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As I stood in my tatty dressing-gown and made numerous sandwiches this morning, packing little bodies off with a varied, enjoyable, nutritious but not over the top lunch, I was struck by my eco conscience. See, like my Mum before me, I wrap the sandwiches in those little plastic sandwich bags with the fold over top. They're cheap, that's not the issue (although cost is always a factor.) My issue is that they are used just once and then thrown away, making landfill somewhere. Every day I use at least three of these bags, sometimes more. That's approximately 20 a week, for 41 weeks of the year. That's thousands of little bags floating around that once protected a sandwich that my kid's digested months ago!

So, I got to thinking. I already use small containers for crackers and fruit slices and stuff, but the little sandwich bags were still in the lunch box. I saw these sandwich wraps on the net. They looked pretty easy. Surely I could make one of those and make my kids lunch box waste-free. Made of PUL fabric- the same stuff they use in modern cloth nappies- the fabric is coated with poly urethane laminate, making it a re-usable, wipeable wrap ideal for sandwiches. There are heaps of patterns on the net, so I bought my fabric from http://www.nappiescovered.com.au and got sewing.

I have three kids, so I'm trialling three different wrap patterns, subtly altered to fit my own preferences. I've chosen not to hem them,(less places for the food to get trapped) which means all I've had to do was cut the fabric and sew on some velcro. I'll see how they go un-hemmed, but may have to admit defeat and do a little more sewing. Either way, it's just one little thing I can do to reduce our impact on the environment and teach my kids about caring for the planet.

By the way, If you are a total non-sewer,but you want to cut out a bit more garbage, you can buy the wraps on-line, pre-made for around $10. Just Google reusable sandwich wraps.

Nice sharing Jodiemac. Think I'll have to get some of the pre-made ones - am so not handy with needle and thread!! I found the link I think.
http://www.biome.com.au/product_info.ph ... ts_id=1989

The site I found was this one, but there are a few different patterns to try, for those who are keen.
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/43227/how-to-make-a-reusable-sandwich-wrap

By the way, my kids were fighting over who got to take the wrap to school this morning! I must make the other two soon.