9/20

The first two lunches today are packed into our Easy Lunch Boxes  The one for my 7yo is packed into her little bento box she picked out.

17yo DD-
Ham rolls, cheese squares, red bell pepper, small plum.
Homemade trail mix, bumblebee bar, black olives, dark chocolate square. Apple.

 

15 yo DS-

Egg salad, rice crackers to dip, cheese squares, small plum, bumblebee bar, homemade trail mix, black olives, dark chocolate square. Nectarine.

7 yo DD-
2 hard boiled egg flowers, small golden plum, red bell pepper slices, 3 purple tomatoes, bumblebee bar, black olives, cheese, trail mix. greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey and some dark chocolate flakes, pear.

9/19

Todays lunches are again very similar. I love that all my kids have mostly the same tastes in foods. Now if only I could get them to agree on music and movies! It would be so much calmer around here, haha.

All three lunches packed into my favorite containers- Easy Lunch Boxes!

For my 17 yr old-

Chicken salad, lettuce (for wraps) cheese on sticks, melon, cucumber slices under carrot and bell pepper slices. An apple and a small container of homemade trail mix.

My 15 yr old got the same things as the 17yr old. :)

Just a bit different for my 7yr old. She didn't want lettuce wraps. She felt like it would be hard to keep her chicken salad in the lettuce (she does not like when her food falls out of her lettuce, taco night is an adventure around here!)
So for her she has chicken salad, gluten free tortilla chips to dip, cucumber flowers, tomato, basil and mozzarella sticks, tiny gold plum, melon, carrots and green pepper slices. A pear and home made trail mix for afternoon snack.

Farmers Market

 My husband was hosting a DnD game this morning so I headed over to our local Farmers Market. I wanted to share a typical trip to show you what we get :)

Sorry for the glare, this is in my breakfast nook and there are tons of windows, it is also quite sunny outside.
Our towns Market is pretty new and smaller than most around here. But they do have some pretty awesome vendors here! 
One of the vendors is a local farm who offers a "fill a bag" deal. I use Chico Bags and they let me fill them for $10 each. This is two bags worth. Most of this will be used for dinners around here but the fruit, carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers always find their way into lunches. Usually fruit is not included in their fill a bag policy but today it was, so I put my 17yo in charge of picking out all the fruit while I got our veggies.
Sitting on my table is $20 worth of LOCAL fruit and veggies. There is no way I could purchase all of this in my grocery store for the same amount for local produce. I've priced it!
My 7 yr old is away camping with her Grandparents this weekend and she is going to be SO excited to see that we got a big bag of fresh green beans and some acorn squash. Two of her very favorite foods!

There is also a small jar of grape jelly that I got for $3 (kind of expensive for jelly yes, but organic local grapes and I sampled it and felt my knees shake, I had to get it, LOL!) and the larger jar is also a locally made BBQ sauce. Totally gluten free and beyond yummy! That jar was $6 and the seller included a package of metal skewers too.

One of the things I really like about my towns farmers market is you can purchase "market bucks" they're like little gift certificates in $5 increments, they're good all year. So from May to October they don't expire and all of the Market vendors take them. I find that to be pretty handy especially on the weeks where my funds are a little low. I go on payday and purchase maybe $40 of market bucks and on that day I may spend 15-20 of them. Then the following week when it isn't payday, I still have market bucks that I know I can use at the market when I need them. And if for some reason I don't make it to the Market for a few weeks I know I can still use them when I do make it there.

We try to stick to a cash only budget, especially for things like food and gas. Sometimes I'm not the best at math and my food budget is empty before payday. So its really nice to pre-pay for my produce at the Market and know I can always go shop there even when I don't have cash on hand.

Tell me about your local Farmers Market. Get anything good this week?

9/16

3 very similar lunches today.

17 yo DD- chicken breast, babybel cheese, cucumber slices, purple sweet potato hearts. bowl of grapes and 3 apple bunnies. Small bowl of homemade trail mix with a dried date.
Included but not pictured is a nectarine and 1/3 of a bumble bar.

15 yo DS- Same as above, except I'm following his "no flowers Mom, geez" rule :) So his purple sweet potatoes are just circles. (I planned to do star shapes but the 3 yr old ran off with my tiny star I think!)
Included but not pictured, also a nectarine and 1/3 of a bumble bar.

7 yr old DD- chicken breast, white cheddar squares, flower cucumbers, purple heart and flower sweet potato, homemade trail mix (no almonds) and grapes with 2 apple bunnies.
Included but not pictured- the last 1/3 of the bumble bar small bowl of yogurt and a container of grapes and cheese for afternoon snack.

Note about Bumble Bars- I found these in my local "discount grocery store" They were 4 bars for $1.00. I got a dozen of them. I didn't think the kids would like them very much since they're made with sesame and flax seeds and a bunch of other really good for you but sound weird ingredients, LOL!
So I planned to just give them to my husband in his lunches and keep a few in my purse for those moments where you just NEED to eat something right this minute or you might faint :) Turns out all of my kids really, really, REALLY like them!  I bought the Almond, Chocolate and Lemon. My favorite is the lemon flavor. I think they're sized pretty big for a kid so when I pack them into lunches I cut each one into thirds and split them among the boxes. My 3yr old really likes them too, he asks several times a day for a "bumble bee bar pweese?"

I included a link to their website for anyone who was curious about them. I did not receive any money or free food for this mention. Though if the people at Bumble Bars wanted to send me some more yummy Lemon bars, I wouldn't complain! :)

9/15

7 yo DD-
Bottom- Gluten Free sunbutter sandwich, black grapes. In the star container there is a homemade "trail mix" including raisins, craisins, sunflower seeds, fresh coconut flakes and some dark chocolate swirls.

Top- Purple sweet potato flowers, tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese on sticks, black olives on sticks. Flower shaped cucumbers and a babybel cheese made into a lady bug. I used a hole punch for the circles and cut the deco items out of a sheet of Nori. Attached them to the wax with a tiny dob of honey. Afternoon snack is full fat yogurt with a few dark chocolate swirls.

17 yo DD- Peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on Gluten Free bread, corn on the cob with a pat of organic butter, carrot sticks and black grapes. I wrote on her bread with an edible food marker. You can find those in any of your "big box" stores in the cake decorating isle.
Babybel cheese in a lady bug, nectarine slices and some home made "trail mix" containing all the same as the 7yo above, but with almonds. Not pictured is a bowl of full fat yogurt with dark chocolate swirls.

15 yo DS- Ham sandwich on Gluten Free bread, cherry tomatoes on a stick, carrot sticks, Babybel cheese made into a "monster". Nectarine slices, home made trail mix. Hummus for his carrots and of course full fat yogurt with dark chocolate swirls.

3 yo DS-
Pepperoni stick (he requested that I do not cut his "boomer stick" up, which means it will be used as a sword or gun before he eats it, LOL!) cheese squares, homemade trail mix and 3 purple tomatoes.
Grapes, peach slices, cucumber slices and avocado.

9/14

7 yo DD-
Pepperoni and cheese on sticks. A "monster" babybel cheese, tomatoes and black olives on sticks, escaping apple bunnies!, raisins and craisins, carrot flowers.
Not pictured- greek yogurt with a bit of honey and a few chocolate shavings, and a tiny banana.

Both teenagers got the same in their boxes today.
Small container of tuna salad, lettuce to wrap with tuna, cheese stick, GF chocolate chip muffin, bumble bee energy bar, black olives and cucumbers, raisins and  evil eyed apple bunnies. Look at their red eyes! Eek!
Not pictured a tiny banana and a chocolate square.

This one is for my sweet 3 yo DS-
Steamed broccoli, corn on cob, carrots with hummus, banana with Nutella
Pepperoni and cheese sticks, black olive sticks, unwrapped babybel cheese, and grapes on sticks.

9/13

7 yo DD-
Turkey rolls, cheese squares, cherry tomatoes on a stick. Black grapes with a flower fork and red bell pepper slices. Not pictured - small bowl of cottage cheese with a small dollop of organic jelly on top, baby banana and a small chocolate square.

This one is for my 3yo DS-
Bottom- Ham rolls, red bell pepper slices, black grapes and cherry tomatoes on sticks.
Top- tiny flower carrots and cucumbers, flower cheese, some raisins and craisins and a tiny purple plum.

 My 17yo DD informed me last night she didn't really like the hummus I included yesterday. Usually I make hummus at home, but I found some on sale that was organic and cost less than it would to make at home. My other kids loved it, she found it to be "kinda weird tasting" so noted! No more store hummus for my girl :)

Left side for my 17yo DD-
ham and turkey rolls, cheese squares, carrot sticks, baby banana, grapes, cucumber slices and red bell pepper. Chunk of a Lara bar, Cottage cheese and a chocolate square.


Right side for my 15yo DS- All the same except he loved the hummus so he got that for his veggies.

9/12

Small break between lunches. The 7yo was home from school the rest of last week and my teenagers mostly took left overs. We're back to it now though!

These are for the teenagers. They're pretty similar as you can see. It really does make packing go quickly.

Roasted chicken breast, cucumber slices, white cheddar squares, carrot, tomato, celery, hummus to dip veggies, tucked down by cheese is a small locally grown (as in my neighbor!) golden plum. Piece of a Lara bar. Also in lunch boxes was a Ghirardelli chocolate square and some GF chips.

Took my 7yo to the Doctor today for another check up on her concussion. I did pack her a bento lunch but I didn't have time to photograph it this morning. She ate most of it in the car on the way home. The Doctor said she is healing well, but because she is still having some headaches and a little blurry vision we have her on half days of school.

9/7

Today is our district wide "late start" day. Classes being 2.5 hrs later than normal. My 7yo wants to try and go to school today since it is a half day. Her Doctor said we could play it by ear and just go based on how she is feeling. She is ready to see her friends again.

Bottom layer- two flower onigiri, purple sweet potatoes (I've only found these in our local Asian Market, they're really tasty!) flower cucumbers and green olives on sticks.
Top layer has more flower shaped purple sweet potatoes, flower shaped carrots, red bell peppers, fresh mango, and half of a gluten free cookie.
Afternoon snack is green grapes and cheese.

17 yo DD and 15 yo DS both got-
2 triangle shaped rice onigiri, purple sweet potato flowers, turkey rolls, red bell pepper slices, mango slices and a kiwi. (my son requested "no flowers mom, geez" so his lunch did not include any flowers, haha!)

End note- my 7yo lasted 2 hours at school before I had to come get her due to a headache. Shes resting now. It was probably too soon to send her back to school after her concussion but the Dr did say to play it by ear and follow her lead. Thankfully kids heal fast so she should be back to normal soon :)

9/6

Yesterday my kids did not have school. My 7yo daughter had a pretty bad crash on her bike and suffered a concussion. So today she is home from school. She has a Doctor appt later to get checked out again and we will see how she is doing after. She is pretty banged up but doing well considering. Thank goodness for helmets!

I packed a bento for my 7yo and 3yo to eat at home before we leave. They enjoyed these picnic style eating on our patio outside :)

In the yellow box we have for my 3yo.
Hard boiled egg, cheese squares, turkey rolls. Fresh mango slices, green grapes, celery with peanut butter and half a gluten free cookie.

In the blue box for my 7yo. Exactly the same as the yellow box.

My 7yo attends a "nut free" classroom. And there is at least one child in her class who has a peanut allergy. So she only gets peanut butter items at home. If I am sending something like celery to school for her I will use a safer alternative such as "sun butter" or cream cheese.

Also, my kids got to pick out their boxes. My 3yo sons favorite color right now is yellow so thats what he picked. My 7yo really likes blue. I'm happy if they are happy :)