Mason Jars Replace Boxes, Bottles and Smelly Thermoses

So we’re all trying to live greener and healthier. Then there’s the school lunch. It offers a green-living, food-purist some serious issue.

Even before I endeavored to be green, I had a problem with the school lunch what with the difference between a 100% natural fruit drink, 100% juice and 100% fruit juice and natural flavor versus no artificial flavor. Then there was the question of high fructose corn syrup… and finally, landfills.

Landfills and the call of the green got me rethinking the brown bag lunch and all the little packages that go in it. Cafeteria food? Not too healthy, so I solved the problem by purchasing some beautiful lunch bags from Pottery Barn and all the extra reusable containers that went with them (which the nasty little capitalist sold separately). No more little plastic baggies and boxed drinks in overflowing landfills. I felt as green as a frog.

Until the thermos began to act up. It came with a fancy top that I couldn’t seem to get clean. At first, I took apart the three-part cap system and put it in the dishwasher. But that didn’t work for long. It began to smell bad. I soaked the parts in warm, soapy water. Still, the sour smell persisted and with an added soapy aftertaste. I boiled them in bleach — they melted.

Plastic water bottles? Well, all that plastic poison had me worried, so no.

Aluminum bottles? Maybe better, but what about the health risks of aluminum, which you can totally taste by the way.

What kind of material was truly sterile? Truly healthy? Truly chemical-free?

These questions got me thinking about canning peaches. Although the hundreds of peaches on my two peach trees could have been the real reason. The peaches get packed in a glass jar, sealed with metal lids and boiled for twenty minutes. It not only kills all bacteria, but it prevents fresh peaches from rotting for up to a year. Not bad.

And there was my solution: mason jars. That’s right, mason jars. They’re clean, reusable, and food-safe. Plus, they have great little lids that are leak-free. In the warm months, I fill them with ice and juice or water and it doubles as an ice pack to keep the food cold. In the winter, I fill them with warm chocolate milk or even chicken soup.

Although my miser husband — who isn’t a conservationist for the environment so much as for his bank account —  hasn’t commented on all the cash this must be saving us, I know deep down inside he’s pleased. MISER BONUS for me!

Sure, they might be a little uncool for the kids, but I hope all it does is build character. My buddy Will Shakespeare once said something about ”adversity’s sweet milk…” which tastes better when served in a clean, sterile, totally “green” mason jar.