I have to admit, I’m pretty damn fed up with a lot of these BPA free products on the market aimed at young families.
Yes, I am aware of and concerned about the dangers of BPA’s in our home. As I learn more about it, I am slowly phasing out the less healthy items in our household and bringing in safer options.
But what I am completely sick of, is the over priced garbage on the market preying on the fears of families who do NOT need to be shelling out almost $40 for one drink bottle per child. Stainless steel sippy cups for twenty-five bucks a pop!
Well yes, I did warn you that this is a tight-arse post… I think the importance of awareness about this subject can’t be understated, but I think it’s high time more of us became aware that the safer, BPA-free options can be integrated into the average household budget. So I have decided to share which plastics I’ve found which range from reasonably priced to downright cheap.
Of course, stainless steel and glass are BPA-free also, and can be used safely. I just find that whilst my youngest two kids are little, plastic is a bit easier and tougher.
$38 for one drink bottle? Try five bucks
One could argue that the more expensive bottles are oh-so-cute for their kids, and this is true. But I’ve found these Sistema bottles above (from most supermarkets) are just as sweet, and all my kids adore them. I bought one for each child and it still came to less than half the price of the designer BPA-free bottle (which I am not naming, but I’m sure many of you will have an idea)
Not quite as thrifty but still reasonably priced, are the good old Playtex sippy cups
These are found at supermarkets also, and are less than half the price of the $25, trendy stainless steel sippy cups. They still look pretty cute, and are easily used by little kids.
I mentioned the Sistema food storage containers in my guest post the other day, and I’ve been stocking up on these to help us keep out any food pests without the BPA’s. Some of their tiny containers are around the one dollar mark, which is perfect for freezing my home-made cat food.
So for now, here endeth my rant. If you can share any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I think it’s important to look out for the health of our kids, but let’s do it without scaremongering parents into being robbed blind.
Good for you. I hate that scare tactics are supposed to equal loose purse strings. Don’t try to scare me into parting with my money…I’m much more scared of not having any money than of anything they can come up with.
.-= Jen´s last blog ..Like It Or Not – It’s Weigh-In Monday =-.
I agree. I wish I knew where to look for cheaper BPA-free products.
Popping by from SITS.
LisaDay
.-= LisaDay´s last blog ..It was Raining, It was Pouring =-.
Lol Jen, I know what you mean!
I hope you can find some, Lisa:)
.-= Hear Mum Roar´s last blog ..Guest posting today =-.
I am SO glad to hear another mom (er…excuse me…I mean mum) say what I’d been thinking all along! I am SO sick of all these trendy WAY overpriced BPA-free products. I had been doing exactly what you’re doing. Throwing out the old, icky plastic stuff with new inexpensive BPA-free products. But in all truthfulness, I still like my cheap plastic sport bottles. Sometimes you just gotta take the blue pill and live in ignorant bliss.
BTW…Is it me or do those happy face sippy cups look like penises? They’ve got a big knobby phallic head. I just couldn’t let my kid suck on that BPA-free or not. LMAO
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Yep, same here, Run DMT, I’ve yet to find a BPA free sports bottle for me, so that hasn’t been phased out yet. And omg, ROFL about the cups! LOL. You know, I didn’t even see that at all til you mentioned it! Hopefully it’s just the angle I’ve taken it on, it doesn’t look so bad in real life, I promise. But thanks for the laugh!
.-= Hear Mum Roar´s last blog ..Guest posting today =-.
Here’s the thing; BPA’s are cancer causing. Your want to keep your kids free from cancer is suppose to over ride your want to save money.
I have to admit, though, that I am on a seriously tight budget and simply will not buy a $40 bottle. Fortunately, there are tons of cheaper BPA free alternatives. I’ve found cheap plastic BPA free sippy cups in my local drug store.
If you are a proper tree hugger, you are more aware than to buy plastic products at all. However, having a baby ushers in a whole world of plastic use.
I got on a ‘save the earth, save their future kick a couple years ago and I started taking account of everything from renewable resources to food dyes. I just want to provide for my kids to the best of my knowledge, is that so bad?!?!
Melissa, in the ideal world, yes, but if you have a battling family, it’s just as important to ensure all other needs are met, too. That’s why I wrote this piece, because I do feel that companies at times take advantage of how committed families are to doing the best things for their kids. I honestly believe that it’s important to find ways to do the healthy things we want to do, without forcing families to skimp on other important things, too. And wanting to provide for your kids as you’ve mentioned, I think it’s a great thing:)
I know this is an old post but I can’t help commenting! I’ve been trawling the web for glass baby food containers to freeze and they are ridiculously expensive not to mention hard to find! Pyrex has some which are suitable but you have to buy the whole set, including large containers so it is also expensive.
My sister is a scientist and said I should avoid plastic altogether, even the bpa free stuff because she said that they are continually finding other chemicals in plastic which are harmful. Kind of like with white bread, when it was first introduced on the market people started getting rickets because of the lack of vitamins when grains were removed, over a fifty year span they started supplementing the different vitamins back into the bread but it took them fifty years to find all the main ones that were causing health problems and they are still finding them, mainly because some of the health problems were relatively minor so took so long to be noticed.
I’ve bought duralex glasses for my home, they are cheap and almost unbreakable, I remember we had them when I was a kid and my mum still has the whole collection. The great thing is that they aren’t child specific, so you don’t just have them in infancy.
I have to say, I find it hard to avoid using plastic, I don’t know how I would freeze my food without it, there just aren’t any good alternatives on the market…
Jen Walpole´s last post ..Liberty at Zara
Jen, I welcome comments no matter how old the post is, lol! That’s interesting what you shared about your sister. It does put the pressure on, as you say. Since writing this post, things have changed. We still use the drink bottles above, but I’m not happy with the Sistema containers. Like you, I’m wanting to move away from plastics and more to glass, in my case, mostly for pantry containers, but then I think for the freezer, I’d like to try Lock n Lock, as they are cheap, but look like they’d be really good.
I really must write a new post about this soon, so thanks for reminding me:)
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