Late last night I read another article about chicken nuggets, this one about the 50% non-chicken ingredients in McNuggets. Last month it was the gag factor image of the pink goop that makes a nugget. Although we didn’t make fast food part of our daily diet before I saw these, the kids loved them for a treat. Now they have been removed from our diet, unless we make them ourselves. Cut up chicken breast, flour or breadcrumbs and seasoning – period.

When you work in the real world (unlike my virtual work life) it’s so much easier to grab and go on your lunch hour. Trust me, I know from 15 years of personal experience.  However, you really have to question what you are eating on the go, and when you start to see articles like this – do you honestly want to know??

When you take your lunch with you, not only is there a better chance you will know what’s in it. There are several other advantages to packing your lunch as well:

Waste Reduction

Chances are your mystery meat nugget also comes in a paper or Styrofoam container, with individual serving condiments and paper napkins, all packed up in a paper bag, right? There are so many options out to make your lunch waste free:

Built NY Market Tote – Nolita Stripe – $ 39.75
A lightweight and durable insulating tote perfect for shopping or picnicking, in your choice of 3 great designs. Designed to keep contents insulated and protected soft grip handles make the tote comfortable to carry. Machine washable and stain resistant.

Kids Konserve 4 Pack Cotton Napkin – Squiggle – $ 19.95
These napkins from Kids Konserve are a great, fun alternative to paper napkins. Use in the school cafeteria or pre-school lunch room as a napkin or a place-mat to put food on and avoid those dirty, germ filled surfaces! Name-tag prominently displayed so they won’t get lost. Easy to wash. Use in sets at home for more stylish reusable dinner napkins. Comes in a pack of four.

To-Go Ware RePEaT Utensil Set – Family Pack – $ 54.90
We’ve got our travel mugs and our reusable shopping bags. How about a bamboo utensil set to round out the perfect toolkit for life on the go? A handy carabiner on the back lets you clip and carry a fork, knife, spoon and chopsticks wherever they may roam. Perfect for a busy lifestyle and our precious planet. This great package deal is a great option if you want to give the gift of green to friends and loved ones, or offer a stylish option to disposable plastics to the folks at your picnic or barbeque. Get 5 of these fabulous kits all in a bundle!

Portion Control

Are you going to eat that? I remember the days of Chinese Lunch Specials. What a bang for your buck… and belt! Sometimes I made one lunch last me 2-3 days, but sometimes it was just SO YUM! I wiped it out and paid dearly the rest of the day. Packing your lunch allows you to pre-plan the size of the meal you will eat that day. All without the waste of individual servings, too!

Laptop Lunch System 2.0 – Flower – $ 39.95

The Flower Fun Bento System 2.0 is ideal for families who embrace the bento concept for its function and sustainable style, but value the insulation and appeal of the traditional lunchbox. This brand new Flower Fun Bento System 2.0 is ideal for work, school, and travel. The insulated carrying case keeps foods fresh, and the sturdy containers prevent squishing. Don’t leave home without it! Includes the Laptop Lunch insulated carrying case with flower pattern, a water bottle, the Laptop Lunch Bento 2.0 with a black outer container, magenta inner containers and all-stainless utensils, and one copy of The Laptop Lunch User’s Guide.

Kids Konserve Food Container – 3 Pack – $ 24.95
Leak-proof nesting trio of containers from Kids Konserve are the perfect solution for packing yogurt, fruit salad, apple sauce, pasta salad, chips and hummus, apples and peanut butter and more! Use them to store your leftovers in the frig and get rid of those other pesky plastic containers! And since they all nest perfectly inside one another they will take up very little space in your cupboard, which means you will have room for a few sets! Food grade stainless steel, recyclable leak proof Bisphenol-A (BPA) free lid.

Increase Your Liquid Intake

Whether you need to reduce your cappuccino budget or increase your water intake, bringing reusable and stylish bottles and drinkware can reduce your budget and intake of high calorie drinks, eliminate waste, and encourage water consumption.

I am Not a Paper Cup Reusable Coffee Mug – $ 19.95
We love this reusable coffee mug! How often can you combine kitschy, functional and eco-friendly into one unique design? A fun way to BYOC and save paper doing it!

Timolino Vacuum Metro Tea Mug – Pastel Blue – $ 18.99

All New! Travel Tea Mug. This stylish and innovative design features a stainless steel mesh filter attachment for brewing tea (or coffee) right in the cup. The Travel Tea Mug is made from patented stainless steel construction will not leach toxins, is neutral to taste and smell, and is stain and tarnish resistant. Timolino, a leading contemporary drinkware brand has develop quality, innovative beverage containers designed to keep your favorite beverage hot, cold and fresh longer. Timolino has won numerous awards for its quality and innovative products from the Specialty Coffee Association of America and the National Specialty Association for Specialty Food Trade.

KOR ONE Water Bottle – Sunrise Orange – $ 29.50
A Striking Profile Inspired by the organic beauty of blown glass, the ONE’s elliptical shape embodies balance and flow, while the body sparkles with the clarity and emotional resonance of crystal. Easy, ErgonomicThe ONE’s “no-worry cap” swivels open with a press of a button and a twist of the wrist revealing a mouth wide enough for a quenching flow, but designed to minimize splashing. An integrated handle allows for easy, comfortable carrying. Materials Matter You wouldn’t drink contaminated water. Why put good water into a contaminated bottle? The KOR ONE is made from Eastman Tritan, which is free of bisphenol-A (BPA), a leaching toxin found in polycarbonate bottles.

With so many earth friendly options. There is no excuse not to bring your lunch with you. You’ll save yourself with healthier eating habits and reduce waste with flare!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Take Your Lunch to Work!

You shouldn’t let a pig build your house.

That’s the real moral of the Three Little Pigs story according to Laura Bartels

Why? Because her company Greenweaver, Inc., has made building houses out of straw a reality. We think that many small businesses can relate to creating their own game changing fairy tale as well.

The outreach team for Visa GoBiz contacted Eco-Office Gals to share Greenweaver’s video story.

When it comes to protecting the Earth, it’s all about making sustainable choices, and a growing number of small businesses are getting really creative and hoping on the band wagon. Ventilation, natural lighting, and efficient office equipment are great ideas for work stations small and large, not to mention just how simple it is to do. Laura too, has a great business utilizing alternative building technologies. So many great ideas out there, and I look forward to reading more green office tips in your upcoming posts.

I hope you enjoyed learning about Laura’s story as much as I did!
All the best,
Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Gem of the Week: Greenweaver, Inc.

(In compliance with the new FTC Guild lines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.)

Happy Monday! Hope everyone is doing wonderfully and hasn’t loaded up on way too much Halloween candy! So, today we dive into a pesty little topic. Luckily, in SC I haven’t has to deal with too many bugs like I did in FL with those palmetto bugs and sugar ants. Yuck! Not to say we don’t have any. I think Laurens County may be the fly capital of the world and fleas have been a HUGE issue this year! So what do you when you are trying to purge all these chemicals from your cleaning products and then you have to deal with getting rid of bugs??

EcoSMART is a safer alternative to ridding your home of bugs: (from the site)

EcoSMART Technologies, the world leader in safe pesticide solutions, is a venture-backed company with patented technology and a world-class management team. Our mission is to create the world’s safest, most effective pesticides based on natural ingredients. We have 15 years of scientific research and a wealth of patents behind us. We make the only 100% safe insecticide that is proven to work. We offer the only complete line of EPA exempt pesticides sold in the US.

I had the opportunity to try out the Safe Home Value Bundle and I am happy to say they make flies drop to the ground and repel fleas decently. When I was in Florida last weekend I also had the chance to use the repellent as the gnats came out and it was very effective.  We also had an issue with ticks at the beginning of the season, but after continuing to spray the dogs with the repellent when they went outside, I don’t recall seeing a tick for quite some time.

I must say the scents are very strong, however in comparison to the awful smell or pesticides these are strong scents of peppermint, rosemary, cinnamon, lemongrass and other fragrant oils.

So, if you have to go Rambo on the pesky critters that occasionally find their way into the house why not give it a shot without all the chemicals?

Meanwhile, how about a chance to try out some EcoSMART products? EcoSMART will give one lucky choice of one of the following bundles:

* Safe Home Bundle
* Safe Plant & Garden Value Bundle
* Safe Picnic Value Bundle
* Safe Personal Care Value Bundle
* Safe Lawn & Outdoor Value Bundle
* Safe Patio Value Bundle

Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Comment here on which bundle you would love to try if you won – or something you learned from the site.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Tried an EcoSMART product before? Find the product on their site and write a review, let us know where to find it.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from EcoSMART and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 11/04/09 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

Sorry for the delay in picking a winner:

Here are your random numbers:

14

Timestamp: 2009-11-16 02:10:24 UTC

Congrats Jenny Gibbons

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday EcoSMART

This post is part of the Mommy Goes Green Blog Tour.

Good Tuesday morning! I am slowly but surely starting to feel human after what I can only assume was some sort of allergy attack I experienced Sunday morning. One quick announcement before getting to today’s topic.  Flaunt It! Monday will be put on hold until AFTER Earth Day and there will be a huge Earth Day announcement coming soon.  Ok, that’s it.  All men leave, the remainder of this post takes place in the ladies room.

Ok, ladies we have a little something we need to discuss here – Feminine hygiene products.  Now obviously, what most of us use to deal with Aunt Flo is not anything friendly – your body, your septic system or the land fill.  I mean Toxic Shock Syndrome… I don’t have a clue what it is, I just know it sounds scary enough that I have never read up on it.  And you do know those disposable products don’t start out snowy white naturally, right? No, they do go thru a bleaching process, which you then apply directly to the body.  Septic and landfill wise? Well, they don’t just disappear right, they have to go somewhere. If you have a septic tank, like I do, the big burly dude that is going to dig your tank will inform you NOT to flush any of these products into the tank unless you want him coming back on a regular basis to pump them out. This is not free of charge either, mind you!  Finally, like disposable diapers, these products become permanent fixtures in your landfill.

So, today I introduce and alternative as well as my thoughts on them.  LunaPads provide natural menstrual alternatives, including natural cloth pads and reusable menstrual cups.  Each participant of this blog tour was set the Introduction Kit Containing: 1 Maxi Pad, 1 Maxi Liner, 1 Maxi Wing Liner, 1 Mini Pad, 1 Mini Liner, 1 Mini Wing Liner, 1 Mini Pantyliner and 1 Teeny Pantyliner, all conveniently packaged in a bonus mesh laundry bag.

Well, My feelings are mixed on this product.  I will say they are pretty, soft and comfortable. However, to no fault of LunaPad, I’m just not a pad user… haven’t been since I was about 15 yrs old.  This product didn’t sell me into becoming one either.  Although, I may consider using these on light days or as panty liners, I will need to look for a different alternative for regular use.  However, for those of you that do use pads on a regular basis, I would definitely recommend trying these as an alternative.

So, if you’re willing to try a more natural alternative to that unwelcome time of month, why not try for free? One of my readers will win a Sampler Pack from Luna Pads.  If they can be the 20th person to answer the following correctly:

“What is the name of Lunapads’ program to supply African schoolgirls with washable pads?”

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Ladies Only!

This is part of the Mommy Go Green Blog Tour.

Personally, I work at home.  When I am hungry I go to the kitchen and find something to eat. This is all well and good for me, but it wasn’t always like this as it isn’t for many of you.  You pack up your lunch and take it with you, right?

Well, today I bring you a great alternative for your lunch packaging. No more plastic containers which may or may not be safe, no more wasteful sandwich bags or foil. LunchBots provide a safe, 100% stainless steel, waste-free lunch alternative.

About LunchBots (from the site):

Stainless steel is one of the safest materials for food storage and handling. It is an alloy made from natural elements: iron ore, chromium, silicon, nickel, carbon, nitrogen, and manganese. The final metal has differing properties depending on varying amounts of these elements.

LunchBots are manufactured from high-quality, food grade Type 304 stainless steel. Stainless steel has great resistance to stain or rust due to its chromium content making it the material of choice for food processing, dairy and brewing. Stainless steel is easy to clean, durable, and sanitary.

The only thing I question are peoples’ commitment to a waste-free lunch. Obviously, these cannot go in the microwave at work so please be sure to have a reusable plate and utensils at work for the days you bring a lunch that needs heating up!

These are very attractive, they’ve been tested, they clean up nicely, no worries about stains or leeching of chemicals from plastic. What more could you ask for? How about FREE shipping? For an unlimited time use this code for FREE shipping (U.S. Only): FREESHIP09

Be sure to check out my first post on 5 Minutes for Going Green and let me know what you think!

All the best,
Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Eco-Options: Lunch

Anyone that knows me, knows that printing is a last resort.  However, sometimes it is a must in business, and if you have to print you should have an eco-alternative to do so!  Here’s one that I have come across recently.

Go2PrintGreen is owned and operated by Ryan Perry who has been a Xerox Authorized Channel partner since 2001. Xerox is the sole manufacture of solid ink color printers, the Phaser 8560 and 8860. Solid ink printers have a number of key features over laser printers, but a key one is the fact they use a cartridge free design that eliminates the need for toner cartridges that need to be disposed of once used. Since there is no cartridge, there is little waste. In fact, solid ink printers generate 90% less waste compared to a color laser printer. Only 5 lbs of waster per 100,000 pages versus 57 lbs of waste for a color laser printer.

Additionally, resin-based solid ink sticks are completely safe and clean, and contain no solvents. Unlike toners, they cannot spill, leak or smudge on your clothes. Solid ink eliminates lasers indoor air pollution by eliminating the toner cartridge. Learn more details about environmental factors of solid ink printing.

If not printing is not an option in your everyday business, I encourage you to at least consider printing responsibly!

Growing Small Business Green!

All the Best,
Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Options: Printing

What does Eco-Office Gals recommend for your paperless/green office in 2009?  Here’s a little list to help you grow your business green and more efficient in the New Year!

Echosign – a paperless contract program, you’ll love it and so will your clients!
HostGator -  wind powered hosting with GREAT customer service!
BlogSites – get your Word Press blogsite up and running in 2009.  Leave your static site in the dust!
Twitter – meet new clients on this great social media platform!
The Green Office – shop green for your business!
Google Docs – I will be trying out Google Docs in the New Year as a free alternative to MS Office.  It’s great for file sharing!
FireFox – everyone NEEDS to make this switch! Microsoft does not own you!

These are a few on my list, what’s on yours?  Share with us by leaving a comment below! All the Best in 2009!

Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Your Paperless & Green Office for 2009