I’m standing in my kitchen, staring at what used to be a thing of pride—my rainbow collection of Tupperware, stackable bento boxes, and snack containers in every size imaginable. At one point, I genuinely thought I’d “made it” in mum life because everything had its matching lid.
Now? I look at it with the kind of disdain usually reserved for a toddler who’s just drawn on the wall again. Because once you know what plastic might be leaching into your food—and your kids’ snacks—it’s hard to un-know.
The Day I Snapped
It was one of those grey, rainy Sundays where you either watch six hours of Bluey… or unleash your inner kitchen psycho. I chose the latter.
I pulled open every drawer, every cupboard, and laid my entire plastic stash bare. Five bin bags later, I stood among the ruins of my “system”—a system that, upon reflection, had probably been marinating our meals in a lovely chemical cocktail for years.
But Why Did I Go Full Cray Cray?
Because I’d fallen into the trap of convenience over consciousness. And once I started learning about BPA, BPS, phthalates, and microplastics, I realised my well-meaning lunch preps might have come with a side of hormone disruption.
It wasn’t just about the food—it was about the containers, the cling wraps, the reusables that weren’t actually helping. I wasn’t just storing leftovers—I was unknowingly storing toxins.
What’s Low Tox Anyway?
Low-tox living isn’t about perfection or panic. It’s about reducing unnecessary exposure to nasties—especially when it comes to the stuff that touches your food every day.
Think of it as modern-day damage control with a healthy dose of “how did I not know this earlier?!”
Plastic: Once Beloved, Now… Banished
Sure, plastic is lightweight, stackable, and “technically” convenient. But under heat (dishwashers, microwaves, car interiors on a summer day), it can leach all sorts of hormone-disrupting chemicals into your food—even the BPA-free ones.
And once you start reading up on the health implications? Let’s just say… you’ll never look at that pastel lunchbox the same way again.
What I Use Now
- Glass containers – For storing leftovers, meal prep, and basically anything that was once in plastic.
- Stainless steel lunchboxes & snack tins – Lightweight, indestructible, and zero suspicious smells.
- Brown paper bags – For the occasional snack run, sandwiches, or when I want to feel like an old-school lunch-packing mum with a Pinterest aesthetic.
Do I miss my stackable pastel bento boxes? Okay yes, a little. They’re still hidden at the back of a drawer like a guilty secret. But they are not in rotation.
And Just When I Thought I’d Nailed It…
…I found out my ceramic-coated pans aren’t actually as “non-toxic” as I thought.
Cue existential crisis #27.
But that’s a tale for another day.
Stay tuned for the next chapter in my accidental detox journey: Low Tox 101—where I deep-dive into cookware chaos, sneaky greenwashing, and why your “eco” dish soap might be full of lies.
Because once you start down the low-tox rabbit hole… there’s no going back. Only better skin, less overwhelm, and far fewer hormone-mimicking containers.
