NiceBox

Güd Füd is Cüt

Mike Moyer — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:45:39 +0000

Okay, this is my site and not everything has to be perfectly healthy or environmentally friendly. Once in a while I, like any güd parent, would like to give my kids a little treat. Güd Füd caught my eye at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago mostly because their artwork was cool and they are quite tasty. Also, it’s nice to have a little treat to throw in your kids lunch that is actually little.

Güd Füd makes marshmallows with filling. Think jellyroll except the roll part is a marshmallow. They are about the size of a marshmallow and they each come in their own little package which keeps them fresh. Okay, not exactly low-waste on the packaging front, but bear with me. I like them because you can keep them on had for the kids and they won’t dry out.

I tried the chocolate and the grape. Both were great. I think retail distribution is probably pretty sparse, but you can buy them online, in bulk, at www.Gud-Fud.com. You can also get FREE Samples. Hooray!

The Best of a Bad Situation

Mike Moyer — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:14:17 +0000

Bottled water is a landfill nightmare. True advocates of a zero-waste lunch program prefer you use a reusable bottle rather than a disposable plastic bottle. However, a company from England has come to the US with an alternative that makes the best of a bad situation. The Glacia Ice Box delivers spring water “in a planet friendly box.”

The box is quite cool. We came across it at a conference in Chicago. The company had passed out sample bottles to all the other exhibitors so the distinctive milk-carton style boxes were sitting all over the show. Several people thought we had dropped them off (apparently confusing NiceBox for Ice Box).

The company takes packaging seriously. They support a variety of charities and they have a complete run-down on the benefits of their box on their site.

Now for the taste test:

Ice Box in a planet friendly box is quite cool, but it will not reduce waste at lunchtime. That being said, it does appear to have significant environmental benefits over plastic bottles and it tastes like water!

Riceworks Works

Mike Moyer — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:12:21 +0000

Chips, chips, chips and more chips. There seems to be an endless number of companies that make chips. The product is pretty straight forward: fry it an add salt. The good news is that there seems to be an endless demand for chips because the words “fry it and add salt” are a pillar of America cuisine.

A healthy chip? That is more rare and, when it happens it usually sucks. However, kids seem to be pretty open minded when it comes to chips and there is one company that actually delivers on a promise of a product that is both tasty and healthy– chip healthy, that is.

Riceworks has developed a line of chips made from whole grain brown rice. It claims 1/3 less fat, gluten free, no artificial blah, blah, blah (read the bag). In spite of the myriad of healthy claims they make the product is actually pretty good. Very good, I might say. I tried a few at the vending products conference and I just finished eating a bag of the Salsa Fresca flavor and it left me wanting more. The chip was crisp, salty and flavorful.

So far this morning I’ve sampled six bags of chips from six different manufacturers and this was the only bag I finished- the rest, starting with the Cinnamon Churros wound up in the trash.

So as far as I can tell Riceworks works.

Great Ideas in Action

Mike Moyer — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:41:08 +0000

Many lunches include spreadable ingredients like peanut butter and jelly. While knives are often the utensil of choice, they often tear the bread. Why not use the back of a spoon instead? You can use the spoon to dip the ingredient and the use the back to spread it without tearing the bread.

Simple as a PB & J!

EasyLunchBoxes.com

Mike Moyer — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 02:06:10 +0000

Now we’re talkin’- a company that really gets it. The one big reoccurring problem with the Zero-waste lunch program is the fact that the lunch boxes are kind of expensive and sort of a hassle to maintain. A brown bag is quick and easy and the kid can just toss it and if they lose it who cares?

Easy Lunch Box has attempted to solve this problem by creating a low-cost compartmentalized lunchbox that is easy to pack and it’s cheap enough that it’s okay if it gets lost and if it get’s a little ragged over time you can recycle it.

Here is another cool thing about the Easy Lunch Box- it comes in packs of four with different color lids. This makes it great for families. They can each have their own lunch and the color coding lets you know who’s who- if dad doesn’t like mustard… you get the picture.

The company offers a cooler bag that will hold the Easy Lunch Box, but it doesn’t look very hip- just a bag. I haven’t seen one in person so maybe it’s nicer than those freebie six-pack coolers I used to get when I went to parties in college.

NiceBox Meets Goodbyn

Mike Moyer — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:13:37 +0000

It’s nice to find a company that nails it. Byndoo, LLC has created the Goodbyn which is a cute, friendly, environmentally safe, self-contained lunchbox that understands that crackers shouldn’t be soggy when it’s time for lunch.

With all the lunchboxes out in the world it’s a wonder why there is even a need for a company like this. How can thousands of companies simply overlook some basic elements that this company has so elegantly incorporated? Goodbyn takes the extra step of getting the kid involved and excited about lunch having created their product so that it can be decorated.

The Goobyn comes complete with its own reusable juice box, but incomplete without utensils. The lack of utensils isn’t a deal breaker, but the temptation for parents to include disposable utensils can be strong. Paper napkins tend to be popular too. It’s nice to have a place for napkins and utensils. Perhaps those features are on the drawing board.

Also, the Goodbyn was once available with a little treasure compartment on the front which apparently didn’t get through the quality assurance team and has since been removed, again, not a deal breaker, but a cool feature nonetheless.

One of my favorite features of the Goodbyn is the fact that it does not have separate containers for everything. These are cumbersome to use, keep clean and they get lost fast.

While I don’t actually have a Goodbyn and can’t attest whether the claims it makes are indeed “Good”, I did see it at the Housewares show in Chicago and it looks like a winner.

Good job Goodbyn!

Toats Gets Our Votes

Mike Moyer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:06:05 +0000

I must admit I was quite skeptical of these “Friendly-O” things when I first saw them. They were little brown discs that looked like they might be the kind of thing you stick in the bottom of a flower pot to feed a plant. Not much to look at themselves but the package they come in is quite nice. And the woman behind the product was hands down the most passionate person I have spoken to in the entire organic foods industry. Even their Web site is certified “Green”.

Marisol with Toats at the Organic Expo

Marisol Fernandini-Gaffney created Toats (ToatsOrganic.com) to bring the world a healthy natural snack that you can feed to humans and horses and dogs or anything else that has a mouth. Rarely will I admit to eating much less enjoying something designed to be consumed by animals as well as humans but these things are addictive. She gave me five sample packs each containing two cookies and I just at the last one. I’m already jonesing for my next fix. It’s downright frustrating to be out of them so fast!

The cookies do take a leap of faith. They do have the texture and odor of an animal snack. They are hard and grainy at first bite but by the time you swallow the first you are eyeballing the second. The next thing you know you’ve eaten ten, (beware, they are 290 calories!) The good news is that the entire experience was good for you, good for animals and good for the environment.

Marisol has left no stone unturned to create a perfectly natural product. She has meticulously hand-picked every facet of the production process to ensure it is environmentally friendly. Here are some bullets I lifted from her Website:

100% post-consumer material in retail boxes and wholesale cartons
98% biodegradable cellophane bags
100% solar energy-powered printer
Vegetable-based inks on packaging
100% plant-based, biodegradeable cleaning products compatible with bottom-of -the-food-chain organisms
Quilon-free parchment liners

I’m not exactly sure what Quilon is and what it has to do with parchment liners but she seemed pretty excited about it. It’s some kind of additive in the manufacturing process. I think it gives the cookies magical powers of some sort.

My Last Two!

Toats gets my votes for best-in-show at the Everything Organic Expo. These strange little cookies will most certainly find a home in my belly and on my shelf. The management philosophy is hard-core and the passion of the founder is rock-solid (as are the cookies).

For a Zero-Waste lunch, you will still have to contend with the little plastic packs that contain two cookies each. The good news is that they don’t take up much space and are 98% biodegradeable. I’m not aware of any bulk packaging as of this writing, but I’m sure great things are in the pipeline.

Congratulations on the new product, Marisol, I look forward to my next batch!

Click here to hear an audio interview with Marisol

Please Don’t Eat the Forks

Mike Moyer — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:22:57 +0000

You eat the food; the worms will eat the plates and utensils. That is, of course, if you are using Ultra Green utensils that are 100% biodegradable, compostable and sustainable according to Ultra Green CEO Phil Levin. These remarkable paper products will breakdown in a landfill in about 90 days. The cornstarch and seashell-based plastic will be gone in about 150 days. You don’t even have to throw them away. They will breakdown in a regular backyard compost pile with regular kitchen waste.

Phil Levin, CEO for Ultra Green

A complete place setting will run you about $1 if you use the Ultra Green Picnic/Party Pack which retails for $11.99 and comes in a package that doubles as a tray for chips and dip.

The company, based just outside of Minneapolis, MN markets a complete line of dining and paper products including napkins, paper towels, tissue and toilet paper. All the products use very earth-friendly materials such as cornstarch, sugarcane stalk, and seashells. And, even though regular paper places and cups will also biodegrade, they consume forests and use harmful chemicals that are not only bad for the environment, but also slow the degrading process.

For a Zero-Waste Lunch program these products will work in a pinch. Reusable containers are preferable, but not always the most practical. Composting your place setting is the next best thing to reuse.

Our hat is off to Ultra Green products and the company. A great product from a dedicated company.

Listen to our interview with Ultra Green

Trash Audits

Mike Moyer — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:39:09 +0000

Conducting a trash audit is a great early step in implementing a Zero-Waste Lunch program. WasteFreeLunches.org has a good example of how you might go about doing your own audit.

Setting goals and keeping track of progress is one of the most important parts of being succuessful. Everyone likes to know how they are doing and positive feedback will keep up the momentum.

Environmental Marketing Claims

Mike Moyer — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:35:06 +0000

When a company markets a product as “Green” or otherwise environmentally friendly they need to adhere to guidelines put out by the Federal Trade Commission.

The actual document is sort of dull reading. It contains guidelines for the following types of popular marketing claims:

General Environmental Benefit Claims
Degradeable/Biodegradable/Photodegradeable
Compostable
Recyclable
Recycled Content
Source Reduction
Refillable
Ozone Safe and Ozone Friendly

At NiceBox.org, we try to find companies that not only have nice products, but also try to practice environmentally safe business practices.

If you find a product that seems misleading, let us know. We would love to hear about it!