How are you doing on the Use Less Plastic Challenge? I hope you’ve at least thought about making some swaps to reduce the plastic in your life. I’m still working on some challenging areas in my life; I’ll have the full update for you at the end of the month. Today I have more ideas for you to help you get rid of some of the everyday things in your life that are made of plastic.
Kid’s Plates
I know. I get it. I used those plastic divided plates with Meghan and for a little while with Luke. They are cute, convenient, durable, and they keep your child’s food neatly divided. But. They are almost all made of plastic. One day with Luke I decided to just stop using them and use the same Correlle plates the rest of us used. Correlle plates are the best for kids and everyday use! They are break and scratch resistant and very affordable. Both kids have dropped their share of our Correlle plates and bowls and none have broken. We started using these for Luke when he was under two, so don’t feel like you need to have an older child to use regular plates. If you are set on getting a divided plate for your little one, consider this stainless steel divided plate.
Straws
Swap out your plastic straws for a glass or stainless steel variety. I recently got some stainless steel straws and have no idea why I waited so long! Things just taste better out of anything but plastic. The stainless steel straws keep my smoothies super cold, too!
Travel Coffee Mugs
Most travel coffee mugs are lined in plastic. There are a couple great alternatives. We have two insulated stainless steel tumblers that we love. The first is the Hydro Flask (pictured above) and the second is the Yeti tumbler. Both of these can be used as water bottles or for hot liquids like coffee. The best part? They keep hot liquids hot and cold liquids cold. They are seriously worth every penny! If you travel and bring ice water in either of these, it will be COLD all day. No joke. They keep your coffee hot also. Almost too hot. In both of these beauties your liquid will only be touching stainless steel, not plastic.
Sippy Cups
I started out with regular sippy cups with Meghan, and it was right around that time I started learning about the dangers of plastics and looked for alternatives. I soon found out that she drank much better out of straw cup than a sippy cup (and it turns out, that is probably a healthier option anyway) and found a stainless steel straw cup. They also make stainless steel cups with sippy spouts. I have to tell you, though, with Luke, we skipped the sippy cup all together. I taught him how to drink out of a real, glass cup at 9 months old using these tiny glasses from Motessori Services. For older toddlers and young kids, these glasses are wonderful and we also have a set of these. Both are strong, durable glasses that don’t break easily. We’ve had them for years now and none have gotten broken. Drinking out of a glass works well when we are at home as I don’t think the kids need to bring their water all over the house anyway. When we go out, the kids either use these glass bottles or these stainless steel bottles.
Plastic Sandwich Bags
It’s hard to beat the convenience of plastic sandwich bags. I understand. I actually have some in my kitchen drawer right now. I needed this challenge as a final push to get rid of this stuff in my house! Instead of putting your sandwich in a plastic bag, why not wrap it in parchment paper, deli style? It works well and is a much healthier option! I love this unbleached parchment paper. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to get rid of my plastic freezer bags. I don’t use them for everything, but for some things they are so much more space saving! I’ll let you know what I find.
Do you already use some of these products? Please share your favorite plastic alternative products in the comments! Also, if there is anything you need help replacing, let me know!
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Those are great ideas! I have used the same glass plates for my kids for ages, as I was always too frugal to buy plastic plates. We also use stainless steel straws. I LOVE those! The one thing I still hang onto is plastic sandwich baggies, though. I homeschool so I don’t use them all that much, but they come in handy for field trips (like today) and occasionally for hubby’s lunches.
I agree–the sandwich baggies are hard to let go of!