2014 -- 028

Happy Valentine's Day! I will be totally honest I did think about what kind of lunch to make for several days. I thought about all the cute hearts, x's, o's, envelopes, conversation hearts, roses, and anything else I could pin to this holiday. I came up with some ideas but truly just couldn't figure out how to make them happen (that happens a lot, I get grand visions and lack the tools or skills to create them LOL). So, instead Monkey got a lunch made with lots of love that really isn't all that festive. I think she's still going to really enjoy it though. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Bagel sandwich with cream cheese and blackberry jam,
• Brussels Sprouts (leftover from dinner) sprinkled with dried cranberries (there are some throughout, promise it's not just 5 little cranberries!), 
• Almonds mixed with white chocolate chips for a treat, 
• An orange and;
• A juice box. 

Luckily, thanks to pinterest and other fantastic bloggers I will get to oogle all the creative and cute lunches that I didn't make and will wish I had thought of myself! Are you packing your kiddos any fun treats for the v-day lunches? 

Happy Packing! 

2014 -- 015

The Quick and Easy "Classic"

By the time lunch making rolled around last night, I was exhausted. Gotten up at 2:30 for work, went to my full day there, then rushed to an ultrasound appointment, spent way too long at the bank, and of course nabbed monkey from school, and went to game night which I have been missing. Was a nice day but oh so tiring! My awesome husband stepped up to make a lunch for me since I was so tired so he decided to ''go with the classic'' sandwich. :-P All I did was tell him what to put with it. He even took the picture. :-)

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Whole Wheat Bread with Sunflower Butter & Blackberry Jelly, 
• Tillamook Pomegranate Blackberry Yogurt w/ sliced almonds,
• Raisins and one prune
• 100% Juice Box (not pictured)

This lunch is part of the 15 minute Friday link up. Make sure you check out all the other fantastic lunches.

Happy Packing! 

2014 -- .002

In This Lunch: 

• Turkey Meatballs
• Peas and Carrots
• Applesauce w/ Cinnamon
• Annie's Cheddar Bunnies
• 100% Juice Box

So yesterday was a shopping day and we found that when we filled the freezer there wasn't any room left for a small package of turkey meatballs. So decided to change the lunch plan for today and cooked them up. The peas and carrots were actually leftovers and then the applesauce and cheddar bunnies were part of the original lunch plan. I really enjoy using leftovers whenever possible but find that Monkey isn't always thrilled with eating traditionally warm foods cold but luckily she's not SO picky that she'd refuse. 

Happy Packing!

Bottom of the barrel

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Okay, so I don't know about you, but I don't get to go grocery shopping till this weekend. That means figuring out what I have left, figuring out what's about to spoil, and making the most of what I have left! Today's lunch does just that! 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Mini bagel Sandwich w/ cream cheese and pepperoni [not much cream cheese left so wanted to use it up! There's still a few mini bagels but gotta get them used before they mold, and the little pepperoni slices will be dating in about a week or so]. 
• Strawberries [actually JUST broke down and bought these yesterday and already they're squishing]
• Organic Vanilla Yogurt w/ Fall Sprinkles [The yogurt will be dating in a few days]
• 2 pickles [Monkey just wanted some pickles]
• 100% Juice Pouch [not pictured] 

How do lunches workout for you when you're ''getting to the bottom of the barrel''? Do they live up to the normal lunch standards or do they get a bit like this one? Haha, it's still a great lunch full of flavor and good stuff, but it's definitely not as well planned out as my normal lunches. 

Happy Packing!

Hello October!

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So you might have noticed we're missing lunch 17. Well, I didn't get a picture of it yesterday. It was a last minute lunch, we were getting out the door, it was super busy. Haha. She had meat and cheese roll ups, peas and carrots, a yogurt, and...well... a couple other things that are escaping my foggy brain! At any rate, I have a bad picture of her lunch today!

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• In the funtainer: a big helping of oatmeal w/ 2 teaspoons of blackberry jam, almond slivers, and blueberries. 
• 2 breakfast sausage links
• Chobani Champions Yogurt Tube (not pictured)
• A hard boiled egg
• 100% Juice Box

So yes, this is what we in the ''biz'' call a Breakfast Lunch. I don't know what ''biz'' that is, but it's at least what we call it at our house! She was super excited for it and said that it was delicious. What are your favorite breakfast lunches? 

Happy Packing!

Hot Lunch for a Chilly Day

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So we are up for another warm lunch. I think that I am a big fan of packing warm lunches but there is one thing that I didn't take into consideration when I started planning hot lunches. The sides that I serve with them have to be things that don't need to be kept cold. While I've seen a tutorial on how to pack both in one box, I don't have the same kind of box they have so if I pack a hot lunch, I have to have sides that can be warm too. So far not a problem but I think this could lead to repetitive sides down the road. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Annie's Organic Macaroni & Cheese w/ leftover ham (cut into chunks), and some peas. 
• Apple Sauce with Cinnamon 
• Juice Pouch

I L-O-V-E cinnamon. It smells fantastic, it brings memories of holiday foods, and it's a natural way to help prevent spiked in blood sugar. I love that about it. It's a fantastic spice and I have always been a fan of warm applesauce with cinnamon. Our Mac N Cheese is packed in our Funtainer and the applesauce is in our Nude Food Mover. The sad thing, Monkey said that this lunch wasn't very warm when she got it at lunch in spite of  the fact that I had preheated the container with boiling water and that I had just made the food in the morning and heated it till it was steaming piping hot before putting it in the container. Blegh. Oh well. Maybe I didn't preheat with water long enough. 

Polka Dot Sandwich

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Is it just me or does the weekend never feel long enough? This lunch came due long before I was ready for it to be time for school again! I'll admit this lunch was not on the schedule so this is a ''quick and easy'' lunch that was thrown together really quickly (I'm sure you can tell). 

IN THIS LUNCH:

• Mini Bagel Sandwich w/ cream cheese and mini pepperoni
• Baby Carrots w/ side of ranch
• Sunburst Tomatoes
• 100% Juice Pouch [not pictured]

What is it that you all do when you're just not in the lunch packing mood? Leftovers? The standby sandwich? I'm all for quick, easy, and covering my food groups! Thanks for sharing!

Happy Packing!

Shaken Salad

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So, initially I had a whole other salad in mind. But since I was mysteriously missing a couple items and forgot to cook the chicken for it, I decided to run with something else! While my Monkey will eat salad I don't like to push it, I know she can get sick of them quickly if I make too many. However I like their versatility. 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Salad: Mixed Baby Greens, Peas, Cucumbers, Turkey ribbons.
• Sunburst Tomatoes
• Pineapple Skewers
• Babybel Cheese
• Not Pictured: Side of Ranch and Capri Sun 100% Juice Pouch

With this salad I simply took a container and put in a handful of mixed baby greens, cut up cucumbers, cut some turkey lunch meat ribbons (by rolling up the lunch meat and cutting across) and tossed in the leftover peas from dinner. Put on the lid and gave it a shake! I personally hate when all my salad mix-ins are on the top and by the time you get to the middle there's nothing left but lettuce. 

I know that Monkey will be a bit bummed that we were all out of her favorite dressing, Catalina. However, I know that she'll eat ranch and we threw a cute little sticker of a bunny on top of her dressing cup. She won't get it, but it was a joke at the fact most people call this sort of lunch ''rabbit food''. On the side is her napkin with her fork wrapped inside. 

This post is also park of the ''What's for Lunch Wednesday'' link up. Feel free to check out the other awesome lunches by clicking the button! 

What kind of salads do your kids like to eat? :)

Happy Packing!

Edible skewers!

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So, it's finally Friday! Hooray. Week one of Kindergarten will be over today! We usually like to do a treat day once a week and well, today seemed like a good day for it. She has been super positive all week and has really taken to the new routine in general! She even thanked me for packing her good lunches which felt like such an epic win! This week we also participated in a Link-up party with Bentos on the Bayou. There's a link-up button at the bottom that you can go check out all the great 15 minutes or less lunches! 

Haha, okay here's the lunch with all the closed up containers. Teased all my Facebook readers with this one as a ''sneak peek'' for today's lunch. I'm glad you all had a good sense of humor about it! Also it was a good excuse to show the cutie ladybug container. :P 

IN THIS LUNCH: 

• Turkey/Swiss Roll-Ups (with pretzel skewers),
• Ants on a log (made with sunflower butter and raisins), 
• A sweet pepper w/ a little cream cheese (this is a new food for Monkey), 
• Orange segments and;
• Tapioca Pudding (for treat day). 

So, I'm still getting used to new containers. We tried several containers to figure out the best way to configure all the items. This seemed to be the best way, we're still going to be doing some trial and error for a bit here while we get used to using new containers. I also love the idea of using the pretzel rods as edible skewers. I would have liked to use less containers overall, but it worked out in general I think. 

Here's her lunch in the box with OPEN lids. Haha. Here you can see her mini juice box w/ 100% juice box. We pick up 4 packs of these little guys at the Dollar Tree. I'm really impressed sometimes by the products that they pick up there and have available. Sure we could get he juice boxes full of high fructose corn syrup, but on the same aisle they have these gems! Woot. 

Here's the link for the link-up party! 

Happy Packing!