December Bento/Fun Lunch Catch-Up

I didn't do a lot of 'beautiful lunches' this month. Mostly because I managed to weasel out of most of our morning activities, so we were able to eat at home. And I was just too physically fatigued to stand for long enough to really make a really 'fancy' meal.

Thursday, 12/1/11 - 

Since Thursdays is gym class followed by preschool, I kind of have to pack a lunch to eat in between. I used our EasyLunchBoxes because they fit all our food without any careful planning on my part, and they're the best I've found, size-wise, for eating in the car!

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Her lunch: PBHoney butterfly, string cheese nibblets,
carrot flowers, raspberries

My lunch: Onion bagel (toasted) w/cream cheese,
carrot flowers, 2/3 banana

Despite the cute bunny pick, she hardly touched the raspberries. She did polish off her butterfly sandwich, cheese nibblets (in butterfly cup) and most of the carrot flowers though.

I ate all of mine, and had eaten the 1/3rd banana that didn't fit before we left the house. :)

Monday, 12/5/11 - 
Packed as a snack for on the way to preschool, and for between school and swim, and possibly after swim. She hasn't been eating much lately, and has been just having a brunch then school snack, instead of breakfast and lunch AND school snack. But she ate a little earlier than usual this morning, so I wanted to be prepared.

Colby Jack cheese flowers (scraps tucked under,)
pretzel sticks, Phineas and Ferb fruit snacks w/pistachios,
strawberries and raspberries

Since I was going for a smaller serving, I chose my LunchBots Duo. Doesn't hold nearly as much as an EasyLunchBox, and she can't open it herself, and more likely to tip into her lap or slide onto the floor in the car, but I figured we'd give it a shot.

She didn't end up eating the raspberries, and very little of the pretzels, cheese or strawberries. But she polished off the butterfly cup filled with pistachios and froot snax. I ended up just replacing the pretzels (they were a tad soggy) and refilling the nuts/fruit snacks the next day and took it with us as we were out and about. I ended up eating most (if not all) of the cheese, raspberries and pretzels.

Monday, 12/12/11 - 

We had no plans for the day until swim class in the afternoon (her co-op preschool only has classes through the first full week in December, so no more until January.) She wanted mac-n-cheese for lunch. Okie-dokie.

Apples, carrot, cheese scraps, mac-n-cheese, Ranch

I know it's a little monochromatic, but it was quick and easy, and mostly healthy.
The cheese scraps were from her preschool snack gingerbread people cheeses the week before. The plate is a cute little melamine monkey divided plate... I think I got it from Target. Or maybe Safeway. It was a while ago. Blue fork from IKEA. (I love their plastic children's dishes! $1.99 for 6 plates, bowls or cups, OR for 6 EACH forks/knives/spoons! Microwave and dishwasher safe, and BPA-Free! We now have 2 or 3 sets of each, plus I got 2 sets for my sister, and we keep a set at my mom's house, for when the grandkids are visiting. I like that the forks are sharp, so she can actually use them to stab food. So they aren't for the littler kids, and are not safe for running around the house, or, say, holding while bouncing around on a Rody. Seriously, the Kids Museum near us has the Ikea dishes in their pretend-play area, and some mom was letting her brand-new walker toddle and fall around with this fork next to his eye, then she HELPED him bounce on the Rody, and I swear he was half an inch away from gouging his eye out a couple times. *shudder*)

Wednesday, 12/14/11 - 
I had my pre-op appointment at the hospital, followed by an OB appointment, then a break for lunch before the last swim class of the year. Since we were kind of in a hurry at breakfast, I made her a larger meal and packed it in an EasyLunchBox so we could take it on the go if she didn't finish in time. And then we'd also have a built-in snack or lunch if she was also hungry later.

Organic apple slices, pistachios, PBHoney sandwich 

Nothing fancy. She's been asking for PBHoney sandwiches for breakfast, and I figured they can't be less healthy than sugar cereal. Plus the honey helps her cough (that she's had since Halloween!!!) However I cleverly forgot to take a picture until she had hoovered most of the pistachios and was working on a sandwich triangle. Oh well.

I was kind of in a hurry so I didn't bother with a veggie or dairy. And this was more of a breakfast and snack, versus a real lunch. We ended up getting lunch at the hospital deli after my OB appointment (her office is in the hospital building,) and Z wanted a veggie tray and yogurt to eat, so we got those food groups taken care of!