When I first started my plastic free journey I was a bit skeptical of taking my own coffee cup, cutlery or straws when out and about as I thought that I don't often need that sort of thing in my day to day life style. However, as I am a teacher, I realised during the summer holidays that I would be having drinks or casual food out quite often and I changed my mind about being equipped for a day out. I still use these solutions mostly on holiday as I usually go from home to work to the swimming pool and so on and don't happen to have food or coffee on the go that much.
Here are my 'on the go' solutions:
metal straws
I bought a pack of these quite a long time ago and carried them around with me for the first time last summer. It took a while to start getting used to saying "Without a straw please" especially since bar tenders don't always listen or they forget as it is still an unusual request. Last summer I used these quite a lot and I realised that I didn't have a good way of storing them to keep them clean or to keep them from getting the rest of my bag dirty so I came up with a crafty solution. I sewed cases from old curtain swatches and now I have a separate case for clean and dirty straws. I also always carry lots with me so I can offer them to friends who are usually happy to use them instead of the plastic ones provided by the bars.
bamboo cutlery
This is one of the things I didn't think I'd need that much but it turns out it has been incredibly useful especially when going for drinks where you are given finger food. They usually provide plastic plates and cutlery, I struggle to avoid the plates but at least I can skip out he cutlery this way. I got this camping set which rolls up and clips closed and it has a shorter bamboo straw as well. When the cutlery is dirty I just put it in the dirty straw case until I get home and wash it.
coffee cup
I don't often buy coffee out but I got everyone in my house a reusable collapsible coffee cup as a present so that when we all go on a day out we can use them. They are also very useful if you want to bring your own hot drink from home. When you are done you just collapse it and it doesn't take too much space. I have even used it for mulled wine at a winter fair.
drink cups
I have started carrying these around with me as I once bought a slushy and it came in these extremely sturdy plastic cups. I recoiled at the thought of throwing it in the bin so I kept them and decided I would use them in case I go to a bar or place where they use plastic cups so I can just ask them to fill my cup, or in case I want more slushy.
handkerchief
This is something I haven't fully sorted out yet but I have a couple of fabric handkerchiefs I keep in my bag for emergencies. If I were to have a cold and need a lot of tissues I would probably just rip out a few from my home box of tissues (cardboard box with tissues made from recycled paper) and stuff them in my bag before going out.
If there are more 'on the go' things you'd like me to talk about please leave a comment below or send me a message in the contact page.