Think back 20 years, to a time when food was real and unpackaged – fruits, vegetables, homemade bread, cakes and slices. Today the reliance on processed food has risen exponentially. Most families are time poor and unable to labour in the kitchen every day. As a result, the reliance on processed food has exploded on a global scale.
Processed food results from the process of cooking a food, harvesting or cleaning it, all of which is considered to be processing. Processing becomes unhealthy (i.e. highly processed) when we combine other factors to make it look brighter, taste nicer or last longer (i.e. adding preservatives, additives, colourants, flavour and texturants).
Most of us are all struggling to keep up with competing daily demands. It is very easy to turn to processed food as it’s readily available, quick to prepare and convenient.The stats are alarming when you consider that processed food purchases have doubled in 70 years to 60% of family food purchases (source: Jamie’s Food Revolution).
One of the problems that result from the consumption of highly processed food is all the packaging that comes with it. Consider the massive impact this has on the humble school lunch. Every day parents are resorting to convenient lunch and snack options, each bought and packaged separately and packed into the lunch box.
I must admit that we are all guilty of this. At first we were completely unaware of the impact this could have. Like most parents, we were resorting to packaged snacks to make lunch a quick and painless process. It was my eldest daughter that first brought this to our attention. Thanks to the focus on bringing nude food at school (aka nude food Wednesday), the message trickled into our kitchen and slowly made it’s way into the school lunches.
Our school runs a daily award system focusing on the number of children with a completely naked lunch with the enticement of rewards (and the kids know that throwing out wrappers before the official count is not included).
Bento boxes are great nude food lunch boxes as everything is compartmentalised, portion controlled and easy to use (there are lots to choose from too, pay attention to mum reviews online when buying one). These need to be easy to open, leak proof and importantly quick to clean. When purchasing equipment, if its plastic, check it’s BPA free or the stainless steel varieties are durable and safe too.
My daughter always helps to make her own lunch and is adamant that we need to have nude food lunches, as it’s better than having a lunchbox filled with plastic and better for the environment, as she recounts:
“WHEN YOU PUT PLASTIC IN THE BIN, IT GOES TO THE DUMP. WHEN ITS WINDY AND RAINY IT FLIES EVERYWHERE AND FISH AND ANIMALS SWALLOW IT AND DIE. WHEN THE FISHERMAN GETS THE FISH THERE’S PLASTIC IN THE FISH AND THEN THE PEOPLE EAT THE PLASTIC AND BECOME SICK."
So, with the help of my youngest daughter, we are all about naked lunches and there is not a single wrapper in sight. Nude food days are now everyday and not relegated to only a specific day of the week.
Zero Bites makes awesome additive free, lunchbox-friendly, on-the-go snacks - certified organic, kosher and vegan friendly too.