Hey, Green Junkie!
Preparing and sharing a meal is the one universal language we ALL speak. Our bodies need nutrients and whether we are at work, at school or just hanging at home, eventually we are going to need to stop and eat some lunch.
Today, I brought on Courtney Stewart, the founder and creator of Good Kiind to talk about her company, their products and how they are changing how we create low waste meals – one lunch box at a time.
She is sharing her personal experience as a mom, how they solved lunch woes we all face as parents, and how they are giving back to children in need.
In this episode we will discuss,
- How to lower your waste – one lunch box at a time
- Introducing the Good Kiind company and how they came to be
- How one box can solve your kids’ lunch woes
- How Good Kiind is helping you stay healthy while maintaining your busy lifestyle
- Tips for a lower waste lunch
- How Good Kiind is tackling childhood hunger, and how you can too
You’ll discover that and so much more in this episode.
If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @greenjunkiepodcast so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks.
Thanks for listening and being here.
Your green bestie,
Xoxo Stephanie
Hang With Courtney:
https://www.instagram.com/thegoodkiind/
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Produced by: Alecia Harris
Music By: Liz Fohle
LISTEN BELOW:
TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 37
Stephanie Moram 0:07
Hi, Green Junkie. I'm your host Stephanie Moram and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Courtney Stewart, about her amazing brand called the Good Kiind, and how she is empowering people to lower their waste, one lunchbox at a time. Courtney and her partner Chris have two little girls Naomi and Sloane Rose. She grew up in a sports family and she's a former D one college athlete and graduated with an undergrad degree in business administration and a master's in strategic marketing. For their first business, they manufactured and sold personalized silicone knee labels for drinkware. A more sustainable alternative to stickers on tape. They pivoted that business at the end of 2020 for a few different reasons and decided to move on to a sustainable on the go mealtime solution based on some personal pain points she was experiencing with products available in the marketplace. The Good Kiind officially launched in July of 2021. If you love learning new ways you can reduce your impact on the environment. Please subscribe to the GreenJunkie Podcast on whatever platform you get your podcasts that way you never miss another green living episode.
Stephanie Moram 1:22
Hi, Courtney, thank you so much for being here.
Courtney Stewart 1:25
Stephanie, thank you for having me.
Stephanie Moram 1:27
You're very welcome. So first of all, I'd love for you to tell me a little bit more about your family and yourself and then kind of transition to exactly what is the Good Kiind?
Courtney Stewart 1:39
Yes, absolutely. So yes, my name is Courtney Stewart and my husband and I live with our two little girls in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I think you have some US listeners potentially. And yeah, we have two very rambunctious and active girls. My youngest is four, my oldest is seven. And they are busy, busy bees and busy, busy hungry bees. So we have a busy on the go lifestyle with their activities and things like that. But yeah, they definitely keep us busy.
Stephanie Moram 2:16
And so what is the Good Kiind?
Courtney Stewart 2:20
So as you mentioned, we had pivoted our previous business, and we'll leave that for another another day. Because that could be its own podcast episode. But yes, we pivoted at the end of 2020 and relaunched as the Good Kiind. It really wasn't intend to continue on offering sustainable products, but having even more impact. And so really, I knew I wanted to do something that was going to be good from purpose to people to plan it to everything. And so really, we launched with that intent in July 2021. With our five compartment leak proof stainless steel lunchbox, really with a goal to inspire families to live a more litter less lunch, and a little more Zero Waste lunch. But also, because the reason why we started with this product was because of the personal pain point we were experiencing with some other products that we were using for our oldest daughter. And so we were limited and the things that we were able to put in her lunchbox, we had a wonderful system that was also stainless steel, beautiful, great for the environment. But it was lacking a leak proof system. And so it limited what we were able to put in her lunchbox, she would come home sometimes and say her crackers tasted like strawberries. And you know, you could never really get that right.
Stephanie Moram 3:43
My kids have the same problem.
Courtney Stewart 3:46
Yeah, so we struggled with different things. And, you know, my husband was like, we just need to put something so that like the parts like you can see where there's just a little bit of a gap, you know, where things can move, move around. And so we just kind of started exploring. And that was actually in 2020. And then when we decided to pivot, that was the direction we went in. And so yeah, we started with our five compartment lunchbox. And we do plan on having an entire series of lunch, lunch containers that are all leak proof. And really just supporting families who want to, you know, obviously invest in quality containers, but also supporting families who just want to, like, continue to eat well, while maintaining their busy lifestyle. We're such a busy family, that if I had to constantly pull in and stop and grab food and you know, do all that extra stuff, you know, you can't control what you're, you know, always really control what they're eating, right. So in this way, when you can pack it, you know, you know what they're getting, you know, the nutrition, you know, they're getting what they need, especially at this age, it was really important to us. So as much as we're supporting that zero waste living, we're also supporting that, you know, eating well on the go.
Stephanie Moram 4:58
And so how do you have the lunchbox sealed, like what is it that you have different from like other similar brands?
Courtney Stewart 5:06
Absolutely. So on the interior of the box in the lid, we have a silicone seal here, that is actually even removable.
Stephanie Moram 5:16
That's cool, super easy cleaning.
Courtney Stewart 5:19
And yeah, if you just had it like this, it's very similar to other, you know, other products that are on the market. But the silicone seal just allows like an airtight seal. So you can see how these edges bubble out a little bit. Right. So they, they even divide within the compartments too. So it's really good. It's not just an outer seal, that it won't leak in your lunch bag. It's an inner seal between each individual compartment. So was really important to us to do that. Because, again, we were done with the days of my crackers tasting like strawberries and being soggy, soggy and things like that. So yeah, it's just kind of upgrading current products available on the market. And really once we started talking to people, we just kept discovering similar pain points, you know, wonderful products, wonderful love the idea of stainless steel absolutely would never go back to classic but oh, I wish this, you know had this and so.
Stephanie Moram 6:14
And is this your first product that you launched with the Good Kiind, this is like this system with the silicone.
Courtney Stewart 6:21
Yes, this is our hero product. And from here, we have introduced like the containers as well that go with them. And we will be introducing another more of a snack style box container to compartment that can convert to four. So it will be ideal for maybe younger JK, lighter eaters, who maybe like don't need all that food, but we'll be able to have other individual like dividers that will allow them to pack that in. That'd be enough for like a JK, or even SK who are a little later years. Or for my kids. They use these regularly for my daughter dances competitively. So she's at the gym for you know, sometimes four hours. So it's a nice, just like a like a break snap.
Stephanie Moram 7:12
Right? And I think honestly, like I own so many different types of stainless steel boxes, and I love them all. They're all great. And some of them I've owned for like 11 years because I bought them. They used to be pink on the outside now they're just stainless steel. Like that's how old they are. The colors come off.
Courtney Stewart 7:29
The stainless is still good.
Stephanie Moram 7:33
Right? And it still works fine. Yeah, but I just love like the innovation were probably 10 years ago or even now sometimes I'm like, Oh, I wish that would not like move over there. I wish you would like seal better. So I love the innovation that you have that you're saying. We love stainless steel. Parents like myself are often complaining that stuff moves around and shifts or leaks. Well with the state with having the silicone it just kind of like locks everything in and if let's say someone buys one of your systems, and I don't know, the silicone rips, I'm just throwing that out there I have no idea or they lose it because their kid lost it because that's what kids do. Are you able to buy just the silicone to fit back in?
Courtney Stewart 8:11
Yeah, so that's not available on our website right now. But if that happened that customer reached out yeah 100% I think what we're you know, we're only about 10 months in now eight months in so as our product ages in the marketplace will absolutely have those replacements but honestly I am such a like we are all about customer service and making sure our customers are 100% satisfied if something were to happen with the silicone and if somebody reached out like it would not be a problem that we sent them a new one right away. Especially when you're making this kind of investment it's so important to me that customers feel well supported after the process after that you know shopping process that buying process so Yeah, while it's not available right now today on the website if there was somebody had an issue and reached out it wouldn't be a problem to get them something.
Stephanie Moram 9:00
And so you're working on so you said you have like the one the I don't know how many compartments and then you have like the two compartment are you working on adding like other products outside of like other stainless steel products? Like water bottles or I'm just throwing it out there? I have no idea but yes are you trying looking to add more?
Courtney Stewart 9:17
Absolutely. So those who know me know that I do not like plastic as much as I like I'm all about you know the the environments your ways. I'm also very passionate about toxins and toxins in plastics and things like that. A lot of my kids you know, we had certain water bottles that were great stainless steel, you know cores, but the tops were plastic and then they would chew them and then that's when they start leaching toxins right and the chemicals and things like that and so absolutely we are. In the pipeline a 100% stainless steel kid friendly water bottle because that's the problem right is there are one 100% stainless steel tweaking that lid for adults, it's harder with children who like, you know, they bumped their teeth on the stainless and things like that. So we're really trying to get that, to nail that down that product functionality and so that it's practical, practical for children. We have a product that we're using right now, it's not ours, but it's another companies and it's 100% stainless steel with a silicone pot. And like, at least once a week, it's leaking all over the place. Just because it has a silicone lid. But you know, with kids, they're not they don't secure it properly, and all kinds of stuff can happen. But, um, so against the plastic that I'm like, I don't care, I'll clean the leaks and you get home. Nothing, you can hurt that backpack, it's fine. So I deal with it. But if we're going to release something, we're going to release something that doesn't have those kinds of pain points for parents.
Stephanie Moram 10:52
Yeah, and I too, like I'm always looking for the water bottles without the plastic top. And it's I know, there are some companies I have bought that water bottle, a specific water bottle for adults where it's like completely stainless steel, the top was like bamboo. And they're great. But then it's like, not everything's available in Canada. So if you're a US listener, you have access to way more stuff than we do in here in Canada, most of the time. And if we do have access to it, it costs literally an arm and a leg because of the exchange rate and the ridiculous duty. So just throwing that out there that a lot of stuff that I do love or that you might love coordinate is not always available to us. And that also sucks, you know, like the system, I had that similar to yours doesn't ship to Canada. Yeah. And so I had to like somehow get it here. And I don't even remember how because it was 11 years ago. But I think I was in the States and I shipped it where I was in the States and brought it across the border with me. So it's also those pain points of like, you know, a Canadian company creating products that it might somewhat exist in the United States. But it's just so hard for Canadians to get these products. So I love that you created a product that A is going to help with leaks, which is a huge pain point for so many parents, but also Canadian because now a mom or dad or like parents can have this school system shipped to them and not have to pay duties and taxes. And then deal with the exchange rate. It just comes from Ontario, and lands in Quebec or British Columbia. And you know, they can get it that way. So that's another reason why I love finding Canadian brands, personally for me is because, you know, it's me being selfish, and I don't have to get stuff shipped from the United States all the time.
Courtney Stewart 12:29
Yeah, the last thing you want to do is get that surprise call from the border agency or UPS or FedEx, when you bought into the state they like you have to clear this customs and it's $150 Yeah, it's the I totally understand I'm, I'm a huge shark tank brand supporter. So whenever I see something, I'm gonna buy it, I gotta buy it, I gotta get, especially if I gotta get for somebody to give or you know, I know there's a need, and we can use it. I always like to support them. But goodness me, they catch me with those duties and customs bills. And sometimes it's more than the product. And I'm just like, oh, maybe I should have waited to support them until they were here.
Stephanie Moram 13:15
Obviously, you started the Good Kiind because you wanted to have like less waste surrounded by lunches, and all that kind of stuff. So when you were thinking about starting the good kind, it was like, were you guys already living a green lifestyle? And this was just kind of like an extension of how you lived your life prior?
Courtney Stewart 13:33
Absolutely. So really, when my oldest was born, she had eczema, and she had some skin irritations. We do a lot of allergy testing that really kind of got me down that rabbit hole of understanding more about all the products that we're using stuff that we're eating stuff that we're putting our food on everything and so we've been like plastic free, I would say in our kitchen for several years. And so really making a commitment to use whatever we have left but when that's its lifecycle is done. We aren't you know, we'll recycle and do how we get disposed of it how it should be, but we aren't buying anymore and just being really intense. mindful about that. And so I've always been very passionate about recycling in my community. I'm that person who is like at birthday parties digging out. First of all, I am the people who are drinking the plastic we're having a conversation with the host about you should really tell people to bring their water bottle just I always put on my kids and birthday. You know if we have a party, yeah, you could just have them bring their water bottle. You know, we'll have water and drinks and stuff here but have them bring the reusable water bottle. It's one easy little thing and parents usually bring it anyway. So anyways, I wouldn't get into that but I'm the person who really I'll go into the garbage and I will sift and organize and so that they recycle if they don't plan to recycle it I will bring it home you know I'm not to the point with food waste. But I might get there, Stephanie, because I just invested in this like amazing composter that is like life changing for me right now. But I'm not there yet. But to answer your question, we definitely, were being more mindful within our home with types of products we're using, and, you know, looking at our waste levels, and how we can reuse, reduce it, and how we can just make little mindful choices every day to kind of minimize our footprint. Because really, that's all it takes everybody just to do a little bit better every day. And as those years have progressed, I've just become more and more passionate about it. So in the our family DNA now
Stephanie Moram 15:45
Right, and so, you know, you had kind of this lifestyle before the kids were born, or you started it. So it's just gonna be normal for them. Like, my kids are 11, and nine, and this is all they know, they know, composting. I remember one day, my kids saying like, not all kids compost, like, no, no, not all families compost. You're right. But it was like, they thought it was that's what people did you know? Or how come I'm the only one with the stainless steel lunchbox, or one time my kids came home and said, Oh, my gosh, other kids have the same food as you know, like, someone had a made good, a granola bar, just like, no, like, I'm not the only organic kid, you know, like, it's just funny when they're so young, like your kids, like, this is what they're gonna know. And it's gonna pass on, hopefully, you know, as they get older, obviously, things change a little bit. And, you know, they might eat fast food that you didn't have them eat or that stuff like that, but it's just, it's gonna stay with them. Right? You know, and, you know, and being kind with my kids, you know, I always talk about like, being kind on yourself when it comes to green living and just, I hate plastic water bottles too. But if you happen to buy one, move on, put in the recycling do better next time, you know, kind of thing. And like, with my kids, they know I hate food waste, and they bring home their banana peels or their apple cores. Like if they have a granola bar, they bring back the wrapper, and I dispose of it properly. And it's just, it's nice to see, you know, and so, with your kids is going to be very similar. They're going to, you're going to have that, you know, it's easier for your kids to grow up in that versus like, when they're 10 years old, you're like, okay, by the way, we're cutting out this, this, this and this, like, what I love it, you know, kind of thing, I like eating it every day, kind of thing. So it's just, it's nice to see like that. It started when your kids were young, and it's gonna like move on, you know, and it's part of your business, right? Pretty little lunchbox and everything to school with them.
Courtney Stewart 17:39
And yeah, my daughter actually came home not too long ago and said, Mom, you're never going to believe this. My Madame. So she goes to a French school. She said Madame Natalie, she she was talking today about composting. And so we used to have it that we still do have a backyard system. I'm not I was not great at it. So which is why I got a kitchen, a counter system. But she's like, we did crash course composting, when during the pandemic, they learned everything composting, my kids are four and seven, and they're pretty much experts. And so she was like, I knew all the questions Madame was asking. Answers. She's like, she couldn't believe it. She's like, especially in our community. It's you know, we live in an area where it's a subdivision, and most people do not have backyard compost actually think it's against my HOA. So hopefully, nobody is listening. But you know, it's not normal. And so I was really proud of her. I was, you know, I had that aha moment that you, we don't do everything right, but at least you know that she's gonna help save the planet. And the things she's learning the messages she's spreading.
Stephanie Moram 18:53
I love hearing the stories of like, how sustainable businesses got it started. And it's like, well, I was already in that lifestyle of green living, I was already in the non toxic world, and I created the product. And not saying because somebody wasn't in that world, and then they created a green product and is bad. I just love hearing the stories when I was like, I was living like this. And then I was had this issue with a green product. And then I just went and fixed it by creating my own. And it's like, it's brilliant. It's brilliant. And as soon as I saw you on Instagram, I was like, Oh my gosh, why didn't I think of that? Or why didn't like how did the other company we get our system from not thought about this already? They've been around for a really long time. Like, how did they not think about this? You know what I mean? Like, and so I just, I love how it set up. I love the silicone idea and that everything can be separated and I just really appreciate your story of yeah, we live this lifestyle and then we fixed our problem by creating our own product.
Courtney Stewart 19:52
Yeah, absolutely. And that you know what, it's for me personally, then when we kind of pivoted to the Good Kiind. Really, it was important for us from an ethics standpoint, just from a business standpoint to just kind of do good do the right thing for you know, our customer by offering like a really good product that solved a problem. And, you know, that was also safe for them, and, you know, didn't leach toxins into their food, but also, like, ensure that the people who are making our products are, you know, paid fair living wages, doing good from like, 360, you know. Ensuring that when this products done at the end of its lifecycle, you know, we know, I feel very good knowing that stainless steel is the number one most recycled product in demand materials. And so we know it's not gonna end up in a landfill, right? It's gonna get recycled, and our stainless steel product is not virgin, it is recycled. So it's just kind of doing good from a 360 lens approach. For businesses, it was really important to me when we pivoted and in did this, that we looked at all aspects of, you know, how can we just do better.
Stephanie Moram 21:03
And was your other business called the Good Kiind? Or is this like a total? Okay, we're starting from scratch. And we're going to call this the Good Kiind?
Courtney Stewart 21:12
Yeah, total start from scratch. My other business was that we still have our corporation name it but it was Nomi and Sibs. And my daughter's name is Naomi. But none of my nieces and nephews could pronounce her names. They said, they called her Nomi. And I was pregnant at the time, we launched the business when we were about to launch it, and we didn't know Sloan's name for nearly 30 days after she was born, so we just called it sibs and said it. Honestly, it's, the name is still near and dear to my heart. It's probably why it took me so long to kind of pivot from that business, but it is star Corp name. But yes, it was an entirely different business with just the labeling solutions, personalized products, that I would never recommend anybody.
Stephanie Moram 21:56
And when you came up with the Good Kiind, was it, the idea of the good kind was because you wanted to do good?And like all asked, like you said, in all accent aspects of your business?
Courtney Stewart 22:07
Yeah. So through our product lines, and you know, because we just wanted to do good, you good for you know, the people I mentioned before that people the planet, our purpose, our mission, inspiring others to do good to be the good kind, essentially. And so we always actually make it's a joke in our family, because when the girls are really little, we always, you know, we got two little girls and they tend to fight. So probably more than probably no more than the average girls, we think it's a lot, but we'd always say to them, you know, just be the good kind of Sister, you know, she needs you, you know, talking to the usually the older one. But it we always said that be the good kind of friend if somebody has fallen down or hurt. And so when I said, after we've been using that term, that short phrase in teachings with our children for, you know, a few years, when I suggested that to my husband, he was like, Oh, my goodness, like you in the name again, because of course with Nomi and Sib, but it really did did come from just really just as we tried to inspire our kids to to be better, you know, to make better decisions, the way they treat people to be time to do good. It made sense. It made sense when we were pivoting and in starting this brand.
Stephanie Moram 23:25
And so talking about wasteless lunches, okay, so you created your product, so people have less waste less plastic is being used less packaging, because you can just put the food directly and you can put like your homemade food and all that kind of your vegetables, you don't use plastic bags and all that jazz. So if somebody if right now you are going to say to somebody, okay, these are my top three tips to create a wasteless lunch, or four tips, whatever how many tips you have, but what tips would you give somebody that, you know, their kid might be just going into kindergarten or they're just getting started on like lowering their waist? What lunch like tips, you have to lower your waist when it comes to like creating lunches for people, like what can they use? Or what can they do?
Courtney Stewart 24:07
Absolutely. So I think if I was talking to a mom, who's their child is going to JK Jr. Kindergarten, for example. In the States, I know even in preschool, they bring lunches a lot of the times but investing in a great container that you know, is going to not only functionally perform well for your kid on daily basis, but it's going to last you several several years. kids go to school for 196 days a year. You know that investment while it may seem high you know in the front end, I'm about you know, buy less choose well and make it last and so when you invest in a really quality container. You can be you know, similar to ours. There are other ones on the market that are really good to invest in something that you can feel confident will last for years and years. And so Oh, that would be my first tip.
Courtney Stewart 25:02
My second tip would be, I tried to do this as much as I can as to buy food products that we use, or we know that our kids taking their lunch often try to buy them in bulk. And so or, you know, buy the, the tub of yogurt, instead of buying the 44 individual container, right things like that, we tried to do that. And even yogurt you can put right into our system, a lot of people will choose to do in a separate container that goes in the system. But whatever you do decide that's a nice way to minimize your waste within your home and your recycling if you recycle. And we know how that recycling story goes, unfortunately, when it comes to plastic, so but yeah, even if you can go to a shop, if you have a bulk foods close by and you can, you know, buy your made good bars, your granolas, you know, in a larger in a you know, bulks capacity, and then use that in lunches. That's a great idea as well. One more thing I'll just say is, sometimes my kids come home and their containers are completely empty. And that's amazing. Sometimes, it's usually my little one she comes home and the 20 minutes that they get, they only get a couple like to two or 3, 20 minute break maybe 2, 20 minute breaks to eat. So it's for her, she goes to the little one, she it's not enough time for her so she always didn't have enough time. So always put your lunch back out, open your container back up and finish what's in there. Instead of a lot of people I know just trash it trash it. That's like against my religion. I am not trashing that. So we will we'll eat it, finish it. And whatever the dog doesn't finish, we'll go in our compost or what can but usually we you know, they finish their lunchboxes instead of going in the fridge and getting something new, fresh and just wasting more food.
Stephanie Moram 26:54
I like how like that with you having the silicone, you can like say it was like a muffin. I don't know, like my kid my we make chocolate chip banana muffins, they eat them all week, I'm surprised they're not sick of them. But if she only had half of the muffin, like if she just brings it the next day, or she has, like you said has it as a snack, you know, and that's why I like gonna keep saying I liked the dividing of the silicone because I put strawberries in her lunch ones. And let's just say didn't end well. I have now I have to put her blueberries or strawberries in that container, that round container because if not, the strawberries mix up with whatever food again, anyone that's listening this if you don't have kids, when you do and if you ever have kids, you will understand what we are talking about. Because if you have a lunchbox and it's not sealed, it's rather annoying, and I'm living through the annoyance. My daughter's in grade five, it's annoying, you can do not getting rid of the lunchbox out of principle, because right? That's the thing to cut you off about your tips.
Courtney Stewart 28:03
You know what, what you just said is excellent, though. Because the first one we launched, the first thing we said is listen, if you've got something that's working for you, as much as I am about, you know, I don't like plastic touching food or my kids food, especially, I am just as passionate about you know, like, use what you have, it's been working for you. And if it hasn't failed you yet continue to use that because we don't need more people just throwing, you know, products away and garbage. And it just it's an endless cycle. So I'm glad you said that out of principle because that's also important to me, you know, I'm always about use what you have. And if it hasn't failed you, you know, keep using it. Because, you know, we've got to save the planet here. And I think this is our, our last last chance here in the next few years.
Courtney Stewart 28:54
Yeah, I agree I'm very much the same way like use what you already have, you know, if the water bottle still works, or the you lost the top to your water bottle just a company sell replacements and just get it don't go buy a whole new water bottle just and a lot of companies now are doing that, you know, like you said, once you start getting the volume, you'll have on your website replacements of the silicone or when you create your water bottle, you'll have replacement so like the company that I bought our system from very similar to yours minus the silicone, we bought the water bottles, but my kids are too old for those water bottles. So I'm giving them to a friend of mine who has a little one year old. And they said hey, I have two but one doesn't have a top because we lost it. And then I went on the website I'm like, Oh, they sell the tops. So I'm like I'll just buy your top and now you have two water bottles you know I said or you can use it as a cup because it's stainless steel. But a lot of companies are doing that now and I'm grateful for that because instead of replacing the whole thing, just like replace part of it, like you don't have to throw the whole water bottle out. You know.
Courtney Stewart 29:54
It's totally fine. Another use. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more.
Stephanie Moram 29:58
So going on the topic of like, because we went on a bit of a tangent. You know, you said, another tip is like if your kids don't finish their whole lunch, have them have that as their snack, or it can be part of their lunch for the next day. Right. But what other tips you have for people that are trying to have less waste around like lunches?
Courtney Stewart 30:19
Yeah, so one thing too, and actually, I learned this with my little one. And actually, my youngest is a really big eater, she's got a big appetite normally, but I found that once I was overfilling, her lunchbox, and so I was kind of giving her exactly what I was giving my seven year old, they were, you know, three and six at the time. But that's also to kind of gauge how your children are consuming their food. And sometimes when I did find, when I would not jam so much stuff in there, and I will not really jam but you know, fill it up. But in reality, you know, sometimes it can be overwhelming, especially for JK, there's a lot of stimulation, especially when they're eating their food, they're Gibby Jabby, talking, you know, with their, their peers. So sometimes, if you find that your child is not eating, you know, four to five days a week, there's quite a bit of food left in there, scale it down, scale it down to how much you pack for them, and see if they totally finish it. And then maybe it listen, every kid comes home starving. My fridge is raded when the kids get home from school. So that's gonna happen, but that's okay. Right, that means they like burned off a lot of really good energy. And now let's come in, like fill the tank back up and they get home. But that can also prevent, you know, some waste as well.
Stephanie Moram 31:44
I think that's such a great tip. And it totally resonates with me because my daughter, like if food was a love language, that would be her love language. And like, she loves food, like she loves all sorts of foods, you know, like, I give her peppers, like a huge thing of peppers, like tons of like cherry tomatoes, she'll eat like berries, and she eats it all. And then she'll have her muffin. And then she'll have a granola bar. And then she'll have hummus and veggies, or she'll have like a bagel with like cream cheese, and she like eats it all. And two water bottles, and whereas my son who's nine – he gets his bagel or whatever, whatever his main thing is, and then a granola bar. And then I'll put like, rice cakes in like my little container. And then I'll put cucumbers in. It's like he comes home. And I'm like, What did you eat? And so I've gone to giving him less to see if he'll eat what I give them, you know what I mean? So I put in an apple, I put his granola bar, I put his bagel or his hummus and veggies. And then maybe one other snack because I was doing very similar, I was filling it up, and then he come back and his blueberries were all like mushy. So a little tip, if you are doing fruits and veggies, let's say and they come back like mushy, freeze them, and then put them in your smoothies. That's what I do for their berries all have, you know, give Jackson blueberries hoping he's going to eat. He doesn't. And so then I have a bag in my freezer that I just throw them in. And then if it's peppers, and they're like soggy peppers, after a day being in a lunchbox, I either juice them, or I throw them in the freezer. So like that's another way you can like reduce your waste at the same time is like before is like I feel like composting is great. But it's like what can you do before it ends up in the compost? So like you said, buying in bulk, having your kids eat their snack from their lunchbox, lowering what you put in their lunch and then freezing, you know, adding to smoothies and all that kind of stuff or juicing or whatever fruits and veggies they don't eat is great. Like, and I think so many people think it's complicated, right? Like, it doesn't have to be complicated.
Courtney Stewart 33:58
Yeah, you know what, I think the two things we just described are just kind of paying attention paying attention to how they're consuming what they're consuming. So, you know, if they're not really going to eat that, you know, maybe we don't continue packing it and like hoping and praying. Instead we offer it to them at home, you know, in small amounts maybe get used to it versus you know, sending it to school and hoping that you know, maybe they'll see somebody else with that food item and or whatnot. But yeah, I think it's just paying attention to the the amount you're eating and the stuff that they enjoy eating that's also nutritious right? But also you know, just be in adapting. And also, also to just don't be so hard on yourself because you can pay attention and be mindful as much as you want but literally my child what she loved mango frozen mangoes for the first six years of her life. I'm talking would go through a bag of frozen mangoes on a weekend like a big Costco bag. Now, she wants nothing to do with mangoes. So Just like that it can switch from this, like, I need this all the time. And I love this, too. And I don't ever want to look at that again. So, you know, you just kind of have to adapt and be patient with yourself and just do your best.
Stephanie Moram 35:13
You know, it's funny. It's my, my son Jackson loves hummus. You gotta eat your peppers. He's like where's the hummus? Like he'll be drinking a smoothie. And I'll have peppers beside him for whatever reason, or he'll be eating something with peppers and he's like, but I need hummus. You know, he eats them alone, but he just loves hummus. But I'll say to him, like, hey, I'll pack you some hummus and veggies for lunch? Oh, no, no, no, just at home. Like it was the same type of thing. Like, I'm only eating hummus like he eats, he eats well, he has peppers and cucumbers and loves hummus. But he just won't take them to school. So I make sure I feed him at home. And another tip to like, for lunches could also be like, if you have like some sort of water bottle, you can make people you can make your people make your kids, which are people smoothies, you know, like if you are constantly having like leftover, you know, I said throw stuff in the freezer, but then you can make your kids like a smoothie for lunch, I do that maybe once a week, my son will take a smoothie to school with all like the leftover stuff that they might not have eaten. So that could be you know, and when you come out with your water bottle, it's going to be perfect for smoothies.
Courtney Stewart 36:23
My kids, we are a smoothie family. I don't know what for some reason, they go to frozen fruits over fresh fruit. And it's fine for us because it's less expensive, little more packaging than I like, but we know they fit they eat it. And so they're worse knew the family because we've got all that stuff. So they they're constantly we're adding all the leftovers. And then what normally happens actually, a lot of the food doesn't make it except for the like apples and things doesn't make it to the compost, because we will throw it up to my husband to my husband gets like he's like, because we'll just throw things in the Vitamix, and then he'll make a protein shake. And he's like what was in there? And we're just like, I don't know, somebody's leftover, some kind of fruit, don't worry, it's good for you. It's good. Yeah, but it's usually, you know, when it comes to getting things making that full, you know, edible, still edible food items, make it to the compost, that's a rarity around here. So doing what you can to minimize that for other people, you know, just be your best and try to get through what you have, you know, everybody's, we were the same way for a long time, even the Friday nights, right? Nobody wants to cook everyone orders pizza orders out. We've made it a habit to like, hey, what do we have, you know, let's make sure nothing's going bad before we order pizza this weekend, you know, and so just taking, you know, one more step before you know buying something new, or, you know, buying, ordering, getting more food, you know, this actually leads me, you know, my me saying this Stephanie, but to another kind of branch in our, our business mission. And that is it has to do with food, you know, food insecurity. And so we're coming from, you know, to two countries, US and Canada having more food than we need to serve the entire globe. And unfortunately, you know, we still have, you know, 10 million people, 5 million of them being children dying every year from food insecurity. And so what a few months after we had launched our brand, I kind of just looked at what we were doing, and this whole idea of kind of doing good and you know, being a good business and good ethics and good products that were you know, functional and essential. You know, really at some point I kind of thought to myself, like that should be the baseline for all businesses, right? Why do we need a special award for doing the right thing, and it kind of pushed me to dig a little deeper, and at that in and so I'm really excited to share that we've recently partnered with a global nonprofit organization to help fight the barriers by remove the barriers that are preventing nearly 70 million children from attending school around the world. So in one of those barriers, the first one that we're kind of going after with them is hunger. And these children not be able to go to school because they're too hungry, they can't focus. They're lethargic, they can't concentrate in the classroom, they get sent home, sometimes their walk home is ours. And they are found in fields because they can't make it they're so hungry. Like it's in pretty sad stories. And so with our lunchbox systems, and really every single product that we put on the market, starting with the lunchbox systems, we donate one week of school meals to a child facing barriers this won't be in hunger from that prevents them from attending school. So I'm really really proud of that and it's something that you know, In addition to doing all this other good from in the swimming good from product to people to purpose, all of it, it's all so important, right? And I'm really proud and really excited because it gives our brands so much more. And even just our little team that we have just so much more, we're so much more connected, because you know, how can you not be connected to solving this problem that, in reality, I can't believe it's still a problem to this day, but I promise you in our generation, the hunger crisis is going to end because there's a lot of really good businesses doing some good things on their feet.
Stephanie Moram 40:38
And I think like, from a brand standpoint, I think so many brands now, like when I look for a brand, I'm like, okay, are they donating back to XYZ? Like, what, what are they giving back? You know, and I think more and more companies are realizing that it can't just be, I'm going to take all the money, you know, like it, it's fine, it's fine. If you're like, a million dollar business, and you've worked really hard to create that. But no, my husband owns his own business. And they do, I'm not 100% sure what they donate to, but they give money to, you know, a nonprofit as well. And I just think it's, it's awesome. When I look for that, right? When I'm looking at brands like, Oh, I wonder what they're doing. You know, when a business is first starting out, sometimes it's a little bit harder, you know, when it's a small business, it's harder always sometimes to give back, because you don't have as much to give, and I respect that. But like the bigger companies, I'm like, okay, so would you give him back, like, your big corporation, you can give a little bit back. So I, I appreciate and I and I love that you, even as a smaller company are thinking, okay, the more I give, the more I receive, right? You know, so if I run to our money too long, then we can't, we won't create any abundance. So I love that already, as a brand new kit, even though we're, you know, not making millions of dollars, right now, with our lunchbox systems, we still want to give where we can, even if it's a small amount, right?
Courtney Stewart 42:02
That's it. And just like the Zero Waste living that lifestyle, it doesn't take two or three people doing everything, it takes everybody just doing a little bit more. And so imagine, we would solve this hunger problem, if every single business do you know, donate one school meal to refer every product like this product would this problem will be gone. And I'm telling you, it's not a lot. And so, you know, we need we need 10% of businesses to think this way to in order to kind of change some of these is really detrimental outcomes that are ahead of us, fortunately, and it's not going to turn around overnight. But businesses have a lot of opportunity to really do some really good things from a social perspective. And listen, I'm about you know, I want my children to have whatever they need, you know, I just mentioned, my daughter does competitive dance, it's expensive, we need to be able to afford that I understand why people want to have a business to make money. And that's great. But it's so much more fulfilling to have another angle to your business that wasn't only about, you know, yourself and your network, but is about making change. And literally, in this case, I feel like it's giving so many more children an opportunity to have their impact on the world. You know, if I think about 5 million losing 5 million children, children a year to hunger, that's 5 million more like less potential opportunities to make this place better. And when I say better, I mean better for our kids and our grandkids one day, so it started doing little things. And I don't think I think I was the same way as you as well, with our first business. We donated to save the children. And just sporadically, we never made a commitment by a person on a per sale basis. But, you know, I can tell you right now, like our business is not going to be you know, it profitable in our first year. But we still made a commitment. And we and before we even acknowledged this and committed to this, we went and backtracked in part, and so we purchased 10,010,000 meals for what we had done in 2021 in that first bit of the year. So we've we've already you know, we made that commitment because we said, you know, I know we decided to do this a few months in but you've got sales let's let's you know donate to those sales that you were able, you know, that we were able to do if we're able to do so and we were so it's really important. It doesn't take a lot and so if you can in from an impact standpoint, it is so fulfilling. As you know for an entrepreneur our our days can be very difficult. That's An entrepreneur and not seeing the growth that you want to see. But when we look at the little impact that we've made when it comes to just helping people live a little better, and maybe have a little bit more opportunity, I can't ask for anything more.
Stephanie Moram 45:13
Awesome. Well, I want to say thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to chat with me today. So would you be able to let the audience know where they can find you where they can find your lunch systems, on social media, your website, and also I'll link everything in the show notes. For those that do not have a pen and paper with them when they're listening? It'll be in the notes as well. But can you let everybody know where to find you?
Courtney Stewart 45:36
Yes, absolutely. So the goodkiind.com kind is with two i's, and same hashtag GoodKiind or at the Good Kiind on social media, you can find us find that active on Instagram, not as much as I liked. But that's due to some resource constraints over there. And you'll you'll definitely see us a lot more as we come into our you know, our busy back to school season. But yeah, follow along. And if you're in the market for lunchbox system or know somebody who is please feel please check us out.
Stephanie Moram 46:08
Thank you again, appreciate it that you took the time to chat with me today. So if you want to stay connected with me on Instagram, you can find me at the Green Junkie Podcast and don't forget to subscribe to the Green Junkie Podcast on the platform you're listening on. If you're curious about zero waste, living sustainable fashion, or wondering how to read food cleaning and product labels, I've got you covered. For direct access to me your green living expert, click the link in the show notes where you can ask me questions and get a customized plan on how you can live a greener life. Either hop on a one on one call with me or ask me your questions via email. Zoom is not your thing. I will be your personal #greengoogle and you can pick my brain. Thank you for listening and I will see you next Tuesday Green Junkie.
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