suck your own straw

New statistic for you. Are you ready?

500 million plastic straws are used and thrown away in the US every day.

What happens to those plastic straws? That's right - either trashed in landfills (if lucky) or wind up in the oceans to eventually degrade into micro-plastics and become "food" for the animals. They are made with bisphenol A (or S) and pose a health risk to you, the animals and the planet.

Restaurants alone hand out the bulk of these plastic straws and many times to people who don't even want them.

Paper Straws

This single-use plastic item can be avoided so easily!

• If you aren't into straws in the first place then make sure your server knows this when you order your drink. If you notice that the establishment bring water to the table automatically, ask the hostess to let the server or bus know your wishes when you are being sat.
• Let your host/server know why you find this important. Restaurant personnel will honor your wishes more closely if they understand that you aren't just being fickle. It might even open a few eyes to the plastic epidemic. 
• If you like using straws (I do) then bring your own and follow the above recommendations. 

There are now many choices of reusable straws: paper, glass and stainless steel.

Stainless Steel Straws

The paper straws are nice for photography, but not very practial to drink from because they degrade very quickly. In addition, they are still single use disposable.

Glass straws are great (I hear) [AMAZON], but in this house, where we are prone to lots of breakage, I opted for the stainless steel model [AMAZON].

This particular brand and package had an extra thick straw for smoothies, a few bent ones and an extra long one for those beverages in tall containers. I know that metal flavor is a concern to some people, and I can tell you that there is no aftertaste with stainless steel straws or bottles. 

Remember, there is no shame in bringing your own straws to use in restaurants and the amount of plastic you refuse by using them can indeed make an impact for all those involved.

take out or to go

Along the lines of my last post, dealing with food storage containers, the next big ticket item is lunch containers to go or take out containers from restaurants.

Sure, you can use the same glass jars and storage glass containers for both lunches to go and take out food, but glass is a lot heavier and can break, so those considerations should be taken into account.

Although I take glass jars and glass storage containers with me to bring home leftovers, the real trouble comes with actually remembering to bring them. For this reason, I recommend that you keep a storage tote of emergency or unexpected leftovers containers in your vehicle for such occasions. While you are at, pack a few sets of utensils as well, just in case the establishment serves plastic ware with their food.

Something we have leaned on doing, is to ask for the food in non-take out form (they serve the food on a plate) and then pack it up in our jars and containers. This is in case a restaurant will not pack your to-go food in your own containers, often citing sanitary reasons. My husband and I will go out to eat together and bring something home for the kids and in those cases we just order all the food for the table and pack it up ourselves.

What to include in your leftover pack:

• A canvas tote bag to keep the containers in
• 2 or 3 quart-size, wide mouth mason jars with lids
• Wide mouth mason jar funnel
• 2 or 3 medium or deep glass containers with lids
• A few kitchen towels to wipe off the jars (just in case)
• A few sets of utensils (forks and spoons)
• A few plates
• A few reusable straws (more on this in another post)

And that's it. Make sure to wash them out regularly, about once a month, whether you use them or not.

Another option for the emergency leftover pack is to use lunch containers:

Packing for lunch is a great way to keep your costs down and keep single-use containers out of your life.

There are several wonderful lunch containers:

Stainless steel 3-tier containers, which I love and have been using for almost a decade. I purchased 4 sets (3 kids and me) for lunches for homeschooling groups and they are still going strong after 10 years; I can vouch for their durability and versatility.

Recently, I've seen stainless steel lunch trays that double as a container. Looks nice for younger kids or for making lunch packing easier. I would definitely get these if my kids were younger. We used to use the laptop lunchbox system, but those are plastic and these stainless steel options would be an ideal way to go.

For hot foods, stainless steel thermoses are the ticket. I know the initial investment on these is high, but consider how much it costs to eat out for lunch just a single week, and you will see the return on your investment in no time.

We use these containers a lot [AMAZON] or these giant ones [AMAZON], perfect for a good size sandwich or salad. Both these items are pictured above.

Whichever size or combination you choose, these stainless steel containers are easy to clean and maintain, they are durable and they are reusable endlessly. Grab a few and start packing your leftovers or lunches yourself.