tip is simple, but it challenges us as parents to let our kids make choices instead of choosing for them.

Having choices is empowering, and our kids learn a lot when they are empowered in the kitchen.

Depending on their age, you can split the workload while encouraging independence and ownership. When children have a voice and can choose their own lunch options, they are more likely to eat it.

3. Avoid juice boxes

Swap out sugary juice boxes with a single stainless-steel water bottle that can be filled (and refilled) with good old H2O right from the tap.

Getting into the habit of drinking water at lunch and throughout the day is good for your child’s health and your pocketbook.

Though juice boxes are recyclable, they are often not rinsed properly before being put into the bin. This leads to contamination of other recyclables and can result in the whole lot being sent to landfill. Also, we need not explain why the single-use plastic straws that come with juice boxes should be avoided.

In speaking with teachers and education assistants, I have learned that juice boxes are the number one unfinished lunch item, and more often than not they end up half-full in the garbage.

4. Use stainless-steel containers

Choose reusable stainless-steel containers, thermoses, and water bottles for packing your child’s lunch.

Stainless steel is relatively easy to clean using hot water and soap. A bottle brush can help you clean inside thermoses and water bottles.

Stainless steel is also durable, light, and free of BPA and other harmful toxins.

5. Practice making lunches with your child

Practice your lunch routine before school starts by packing a demo lunch and going on a picnic.

This gives you the opportunity to see your child’s lunch gear in action. Check to see how easily your young ones can open and close the containers by themselves.

This way you can be sure the food you pack is accessible. This also ensures your child will not have to ask for help from school staff.

6. Use fabric snack bags

Reach for reusable fabric snack bags rather than plastic ones.

Colourful or patterned reusable bags offer the element of surprise.

They are easy to wipe out at the end of the day and can be tossed in the washing machine for a deep clean.

7. Avoid plastic wrap

Swap out that plastic cling wrap!

This single-use plastic product can easily be replaced with beeswax food wraps.

These sustainable alternatives are reusable, washable with cold water, and compostable after approximately one year of use.

8. Consider making your own granola bars

Replace pre-packed granola bars with litter-less alternatives.

Those pre-packaged granola bars may seem like a convenient snack option, but the foil wrappers are not recyclable and only end up in the landfill.

One alternative is baking your own granola bars at home in large batches, which you can freeze and thaw as needed. This offers an opportunity for your child to be involved in the baking process, not to mention you can customize your creation and add all your favourite healthy ingredients.

9. Do some research

Consult with teachers, fellow parents, and online resources for lunch-packing inspiration.

A quick Google search will bring up hundreds of blog posts and articles with parents documenting their school lunch ideas. One of my favourite ideas is fresh fruit or vegetable skewers.

Try visiting the website of the brand of your child’s lunchbox. For example, the Planet Box website provides specific recipes that help you make the most of the compartments provided in their lunch boxes.

10. Recycle any packaging if you can

It’s not always possible to avoid packaging, but some of it can be recycled.

If you are looking to check up on the recyclability of specific items within the City of Peterborough, there is an excellent online tool on the City of Peterborough’s website called What Goes Where.

The tool allows you to search for a particular item or material and receive specific instruction about how and where it’s disposed.

The GreenUP Store offers a variety of tools to help you create your child’s litter-less lunch kit. For more information, visit us at 378 Aylmer Street in downtown Peterborough, check out our online store at shop.greenup.on.ca, or give us a call at 705-745-3238 ext. 222, or email kristen.larocque@greenup.on.ca with your zero-waste lunch questions.

This month, food writer Eva Fisher grabs a sweet treat at Frasca’s Ridge Maple Co.’s maple cart in Douro-Dummer, shares the charcuterie love with Sharecuterie Boards in Peterborough, checks the status of renovations at The Cow & Sow Eatery in Fenelon Falls, and samples a slice at Pizza Bodega in downtown Peterborough.

Frasca’s Ridge Maple Co. serves made-from-scratch maple treats on Labour Day long weekend

Your Labour Day long weekend just got a lot sweeter. Frasca’s Ridge Maple Co. (2162 White Lake Road West, Douro-Dummer) is offering made-from-scratch doughnuts, maple tarts, fudge, and more from their maple cart located at the corner of County Road 6 and White Lake Road West.

Owners Vince and Stephanie Frasca originally started making syrup on a small scale, with just 12 trees. They would boil the sap over a fire. Two years ago, they moved to a three-acre property in Douro-Dummer where they could expand their hobby into a small business.

Currently the maple cart is restricted to long weekends only.

“My wife and I make everything,” Vince says. “We both work full-time jobs still so we do the carts on long weekends, so we at least have some time off.”

They make the fudge and maple butter the week before, and then on the Friday morning of the long weekend they bake the doughnuts and tarts.

“The tarts and doughnuts are recipes that we’ve come up with over the years, and instead of using white and brown sugar we swap everything with maple sugar.”

Vince says that the tarts are a must try.

“The shell is made with our maple sugar and the filling is made with our maple syrup and maple sugar. In my opinion they’re the best thing we make because they’re super, super mapley.”

The commitment to purely maple products extends to the fudge.

“The maple fudge is literally maple syrup and the few ingredients that turn it into a fudge,” Vince says.

The cart is open next on the Labour Day weekend, on Friday afternoon (September 3) and Saturday (September 4). If you can’t make it to the cart, you can order fudge, maple butter, and maple syrup anytime for pickup by contacting Frasca’s Ridge Maple Co. on Instagram or Facebook.

Did someone order charcuterie? Sharecuterie Boards offers decadence to go

How would you like to get a beautifully presented charcuterie board delivered to your door? Sharecuterie Boards in Peterborough offers hand-crafted charcuterie boards for two or for a family. featuring delicious treats from local businesses.

Owner Victoria Seguin started the business five months ago. The midst of a pandemic might seem like an unlikely time to develop a business built around a food that many associate with parties, but Victoria found that, even alone, charcuterie is a great way to treat yourself.

“This is something I did for myself during COVID as a weekly self-care ritual,” she recalls. “It was my date night with myself and I would make myself a beautiful board and enjoy the shopping and the prepping.”

Her beautiful boards caught the eye of those around her.

“A girlfriend told me, ‘You would be stupid not to turn this into a business!’ I thought about it and said, ‘Well, that’s one thing that I’m not.'”

She sat on the idea for two months until one morning she woke up and decided the time was right.

“I worked in fitness, and I think we all know that fitness took a big hit during the COVID lockdowns. We’d just got into the third lockdown and I was just finding myself in a rut. I needed to create a routine and just not wait any more.”

Victoria sources her ingredients locally from small businesses.

“The smaller butcher shops, the smaller cheese shops — I have a mom-and-daughter team from Omemee that does the jams.”

Sourcing locally became particularly important to her as she saw the devastation of the pandemic on local businesses.

“I saw all these businesses closing in Peterborough and I just thought, ‘Why can’t I be a small business that supports other small businesses?'”

Sharecuterie Boards are delivered on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Victoria is also planning to offer a Wednesday lunch. To order, contact her through Instagram or Facebook.

The Cow & Sow Eatery in Fenelon Falls gets a new look but keeps the friendly personality

A fresh new look is in store for The Cow & Sow Eatery (38 Colborne St., Fenelon Falls, 705-887-5111). Since early this year, the popular Fenelon Falls restaurant and bar has been undergoing a major renovation, with plans to reopen on September 22nd.

The Cow & Sow was originally part of the Mansion House Hotel, built in the late 1800s, and has been home to a variety of businesses since then. In 2019, Emily Forbes and her mother Lorraine Forbes purchased the restaurant from former owner Dickon Robinson, who established it in 1996.

After years of use, structural renovations were required, which presented an opportunity for Emily and Lorraine to make some major changes.

“We’ll be doing all new floors, new bar, and new paint,” Emily says.

The kitchen will also be overhauled, with new fridge and freezers and a new prep area.

The renovations have unearthed some of the building’s history.

“We’ve uncovered a really neat brick wall in behind the bar that was part of the original Mansion House,” she points out.

“We’re fixing up the floor and patching up walls and just sprucing it up a lot.”

Following the renovations, Emily plans to maintain the same welcoming atmosphere that became the restaurant’s hallmark under Dickson’s ownership.

“It was a place where the servers knew you by your first name, you just felt really welcomed and that you belong,” she reflects. “You could come in from a workday in your work boots and still in your work clothes, or you could have a girls’ night out getting dressed up, and everyone fit. That’s what I want people to still feel when they come in.”

Emily speaks from experience. Before buying the business, they were regular patrons.

“It was our family’s favourite restaurant,” Emily says. “We went there at least once a week when we would cottage up here, and then my parents moved to the cottage full time and they would go multiple times per week.”

Maybe that’s why, when they reopen, Emily plans to keep things running in much the same way they have been.

“We’re not thinking too far ahead,” she says. “We really want to just get back on our feet, shake the dust off a bit, and deliver quality and consistent food and service.”

For more information on The Cow & Sow Eatery and for updates on their grand reopening, visit thecow.ca.

Pizza Bodega brings New York style pizza to downtown Peterborough

If you’re a fan of thin crust, New York style pizza — the kind that’s made with three cheeses and a quality sauce — you’ll want to head to Hunter Street in Peterborough.

Pizza Bodega (201 Hunter St W, Peterborough), which operates out of Spanky’s, opened on July 31st.

Owner Sean Crooks has years of experience in the restaurant business.

“I spent almost 20 years in the food industry, in the kitchen — I started in the dish pit,” he says.

His first cooking job was on the pizza and salad line at East Side Mario’s.

“Since that time, I’ve cooked many different styles of food in many different style of restaurant. As chefs, we’re always looking for our comfort zone. Being a big fan of pizza, it pulled me back in. My career has come full circle.”

So what’s the key to a great pizza, according to Sean?

“It’s proper dough, a really great sauce, and the three main cheeses on a plain cheese pizza.”

That’s not to say that every Pizza Bodega pizza is that traditional. The menu ranges from the classics to a spicy pickle pizza, with roasted garlic cream, fior di latte cheese, dill pickles, double smoked ham, and fresh dill.

There’s also a Lebanese pizza (which happens to be vegan), with fresh herb za’atar, marinated seasonal vegetables, and freshly squeezed lemon, and a bianco pizza with roasted garlic cream, three cheeses, fresh rosemary, roasted garlic, and honey.

You can see the full menu at pizzabodega.ca.