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  • 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, one lunch at a time.
    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%

Lunch Prep Tips

  • 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.
Prep ahead

Freshness Tips

  • Add a damp paper towel to Ziploc® bags to help keep fruits and veggies crisp.4
  • Avoid soggy sandwiches by packing the bread in a separate Ziploc® bag from the other components.
Help keep food fresh

Leftovers Tips

  • Turn last night’s leftovers into easy, delicious lunches with Ziploc® bags.
  • Encourage your kids to bring home their shelf-stable leftovers and pack Ziploc® bags in their backpacks so they can bring home uneaten cafeteria food too.
Love your leftovers

Tips to Get the Kids Involved

  • Ask for input! Use 1 day/week to menu plan and prep snacks with your kids. A study found that when kids help make the food, they eat up to 76% more.5
  • Talking to your kids about food waste can make a difference! Elementary schools where students learned about food waste saw a 14.5% average reduction of plate waste.6
Empower your kiddos

Save food and money this school year with Ziploc®

  • Save up to $170 a year by wasting less produce with Ziploc® Storage Bags.7
  • Ziploc® Storage Bags keep strawberries fresh up to 2x longer compared to store packaging when refrigerated.8
  • Help keep food fresh on-the-go with Ziploc® Sandwich and Snack bags.
Fresh Produce +Ziploc® | Up to $170 saved a year by wasting ledd produce* | For the love of food

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 Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake , van der Horst K, Ferrage A, Rytz A, Published 2014
6 World Wildlife Fund: Food Waste Warriors , Published 2019, (p. 4)
7 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)
8 Compared to Store packaging when refrigerated.