Skip to Mainfood-for-thought

  • Add Ziploc®, Subtract Food Waste

    Over 530,000 tons of food are wasted annually from school lunches in the U.S.*
    This Back-to-School season, we’re staging a delicious intervention on sad sandwiches and forgotten fruit. Check out all the ways we’re helping parents save money and reduce food waste below, including tips from actress and mom, JoAnna García Swisher.
    Learn More
  • School lunk +Ziploc@ | Less food wate | For the love of food

Food for Thought

Did you know?

Nearly 40% of school lunches are thrown away in the U.S. each year.1

40%

When served pre-sliced vs whole fruits, the percent of students who selected and ate more than half of the fruit increased by 73%.2

73%

21% of students have lunch periods less than 20 minutes, making it difficult to finish their food.3

21%

Easy Lunch Prep Tips to Help Reduce Food Waste

  • Pack peeled and sliced fruits & veggies, so your child isn’t rushed trying to eat them during short lunch and snack periods.
  • Single-serve packaging can be tricky for little hands. Portion out snacks in Ziploc® bags with kid-friendly, easy open tabs.
  • Add a damp paper towel to Ziploc® bags to help keep fruits and veggies crisp all day.4
  • Avoid soggy sandwiches by packing the bread in a separate Ziploc® bag from the other components.
Help keep food fresh

Tips to Save Food and Money

  • Save up to $170 a year by wasting less produce with Ziploc® Storage Bags.5
  • Ziploc Storage Bags keep strawberries fresh up to 2x longer.6
  • Help keep food fresh on-the-go with Ziploc® Sandwich and Snack bags.
  • Give leftovers new life! Turn last night’s dinner into easy, delicious lunches with Ziploc® Storage bags.
Fresh Produce +Ziploc® | Up to $170 saved a year by wasting ledd produce* | For the love of food

Actress, Director, Entrepreneur and mom, JoAnna García Swisher’s Tips to Engage the Kids

  • Did you know that kids are 5x more likely to eat what they help prepare?7 I like to set up a mini snack station with pre-cut fruits, cheese cubes, and crackers in Ziploc® Snack Bags. I store them in a refrigerator bin so my girls can easily pick out their own snacks and help pack their lunches.
  • Ziploc® [brand] did a survey that found 3 out of 4 parents said they open up lunch boxes at the end of the day and it’s filled with food8. I cannot tell you how much that resonated with me, so whenever my kids tag along to the grocery store, I let them pick out one fun lunch item for the week. It empowers my girls to take charge of their meals, choose their favorite food and help reduce what ends up in the trash.
  • At dinner, we often talk about what the girls ate at lunch and what they didn’t. It helps them become more aware of not letting good food go to waste and encourages better choices when packing or eating lunch.

Sources:

* World Wildlife Fund: Food Waste Warriors , Published 2019, (p. 5) 
1 Food and Environment Reporting Network , Bridget Huber, Published June 2024
2 Pre-sliced fruit in school cafeterias: children's selection and intake , Wansink B, Just DR, Hanks AS, Smith LE., Published 2013 by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Journal of Preventive Medicine
3 Education Week: Teachers Say Students Don’t Have Enough Time to Eat Lunch. Here’s How to Change That , Sarah D. Sparks and Arianna Prothero, Last Updated October 5, 2023
4 A Damp Paper Towel Is All You Need To Keep Cut Vegetables Crisp , Simone Gerber, Last Updated October 24 2023
5 Based on 1 yr buying a 2lb strawberry clamshell: (1) biweekly & storing in a Ziploc® Storage Gallon bag versus (2) weekly & discarding half; avg price for 52 weeks ending Mar. 2025 based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (strawberries) & Nielsen (Ziploc® bags)
6 Compared to Store packaging when refrigerated
7 Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake , van der Horst K, Ferrage A, Rytz A, Published 2014 
8 The Harris Poll, conducted online on behalf of Ziploc® brand from June 16–20, 2025, among 624 U.S. adults ages 18+ who are parents of children in grades K–8. The data is accurate to within ±4.9 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.