Ep24. What’s the Secret to Stress-Free Sustainable Lunches?

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Packing a zero waste lunchbox can feel overwhelming - but it doesn’t have to be. In this inspiring conversation, Nina chats with Julia Clifton, owner of 4MyEarth, about practical ways to simplify family routines, cut down on plastic, and create healthier, more sustainable lunchboxes without the stress.

You’ll Learn:

• The biggest challenges parents face with zero waste lunchboxes

• Simple swaps that reduce single-use plastic and save money

• Why planning ahead makes mornings smoother and more sustainable

• Practical tips for lunches kids will actually enjoy

• How small, consistent shifts can create a big impact for your family and the planet

Why This Episode Matters

Lunchboxes are part of everyday family life, yet they’re often a source of stress - and a surprising contributor to household waste. This episode shows you how reducing waste doesn’t mean adding pressure. Instead, by adopting easy swaps and using tools like Julia's Sustainable Kitchen Planner, you can lighten the load, save money, and raise children who value sustainability.

Take Home Action

Choose just one swap to try this week - whether it’s using a reusable food cover, freezing sandwiches ahead of time, or decanting snacks into reusable bags. Notice how this small change makes your mornings calmer and your lunchbox a little more eco-friendly.

Take the Next Step

Ready to make your family routines feel lighter and more sustainable? Explore mindful parenting coaching with Nina to learn how small shifts can transform daily stress points into opportunities for connection. Book your free 20-minute Clarity Chat here.

Links and Resources

• Visit the 4MyEarth website - use code MINDFUL for 15% off full-priced items

• Grab your 4MyEarth Sustainable Kitchen Planner

• Follow Julia and 4MyEarth on Instagram

• Related podcast episodes:

  • Episode 6. Parenting Path in Action: Six Steps for a Happier Morning Routine

Let’s Connect

• Follow Nina on Instagram

• Website: mindfulparentinglifestyle.com.au

• Email: nina@mindfulparentinglifestyle.com.au

About the Hosts

Nina Visic is a mindful parenting coach, mindfulness instructor and mum to three energetic boys.

After experiencing firsthand the stress of juggling busy mornings, endless meal prep, and the guilt of falling short of her own parenting expectations, Nina turned to mindfulness as a way to bring calm back into her home.

Through her business, Mindful Parenting Lifestyle, Nina now helps other parents do the same - shifting from overwhelm and reactivity to connection and confidence. She believes that small, intentional changes (like swapping to a zero waste lunchbox routine) can have a big ripple effect: lightening the mental load, improving family wellbeing, and even shaping how children see their role in caring for the planet.

In addition to coaching, Nina hosts Your Calm Parenting Path, where she shares practical strategies, real-life stories, and conversations with experts to support parents in creating calmer, more joyful homes. Her mission is simple: to help families build sustainable habits -whether in parenting, routines, or lunchboxes - that truly last.

Julia Clifton is the owner of 4MyEarth, a proudly Australian business helping families reduce single-use plastic with practical, everyday reusables. From food covers to snack bags and sustainable kitchen planners, Julia’s mission is to make low-waste living simple and accessible for all households.

As a mum to two almost-adult boys, Julia understands the real-life challenges parents face when it comes to packing healthy lunches, managing busy routines, and wanting to live more sustainably. She combines her personal parenting experience with her passion for sustainability to create products that not only help the planet but also make family life easier.

Since taking over 4MyEarth in 2016, Julia has worked from home around her family, growing the brand into a go-to name for food storage solutions. She loves showing families that creating a zero waste lunchbox doesn’t have to be complicated - small swaps really can make a big impact.

Transcript

This transcript was created using Headliner. It has been copied and pasted but not proofread or edited, so it may contain errors or inaccuracies.

Nina: You're listening to your calm parenting path. I'm your host, Nina, a mindful parenting coach and mum m here to help you go from overwhelmed and reactive to calm, confident and connected with your kids. This show is for parents who want to raise their children with more patience, less stress and a whole lot more joy Pick because small shifts make a big impact and you can build the parenting life you've always wanted. If you want to see what I'm up to, follow me on Instagram mindful parenting lifestyle. And don't forget to hit, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. Let's get started.

Nina: Hello and welcome back to your calm parenting path. Today I'm joined by Julia Clifton, a, um, mum to two almost adult boys, an owner of For My Earth, a beautiful Australian business helping families ditch single use plastic with easy practical swaps for things like plastic wrap, Ziploc bags and foil. In today's chat, we're talking about all things lunchboxes, why zero waste can feel hard, how a bit of planning can make it easier, especially with Julia's sustainable kitchen planner and some simple, realistic changes that you can try at home to reduce waste without the overwhelm. Julia, thank you for joining me today.

Julia: Thank you. Thanks for inviting me.

Nina: Can you start just by telling us a bit about yourself and what led you to become the owner of ah, For My Earth?

Julia: Yeah. So, in a nutshell, um, I moved to Australia from the UK in 1997 to carry on with my insurance career. Um, a few things happened but I ended up moving to Busleton, um, to live near my parents who'd recently emigrated and I found out I was pregnant. So I, um, was home in a small town and realised that insurance jobs weren'tlenty so decided to start a business. So in 2007 I started a website, um, called the Kids Depot, which was fantastic because we, I got to stay at home and try out all the sort of kids toys and everything that I wanted from my for my boys. Then, uh, that kind of died, um, off with lots of people doing it and I became a rep for My Earth and really discovered that sustainability was quite easy. And I thought I was always a good recycler, but it's not same as using reusables. Um, so the lady that started that in 2007, she didn't want to do that anymore and so I bought it off her in 2016. Um, and that's my main focus and passion now.

Nina: Yeah, fantastic. So what does a typical day look like for you? Juggling your family Life and running your business from home.

Julia: Oh, well generally, uh, it's really good now with emails being on your phone and get everybody up in the morning, sort out the lunchboxes and see everybody off. We're all quite early starters here. Seven, eight and excent. So I can then do a bit of exercise and start work at 8:30. I try and have breaks through the day. I mean the washing machine sort of dictates that a lot. Um, so yeah, do my emails, hang the washing out, have a break, play with the dog. You know it's important to have a. Otherwise you sort of end up sitting in the same chair for eight hours and that's not good for your body. So I am very good at working in bursts.

Nina: Great.

Julia: Take breaks. But it's wonderful to be able to sort of like do an hour of work, do some dinner prep. I'm a big thermo, um, mixed person. I always try and do a little bit of prep early on N and then my big thing is my son gets home from school to three so we have a half hour catch up, do a bit more work and then I close the office door at five.

Nina: Excellent.

Julia: I um, might do a little bit of social media at night. Um, I'you know, sort of liking posts and things but generally I'm quite strict with myself.

Nina: Great. Yeah, I love how even though you've got almost adult boys, you still have that connection at the, you know, at the end of their school day. Tuning in, checking in and putting your phone away, putting your work away and really connecting and being with him. That sounds amazing.

Julia: Yeah. We have a family dinner together and it really is quite a separate life even though it's in the house. Um, and my husband sort of says spilling out a bit with around but generally I'm quite good at that and I think, you know, if you do work from home it's easy to sort of forget why you wanted to do it and it is to balance the children as well. So yeah, try to be there.

Nina: It's excellent. Great role model Julia. Thank you. Let's talk about lunchboxes. So what do you think are the biggest challenges that families face when trying to create a low waste healthy lunches?

Julia: I think that we can, we can overthink it. Not everything has to be homemade. I think if you can look at the week as a whole, um, just like when kids are tiny, the nurses say to you look at their diet over the week, not just the day. You know, pick your battles on that one. I mean, you know, pre bought food is Fine. You just have to sort of like

00:05:00

Julia: avoid the small snack packets and decant. That's, that's my main thing. So a little bit of homemade, a little bit decanting, a little bit of just like thinking about um, what you're using for those lunch boxes.

Nina: Yeah, I guess lots of parents, they want to, they have aiz and I probably am one of these. You want to reduce the waste but you just feel overwhelmed by the effort. What are some easy first swaps families can make to get started with this?

Julia: Well in a family environment I think uh, our food covers are a really easy swap for plastic wrap. With microp plastics being such a worry. We really don't know what we're ingesting even from um, you know, reusing water bottle like plastic water bottles and you know, even Tupperware. I don't think that we know everything about the plastic that we have around our food. So I think if someone's going to want to make some kind of swap out. Our food covers are fantastic and they can be used to cover leftovers and open packets and also for cut veggies and things like that. So you know you cut a pumpkin and instead of wrapping that in metres and metres of plastic wrap. Yeah of running it, it keeps food fresher and so if somebody wanted to dabble in our products then I would suggest some food for a quick swap.

Nina: I have a few of your food covers and I use it to cover salads because I like to have salads in a nice bowl but then to have to put it into a container to store it in the fridge, it's just annoying or to know to cover it into with plastic. I actually really like to use the covers and if I've cooked some corn in the microwave before I put it in the boys lunches if there's leftovers. It's just so easy to put a cover on that microwave safe dish than having to you know, cover it with something else or just leave it without a lid on in the fridge. So that's a really great first swap. One thing that I see you talk a lot about on social media is the importance of being prepared. So what role does planning a head play in creating a low waist kitchen and lunchbox routine?

Julia: Well, I had a chat with a few uh, ladies um, that I was in a group with years ago and uh, the leader said to me, you can choose where you placed your attention because I was always saying know the morning routine is just such a nightmare and nobody does anything and it's all on me and Da da d and she was saying you need to choose where you put your attention. If you want them to have canteen every day, that's fine. You know, if you want them to have homemade food every day, that's fine, but this is your choice. So I decided to start prepping at night. And uh, so just before I go to bed, I get the toaster out, I get the butter ready and you know, just have laid out. And I seem to remember my mum doing same thing and I was like, what do you, you just go to bed and it just makes the morning so much easier. So I prep what I can at night and I also know what everyone's gonna have for lunch. It's not a mad panic in the morning. We have a plan and I know what is in the fridge and I know how to do it quickly. And sometimes I'll prep, you know, wraps and things. Cause they're okay in the fridge overnight and um. Yeah. So just to make it easier for me. And um, if it's my choice to make their lunches then I need to.

Nina: Yeah.

Julia: You know, do it in a way that works for me.

Nina: Yeah. And you also have these amazing little bags, like sandwich bag things. It's probably an official name for them. And I am um, planning on makingus my boys. One will have cheese and vegemite sandwich, the other one will have a cheese sandwich, the other one hates sandwiches. And so d make up a heap on the weekend and pop them in the freezer and then you can pull that bag out, put it straight into their lunch box. And that work has been diminished in the morning. You know, you've got 10 minutes of your life back each morning just by doing that, right?

Julia: Yeah, absolutely.

Nina: So little things like that will make such a difference in those routines.

Julia: Yeah, I know that uh, uh, some people do freeze sandwiches. I've never done it myself, but absolutely fine. Yeah. And then pop them in their lunch boxes. We. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. Like I say, you know, the more that you can do ahead, the less panic in the morning. Cause it is a frantic time. Especially with uh, early start schools like.

Nina: Yeah, exactly. So tell us about your sustainable kitchen planner. What makes it different and how does it help parents get more organised?

Julia: Uh, well, it basically goes right from the start. So it makes you look at what you've actually got before. I mean it's all too easy just to sort of like wander through the shops and just fill up your trolley with the price of groceries at the moment. You know, you really have to sort of watch it. And, um, so we. It goes through your pantry and sees what you've got, and also your fridge and your freezer. So in there there's a pantry plan and a freezer checklist, and so you can sort of see what you've got, make a plan what you want to use. And we've also got a menu plan so you can see what you've got. Plan your meals for the week, which includes lunches, because they often get forgotten. They do.

Nina: I noticed this last year when I tried to meal plan always forgotten with.

Julia: Yeah, that's right. You know, like, if you think, okay,

00:10:00

Julia: well, we want a frittata, so I'll do some extra roasted veggies with. To stick with some hummus in a wrap or Thursday's lunch, you know. And it's done already.

Nina: Yeah.

Julia: Um, but yeah. And then. So from the meal plan, you can then make a shopping list. So it's got a shopping planner in there as well. And it's just tools that I use and I thought it would be useful to share. Yes. It's available for download and there's editable checklist. So you can actually type. Yeah, he didn't want to hand. Right.

Nina: Oh, I like that. Julia. I think as parent of a young child, as opposed to older children, the meal planning can be such a burden. Like, I actually handballugedt it to my husband last year because I was just so sick of meal planning. And having something like a format and a structure around it has been great. I, uh, think. And I think it's gonna make things easier. And even to the point where you, uh, know, you might say, Tuesdays, we're always going to have some type of pasta, or Thursdays we're always going to have sausages or, you know, or something baked in the oven. And being able to put that in your planner, you know, editable. And so you don't have to think what a Tuesday is again, you can just say, right, well, Tuesdays is past us, so let's have carbonara this week, or let's have ravioli and really kind of mix it up that way. So that's what I really love about that.

Julia: Yeah, I think I'm like, years ago, some families that have always did the same dinners, like people said, oh, I always knew it was Monday ca. Because we had, you know, macaroni ch. Yeah, but absolutely. Like, I was a vegetarian for a long time and I promised my mu. That I t, um, wouldn't get sick and I would have enough protein. So I've always done A whole, you know, like, okay, so we need one day's pulses, one day's potatoes, one day's rot m pasta and like you say, build it from there.

Nina: Yeah.

Julia: Some kind of structure. Yeah. And then go through your cookbooks and have fun with.

Nina: Yeah. And in my family, my boys at the moment are quite fussy so we'll have our kind of grown up meal and there's always a kid meal that goes alongside it. So we might have a roast. Love having a roast with all the potatoes, all the trimmings. They don't eat roasts. What two of them do, one of them doesn't. So we know when we have a roast that we do sausages and we know that when we do a roast we do corn because we know that they eat it. And we can have the sausages and the corn if we want to, we can offer our roast to them. But being able to know that that's what goes with that is really helpful as well.

Julia: Yeah. Well if things can be cooked in the same way then it's. No, it's not like you're having like, you know, pasta and then you're doing then sausages as well, you know.

Nina: Exactly. And uh, we just got an air fryer so I think that's going to make it a lot easier too.

Julia: Aren t they amazing?

Nina: So good. Okay, let's go back to lunch boxes. Do you have any favourite go to lunchbox items that are simple, waste free and kid approved?

Julia: Okay. Yes, we've got one. We've got a few ideas but one, one, one that's always a hit is we do these vegetarian sausage rolls O and for a long time I didn't tell anybody they were meat free because they've got like oats and walnuts in. Um, and you can't tell it'just like.

Nina: Wow, could you substitute the walnuts for anything? Because I don't think that would be allowed at school having nuts in them.

Julia: U well, I didn't think of that.

Nina: Maybe seeds or something.

Julia: Yeah, perhaps. Yeah. So we do those um, for a dinner and then apparently they're wonderful cold with a tub of tomato ketchup for lunches. There you go, that's a win. So you, you can pop things like, you know, it'leftover keichin, all sorts of things. Kids are quite, quite good at that stuff. But one big thing, um, that is a huge win. Here are yoghurt pouches. Yeah, we make a lot of smoothies and there's always too much so we freeze. I left over smoothie. Um, and My son takes it frozen by morning tea time. It's sort of like that slushy stage and so he has that and it's yoghurt and fruit and all the goodness. So that's the one thing. And it's been very popular with our parents. We make our own, um, made from silicon and they're really lovely quality so you can sort of decant a big pot of yogat into them. Yeah. Or like I say just freeze leftovers or. Yeah. So they're really good. Yeah.

Nina: And I really like that because when I send my kids to school with a pot of yoghurt it always comes back half empty with the yoghurt all throughout their lunch box and if I'm really unlucky, all throughout their bag because it's just, it's too much for them to eat. And having those reusable pouches, you just put in what they're going to have and then any leftover you can put it back in the fridge or chuck it in the bin. Um, or I'll have it yourself, you know.

Julia: Yeah, absolutely. Well, the lids are fairly stable. They don't just don't pop off if you squeeze them. But yeah, you know when you see a um, mass of these single use yoghurt pouches in the supermarkets and I get it, people think that they're giving their kids a really healthy snack but there is so much waste going in those bins.

Nina: Yeah. What are some of the long term benefits that you've noticed for families and for the planet when people start making these little swaps from plastic yoghurt pots to

00:15:00

Nina: your reusable ones to the covers as opposed to Glad wrap, that kind of thing.

Julia: Well, the shopping bill definitely reduces bulk buys. You know, the big yoghurt pots and things like that are definitely cheap single serve. So you will notice, you know instantly that your shopping bill goes down if you start sort of thinking about more sort of bulk purchases like that and you know you might get some satisfaction that you don't put your bin bag out very often. You know, it's like once a week instead of every couple of days because they're just not the waste that's going in there. Um, which has to help the schools as well with their waste disposal.

Nina: Oh definitely, yeah, that's rightm.

Julia: Um, but I did some calculations. Um, um, just for example, on five years of school lunches if, um. So five years of school lunches is 900 days.

Nina: Wow.

Julia: And if you popp sandwich in a ziploc bag every day for those five years that would be 900 bags, and that actually adds up to $45. It might only be $5 every couple of months in your shopping, but it's $45 over the five years. And one of our wraps is $18. So you're saving 20. $27. And three kilos of plastic go into landfill.

Nina: Three kilos, wow.

Julia: You think, oh, it's four grammes, you know, but, uh, uh, yeah. One child, five years, three kilos.

Nina: That's mind blowing, Julia. Wow. Okay. What are some common myths or misconceptions that people have about zero waste living that you'd love to clear up?

Julia: That it's hard and it costs more? I think the thing is, it's an investment upfront. But as I've said earlier, you know that over the time you will save money. But, um, it doesn't have to be hard. It needs to work for you. So you have to. You just pick one thing that you think that you want to change. Like, for example, the yoghurt pots or decanting, um, a big bag of popcorn into snack back. Snack bags.

Nina: Yeah.

Julia: Um, yeah. So just little things. And I think maybe just challenge yourself, like, you know, one, one little thing every week and it really will add up for you.

Nina: Yeah. I've noticed there's been a big shift in changing from disposable nappies to reusable nappies. And I think that trend has really taken off. So I feel like a lot of those parents would be really into this, transforming that need or that want to be more sustainable into their kitchen as well. Especially with all the products that you're able to offer that actually make life easier.

Julia: Yeah, there's a good co actually because, you know, like one of those, um, reusable nappy systems, that's quite a chunky outlay. But they're so gorgeous. Yeah, yeah. Over time, instead of, you know, buying the box of Huggies every week, they will save money. So they hopefully will be converts in, in this. Yeah, yeah. The reusable system.

Nina: And I think the more that we can promote and talk about these reusable products and make them more normal in the playground as well, I think it'll be really great, you know, teaching our kids how to look after them, you know, giving them some pride. You've got some beautiful patterns as well. I've got the blue stripey ones, which I, I don't know, they remind me of like picnics in the park, which I really like. So for someone listening today who wants to start reducing their plastic use, but doesn't quite know where to to begin. What's one small shift parents can make when it comes to lunch boxes or living more sustainable that not only helps the planet but also makes life a little bit easier?

Julia: Well, I think all the things that I've sort of said before to sort of plan ahead, pick your battles, it has to work for you. So yeah, so maybe just sort of like make, just batch cook some cookies and pop half of them in the freezer and m grab two uh, in the mornings and it would save you going for the snack pack packs in the supermarket. That's maybe a little thing. It's good to do some baking as well if you've got time. But yeah, it's um, just a plan ahead to decant and uh, you know, prep, prep as much as you can but you know, store bought and canteen is still fine.

Nina: Yeah, great. We'll leave it on that note. Julia, thank you so much. This is really interesting and I'm really excited to hear uh, how parents have made some changes. So hit us up on Instagram and let us know what are some changes that you've made to be more of a zero waste lunchbox family? Julia, where can listeners find you? Where can they learn more about your products? How can they get started with 4myearth?

Julia: Okay, well my business is for my earth so we're on insta TikTok and everywhere and the website is wwwform my earth.com/u we have got a special coupon code for your listeners too, so.

Nina: Oh, thank you.

Julia: The word mindful. You get 15% off all our full priced items. Have a look on the website. We also have some kits if you don't know where to start. We've got some sort of handy kits. They're Discounted by uh, 20% so you'll save some money but then it gives you a few sort of household

00:20:00

Julia: staples to get you started.

Nina: Yeah, that's where I started with my journey. Thank you so much. That's really generous. Don't forget we'll put all the details in the show notes so you can come back and get that code whenever you need to. And Julia, thank you. It's been a lovely discussion today.

Julia: Oh, thank you. I hope I've given people some tips. Excellent.

Nina: Thank you.

Nina: Thanks for listening to your calm parenting path. I am so glad you're here and I hope this episode gave you something useful to take your parenting journey. If you'd like to dive deeper, sign up to my mailing list@mindfulareentinglifestyle. Uh,.com.au for more tips and insights or book a free chat to learn how we can work together. And don't forget to hit, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. I look forward to speaking with you next time on your calm parenting path.

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