How to Pack a Waste-Free Lunch

Hey guys! So today I didn't have any creative ideas for a DIY post.. and I can't stand seeing people with packed lunches with plastic sandwich bags, saran wrap, disposable water bottles, etc, etc... so I thought why not give you guys some tips on how to avoid packing a wasteful lunch!

1. Use containers! I use containers for everything in my lunch. Sure it takes up a lot of room.. but it's better than using lots of plastic bags. I use containers for salads, salad dressing, snacks, everything. It helps if you buy plastic containers of different sizes and styles. For example I have a container with a separate compartment inside of it for dip so if you bring veggies and dip you can just use one container.
2. Bring a reusable water bottle full of whatever you want to drink for the day. This is great because you have a drink for the whole day not just for your lunch. Bring two reusable water bottles if you drink a lot and don't like to drink from the water fountains. You can also bring a thermos or travel mug if you want to have coffee or tea to go in the morning.
3. Bring your own cutlery from home instead of using disposable cutlery.
4. Get a lunch bag. If you get a large enough lunch bag then you don't have to worry about taking up too much space with your containers and you can also just throw cutlery into the bag without worrying about grabbing another container because you know that the bag is clean.
5. Eat less packaged food - it's better for you and the environment. For example; instead of bringing packaged cheese for a snack cut up some cheese and put it in a container. Fruit and veggies are also great snacks to bring because they're easy to pack, quick to eat and really good for you!

That's all that I have for you guys this week so hopefully you enjoyed it and it helped you out. I realize that this wasn't exactly an exciting post; but reducing waste and working to create a healthier planet is something that I am very passionate about so I hope that you didn't mind this slight detour from my regular style of posts. 

You can follow me on twitter @04_emilyy and it would also be awesome if you could share my blog on any social media that you use! :-) See you next week!

DIY: Frozen Yogurt Treats

Hey guys! So since I didn't post last week (cringe) I decided that I would do two posts this week! One today and one on Wednesday. I wasn't sure what to do my first post of the week on and then while I was making some frozen yogurt treats I realized that would be a great idea for a post! So I'm going to be showing you how to make frozen yogurt dots and frozen yogurt bark. Let's get started! :-)

I used a 650g container of yogurt and that was enough to make both of these!

Frozen Yogurt Dots
Ingredients/Materials:

• Yogurt
• Plastic Bag 
• Cookie Sheet

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the process of making these because I didn't even think of making it into a blog post until they were already made.. but luckily it's very easy to explain!

Step 1:
Take your plastic bag (your going to need to use a sandwich bag) and make a small diagonal cut on one of the corners. You are going to use this bag like a baker would to ice a cake. Then fill the bag with 2-3 spoonfuls of yogurt. I used strawberry banana yogurt and let me tell you; it is delicious.

Step 2:
Begin putting drops of yogurt onto the cookie sheet simply by squeezing the bag. Once the cookie sheet is full of yogurt dots put the cookie sheet into the freezer and leave it there for as long as you like. My yogurt dots were frozen after a half hour but you can leave them in there for as long as you like. :-) This is what they look like once they come out of the freezer.

Finished Product

Frozen Yogurt Bark
Ingredients/Materials:

• Yogurt
• Almonds
• Strawberries
• Grapes
• Parchment Paper
• Cake Pan

Step 1:
Line your pan with parchment paper so that it will be easy for you to cut the bark and remove it once it is frozen without wrecking your pan.

Step 2:
 Pour some yogurt onto the bottom of the pan and spread it evenly across. Only put enough yogurt down to cover the parchment paper. Next add some diced strawberries and grapes to the yogurt as well as whole almonds. Add enough so that it is spread somewhat evenly across the yogurt like this:

Then add some more yogurt to the top to cover all of the fruit and almonds. Add more fruit and almonds and then one more layer of yogurt. It should now look like this:

Step 3:

Put this in the freezer for about an hour and a half if you want it to be frozen very well. You can also leave it in the freezer for longer if you prefer. Then cut it however big you would like and enjoy!!! :-)

I hope you guys enjoy this post and the yummy yogurt treats. These are really great for days that you have a sweet tooth but don't want to eat junk food since they are so sweet but they're also great for you! I really like to have these as a post-workout snack as well because it helps cool you down but you also get some protein! So stay tuned for a post coming to you Wednesday and if you could share this on any social media that you use that would be great, thanks! :-)