Getting Easier

It is getting easier (and thus faster) to make lunches. I tend to do it in a set order. I do the three younger kids first, all the stuff that is not a sandwich. Then I do Kaitlyn's sides. I do all the sandwiches for the kids and put the lid on the box. Next, I do all of Greg's lunch at one go. After his lunch is done, I take the lids off and take a picture. The lids go on to keep the bread from drying out while sitting on the counter. I know it is only about 10 minutes, maybe a bit longer but I got a complaint about dry bread.

Kierynn said her cheese tasted like cantaloupe...which is odd since it was no where near her fruit. I think she just didn't like it cut into strips, she prefers chunks. Iain was not too pleased to find some bread crumbs on his cheese strips. I had just tossed them in there with his sandwich, no separation. Silly me. You will notice that in the latest batch of lunches, his cheese is not touching his sandwich.

'Member how I told you that Iain tossed my cute lil picks I put in his lunch? I sent plain ole wooden toothpicks today and guess what he brought home? ::facepalm:: He throws out the cute stuff that I wanted brought back and brings back the stuff that was okay to put in the trash.




Top left Rhys: PBJ rolls, cheese crackers, cheese chunks (see my attempt at a shamrock?)baby carrots, clementine, 2 grapes, teeny oreo cookies and 3 gummy hearts
Top right: Iain Ham sandwich, cheese chunks, cheese crackers, baby carrots, oreos, gummy hearts
Bottom left: Kierynn Peanut butter rolls, cheese chunks, cheese crackers, baby carrots, clementine, oreos, gummy hearts
Bottom right: GregBPH, baby carrots, cheese chunks, pistachios, grapes, blueberry/strawberry mix and 2 chocolate chip cookies

Where is Kaity's lunch??! She was home from school today and since her lunch was just in the fridge, she can bring it with her tomorrow.

Oh, a note on the portion sizes here. Each kid got 1/2 a cheese stick. They got 1/2 a pack of the little snack sized bags of Oreos, 1 bag of gummy hearts went between all three. Kierynn and Rhys have a whole sandwich there (2 slices of bread) but it is just cut differently. I did Kierynn's first and she has 4 pieces. I decided that they are just a bit big so when I did it for Rhys, I cut his into 6 pieces. 1 clementine went between the 2 kids (Rhys got 4 pieces, Kierynn got the rest) If they actually watched me make their lunches, I would get complaints that there is not enough there and if I put everything in separate baggies, it would look dinky :)

Kierynn went to Activity Girls tonight and loved it. She showed me the bunny she made, the jelly beans inside and the special chocolate heart she got for finding trash to throw away.

Greg, Tinsel and I went out and did a 3 mile run. It was a bit breezy but a nice evening for a run.

All gone!

Woo hoo! Success! Rhys was very excited when he got off the bus today so he could tell me he ate all his lunch. If it has a pick in it or it is bite sized, he seems to do better with it.

No more cute picks or silicone cups for Iain, he threw them away! I asked him why he threw them out, he told it "it got buried under my trash" Uhm, nothing was in your lunch that goes in the trash. Eat the food, put the picks or cups back in the box and don't go near the trash....that is why the box has a lid. He was not happy when I told him I was not going to give him any thing that I wanted back. He was very much relieved when I told him that I would still use the Ziplock box, just no accessories I want back.

Here are the lunches going out tomorrow: Kierynn (top left), Iain (middle), Rhys (bottom left), Kaitlyn (top right) and Greg (bottom right)



Kierynn: Peanut Butter (by request), cheese slices, mixed fruit, pretzel snaps, 3 girl scout cookies (Dulce De Leche), 3 pretzel snaps, marshmallow bunnies
Iain: Ham (ham and bread only...nothing else. Bleh!) The rest is the same thing Kierynn got
Rhys: PBJ and what Kierynn got
Kaitlyn: PBJ (Chunky), cherry tomatoes, what Kierynn got except the bunnies
Greg: PBH (Chunky) pistachios, grapes, mixed cantaloupe and grapes, cheese, carrots and 2 chocolate chip cookies

Yes, I do tend to make the same things over and over. There are several reasons for this.
1. I know they will eat it
2. For all that I am willing to make minor changes, I am not a short order cook and I am not willing to make 5 totally different lunches
3. I get my fruit at Sam's Club so I have a lot of it at any given time. If I don't put them in lunches daily, it won't get eaten before it goes off


Tomorrow is an exciting day for Kierynn. She turned 8 a few weeks ago so this is her first week that she is able to go to Activity Girls. She has been watching the calendar since January, waiting for this week to arrive.

Too much food!

Rhys is making me nuts, trying to pack his lunch. He is bring the majority home and telling me I am giving him too much, that he doesn't have time to eat it. Now, I am not really giving him more food, I think it is less. It is just spread out. I posted his lunch for today...it was 6 crackers, 6 pieces of cheese (about 1" shaped), maybe 10 thin slices of pepperoni (he likes pepperoni), 10 grapes, 1 strawberry (cut in half), 4 pieces of cantaloupe (1" or less), 1 cookie cut in half and 3 gummy hearts. He ate all the pepperoni, 3 pieces of cheese, half a cracker, 4 grapes, the cookie and the gummies. Everything else came back.

So, for my Rhys man, we are going to have to rethink his meals a bit. I think he is not overly thrilled with the fruit although he does like fruit. Still, no one has complained about the lack of Little Debbie.

Here are the lunches going out tomorrow, top left to right: Kaitlyn, Rhys, Kierynn, Iain and Greg



Kaitlyn: PBJ, cherry tomatoes, grapes, cheese chunks, graham crackers, cookie
Rhys: 1 PBJ cut in 4 shapes, 4 grapes, 1 strawberry, cut in half, cheese (1/2 cheese stick, 2" slice cut in 6 pieces), 1/2 graham cracker, 3 marshmallows (I used a food safe marker, didn't work out so well on bread) I know, it looks like more but really, this is less than I would have packed 2 weeks ago. I would have given him a full cheese stick, more grapes AND a Little Debbie snack!
Kierynn: Cream Cheese, grapes, 1 strawberry, cheese, graham crackers, 3 marshmallows
Iain: Ham, grapes, cheese, graham crackers, 3 marshmallows and after I took the pic, I threw a handful of pretzel snaps above his sandwich
Greg: PBH, grapes, cheese, pistachios, blueberry/strawberry mix, cookie

We went out running tonight, Tinsel enjoyed it. It was the first time in awhile that Greg and I went out together running. GW Parkway Classic 10 miler in April!

Another week

This week is the first full week where I am doing all the lunches bento style.

Last week I learned: Rhys doesn't recognize grapes unless they are green OR I specifically tell him they are grapes. On Friday, when I asked why he didn't eat his grapes, I was informed I didn't give him any grapes. I pointed out the red grapes in his box and he said he thought they were tomatoes. Same boy will not eat a strawberry with the pretty green leaves still attached. I also discovered Kaitlyn does not like marshmallows and despite me seeing Greg eating marshmallows, he really didn't want the sweet lil bunny marshmallows in his lunch. Kaitlyn also told me next time I put chicken nuggets in lunches, she would like some.

Here are the lunches for tomorrow. On the left is Kaitlyn (top) and Rhys (bottom. Right side is Kierynn (top) and Iain (bottom) Greg's lunch is in the middle. Why is his sandwich in plastic wrap? He likes peanut butter and honey and the honey tends to get drippy so I put plastic on it to contain the ooze of honey.



Kaitlyn: PBJ, cherry tomatoes, cheese bits, chocolate chip cookie, cheese crackers, cantaloupe and strawberries
Rhys: Whole grain crackers, cheese, pepperoni, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, chocolate chip cookie
Kierynn: Whole grain crackers, cheese, pepperoni, grapes, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, strawberries, chocolate chip cookie
Iain: Whole grain crackers, cheese, pepperoni, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, chocolate chip cookie (I am not sure he will eat the cantaloupe so he has a few extra strawberries)
Greg: PBH, pistachios, cheese bits, cantaloupe, grapes, chocolate chip cookies

Can you make my lunch?

As I was getting out things to make lunches this evening, Kaitlyn asked if I would make her lunch. She seemed surprised when I said sure. I mean, seriously, I am already making 4 lunches, adding one more is not an issue. I grabbed another thing of containers (made by Ziplock, not Glad) so I was good to go.

Rhys didn't like his banana slices and so they came back along with some grapes. This box is too big for him. He has a Pokemon box incoming so for now, I am going to just make due with what I have.

As I was making lunches, Greg noticed I had tomatoes out. "Are you giving me tomatoes?" I looked at him and said "No, I didn't think you liked them. Do you want some?" He assured me he did not. I would think after being married to him for over 25 years, I have a good idea of what he will and will not eat! And for the record, I don't like tomatoes either. The girls do like them so I buy them.


From the top down, on the left are: Rhys, Iain and Kierynn. On the right are: Greg and Kaitlyn




Iain, Kierynn and Rhys have basically the same thing: Chicken nuggets, strawberries, grapes, cheese chunks, 2 lemon cookies, marshmallows. Kierynn has some tomatoes in hers and Rhys has a sugar cookie and lemon cookie rather than 2 lemon cookies. All of them will eat these chicken nuggets cold, when I have left overs on the stove but I am not sure how they will react to them in lunch.

Greg: PBH, carrots, grapes, pistachios, cheese chunks and a mix of strawberries/blueberries. His cookies are hidden on the bottom. Then I felt badly he didn't have any marshmallow bunnies and put a few in there.

Kaitlyn: PBJ, grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, cheese chunks and cookies with a few marshmallows.

Did you notice I got some cute picks in? I still need to get some silicone cups since the paper ones work but they are not that great.

You may see that the strawberries still have their leaves. I left them on for the color but they were washed.

Success!

Wow, I thought Iain was going to be my tough sell on a new way of doing lunch but I was wrong. As we walked home from the bus, he asked if I would do a "creative" lunch for him tomorrow. I showed him my Glad containers I found at Giant today and he was willing to give it a go as long as his sandwich remained uncut. I got out a slice of bread to show him it would remain cut free.

Greg raved about how great his lunch was. Hmmm, while I think it was a good lunch, I have to wonder if he was just really happy he didn't have to make it himself :D

Rhys was happy with his lunch but did say he didn't like his sandwich being hidden (food was on top of it) and the blueberries were not sweet enough for him.

So this evening, I did 4 lunches bento style. Description below the pic. I decided to take one picture of all four rather than individual shots.



Greg's lunch, upper left: Ham and cheese sandwich, red grapes, apple slices, pistachios, cheese chunks, blueberries (with a little bit of sweetening on it) and 2 cookies. Wait, I also stuck a few baby carrots in there.

Iain's lunch, upper right: Ham sandwich, plain (as in nothing but bread and ham) and UNCUT!, cheese chunks, red grapes, apple slices, cheese crackers, gummy snacks and 2 Tagalongs. He also gets an in class snack in the late morning, usually popcorn.

Rhys's lunch, bottom left: Dinosaur strawberry jam sandwich, red grapes and banana slices, cheese chunks, gummy snacks, cheese crackers and 2 Tagalongs.

Kierynn's lunch, bottom right: Cream Cheese sandwich in a circle, cheese chunks are under it, cherry tomatoes, red grapes, banana slices, cheese crackers, gummy snacks and 2 Tagalongs. She also has an in class snack in late morning, tomorrow will be pretzel snaps.

I would say it took me maybe 25 minutes to do all of these. I did them in assembly line style. All sandwiches first, then I started arranging things. I think the box Rhys is using is actually too large but he wanted to use it. I think if I get him the Pokemon box he wants, it will fit him a bit better.

Bento!

I had looked at Bento lunches before but the overwhelming amount of information just blew me away and I dismissed it as entirely too time consuming. All the lunches I saw seemed to be food my kids would not touch and while cute, I didn't want to spend 90 minutes to make Pikachu out of cheese and cherry tomatoes..no matter how cute it is.

A message on Ravelry got me to look at Bento once again and then a friend posted a link to another lunch, a great Bento site. After looking through that site and also at Lunch in a Box, I thought maybe this would be something I could do. I don't have to use all the Bento specific gear, I can use what I like. (And how silly is it that I feel like I have to give myself permission to use what I have and like??)

I want the kids to eat their lunch and like what is in their lunch bu it seems like that is not the case. Maybe by packing it all in one spot rather than multiple bags, I can break away from packaged foods and get them eating better (and I admit it, it looks pretty!)

Rhys is on board and he wants his box here now! In the meantime, a snap and lock box will do for him. Since Greg has been bringing his lunch to work, he is another test subject.

First up is Greg's lunch...this box was meant for Rhys but since Greg left his snap and lock box at work, Rhys gets to be downsized to a smaller box. As it is, I think that this box would be too big for Rhys. I grabbed it at Wal-Mart for under $4. I don't have any silicone cups so paper cupcake holders work for now.


Peanut butter and honey sandwich, pistachios, blueberries, grapes, baby carrots and on the bottom, where you can't see it, two chocolate chip cookies.

This is for my Rhysie. He is generally a good eater but is not a big eater.

Strawberry jam sandwich. I used a crust remover/shape cutter thing and made it into 4 pieces. When I laid them in there, there was a nice diamond pattern in the middle so I filled it with chunks of cheese. He also has some blueberries and pretzel snaps. After I took the pic, I added a test cookie on the top. This little snap and lock container is the perfect size for him and fits in his current lunch bag.

Kierynn had a birthday party over the weekend where the guests decorated sugar cookies. I made a batch of cookies prior to the party, my test cookies, to be sure they would work well. I told the kids they could eat the test cookies but not the other cookies so now Rhys is calling all sugar cookies test cookies.

I am working on Kierynn and Iain. I think once I get some cute picks, Kierynn will be on board. Iain...he will be more difficult but I think I will get him turned. The trick with him is to get him more involved in what can go in his lunch other than a load of sweet junk.