Is it Merely a Question of Convenience? Bottled Water

I was guilty! As a mother of 2 active athletes (every season brings 2-3 sports) and co-founder of a business, Partybluprints.com, I am always looking for “shortcuts” to make the household run smoother and more efficiently. Previously, stocking a case of water in the refrigerator proved to be a welcomed “shortcut” when packing a lunch or sports bag or beverage for the car (I’m been making a valiant effort to drink more water). A few months ago, I read a number of alarming reports on the potential dangers of bottled water. Make no mistake, I’m no Chicken Little, so I did my due diligence and found myself tossing the convenience of bottled water. It really was no choice for me, I just did it and was surprised that I felt no loss over the demise of this small convenience that our family had relied upon for years.

However, before I could cut the cord, I needed a substitute. I researched and sampled various BPA Free and stainless containers to determine what worked best for our family’s “on the go” needs. Given that these containers would be tossed in sports bags, I needed something forgiving and practical (lightweight, easy to open and close, appropriate size) for my children to use. They each had their preference on what they liked and disliked, so I showed them a few options from the Nalgene line (this is the line I chose based on my research and sampling) and let them choose the containers that worked best for them.

Finding a container for my son’s lunchbox was a bit more challenging as it needed to be a more compact container with a lid that was easy to drink from and formed a secure seal – one soggy lunch and I’d be hearing, “why can’t I just take a water bottle”! This transition had to be smooth and immediate to avoid a mutiny. We found a good fit with a blue 500 ml Nalgene container (not only was the size and shape challenging, but if you’ve been shopping, you know the color choices and styles for boys are limited). My daughter and I both liked the apple green Nalgene container with a flip up top (we don’t like unscrewing the top to drink from a wide mouthed bottle). On the other hand, my son doesn’t mind it, so his sports bottle, which is much larger than his lunchbox bottle, is a screw off wide mouthed container. Taking the time to evaluate the various needs (do we need to be able to fill with ice cubes? If so, the mouth has to be wide enough, very important) and get my children’s input on their preferences really paid off). We made a seamless transition. Now instead of dragging 2 recycling containers to the curb, we only need 1, which is not even full – gone are the overflowing containers filled with disposable water bottles. This was another positive lesson for our family – waste not, want not, which led to “No Lights Tuesday”, which is another story…

And as far as the loss of convenience, surprisingly, I haven’t even missed it. One new rule (I always tried to impose this…) you must empty your sports bag and lunchbox every day, otherwise you’ll have no water bottle the next day! The first week, we had a few days of searching for containers and washing them out, but once everyone got in the habit (self preservation at its best), the containers would be emptied and loaded into the dishwasher and next morning, voila, sparkling clean containers ready to be filled and packed up for another day. Sometimes, I wash them out the night before, fill them with filtered water and store in the refrigerator for the next day. One other benefit, no half empty, bacteria filled water bottles lying in wait at the end of the sports season at the bottom of the bag or stuffed in side pockets.

So at the end of the day and 4 months later, our family hasn’t shriveled up from dehydration, nor have we cried, “Uncle” and gone back to our cases of bottled water. We are drinking more water than ever and feel very good about this positive change, both for our health and the environment. It turns out, this entire water bottle “awareness” was my wake up call. In considering the potential effect other “conveniences” may have on our health, I have made other changes and gone back to a simpler time, employing many “processes” that were commonplace to my mother simply because there were many less conveniences available and/or they were too expensive. Granted some of these “processes” (cooking and baking from scratch to nail the big ones) are much more time consuming, but I feel so much better about my investment of time, effort and love when I serve my family some good old “home cooking” (aka, from scratch vs. processed foods/snacks/desserts).

The water bottles started a chain reaction, which I am embracing – I founded myself asking, “what changes can I make in our lifestyle that may positively affect our families health?” When they were young, I made baby food from scratch, packed fresh snacks in Ziplocs, put a home cooked meal on the table every night, avoided fast food chains and take-out. Somewhere along the line as we (I) got busier and more strapped for time, I traded my tried and true “processes” for some time saving conveniences. Over the past few months, I’ve slowed down long enough to develop other strategies for saving time instead of compromising for convenience (don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we don’t still order the pizza). I am not willing to trade health and well being for convenience, so I continue to work towards a more natural lifestyle for our family everyday and everyone is lovin’ it!

Stay tuned . . . Elizabeth

July 8th, 2009  The GAO recommends better labeling for bottled water : Thirsty for more information: Government Accountability Office