Dye-Free August Summer Camp Snacks - Part 1

Since we switched to a dye-free diet for Z, I packed her snack for the first day of camp, just in case. But at Little Gym they let me check all the labels in their snack cupboard. And other than the Cheez-Its having TBHQ, all their snacks were free from petroleum-derived ingredients. So I okayed them. She just couldn't have their Kool-Aid. But I left her snack just in case. She ended up refusing their snack altogether, even though the teacher told her I had okayed it. She knew my snack was safe.
That afternoon, on the ride home, I told her that she could eat their crunchies for snack, but I would be happy to continue packing a snack for her if she preferred. I asked if she wanted to eat their crunchies, have ME pack crunchies, or have me pack fresh fruits and vegetables to eat with crunchies. She chose the fresh fruits and veggies! Well! Certainly can't say no to THAT!

You don't see them, but I include some kind of Trader Joe's juice box with her camp snacks. Normally she drinks water or milk throughout the day, but the other kids get Kool-Aid, which she loved last year, so I try to make her just as happy with something she can have. I bought Trader Joe's Lemonade, Fruit Punch (reduced calorie,) and White Grape Juice boxes, all based on her request at the store when we bought them. If I have time, I ask her which one she wants. Otherwise I grab whichever one we have the most of. On the 9th (seventh photo down,) she requested pink lemonade, so I poured some from the jug in the fridge into a re-used Belly Washers bottle with a Hello Kitty topper. I can't believe I forgot to include it in the photo! (It was the ballerina one. We also have the bee topper one.)

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Tuesday, 7/31/12 - Animal Week! This is her favorite themed camp, since the pet store guy brings in exotic animals for the kids to touch and interact with. We signed up for three of the four days they offered it at our regular Little Gym (Monday conflicted with swim class,) and all five days they offered it at the other nearby Little Gym the following week (they have to do them on different weeks because the pet guy can't be two places at once!)

Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn, yellow carrots, raspberries

In honor of Animal Week, I chose her new My Melody bento box - because it's a bunny! I got the flower pick either from Daiso or Uwajimaya (a huge Asian market chain in Seattle. Great bento selection, but a little pricy for me.)

Wednesday, 8/1/12 - I found this Hello Kitty sandwich box at Target's Dollar Spot last year. It's the perfect size for a snack! The silicone divider cup was from a 3-pack at Daiso.

Trader Joe's Herb Popcorn , sugar snap peas,
cherries, champagne grapes

Thursday, 8/2/12 - We were practically out the door before I remembered her snack! All the previous boxes used were either dirty or the lids weren't yet matched up with the bottoms, and I was in a hurry. So I dug through my bento box stash and found this smallish box from my Laptop Lunches set! That'll do, pig. That'll do. And when looking for a cup to hold the fruit, I found my two-cherries one. I couldn't NOT use it! Less fruit than I normally include though.

Rainier cherries, Trader Joe's Herb Popcorn

Monday, 8/6/12 - Garden Bounty! The peas and blackberries are from our "garden." (ie: she randomly planted the peas at some little gardening playdate, and I thought they wouldn't survive so I didn't bother labeling them. Har har. Joke's on me. Nothing I planted this year survived, except her stinky little pea plants! My spinach and some mystery herb from my sister last year apparently seeded themselves and grew on their own (plus some "volunteers" from the dirt her plants came in.) And the blackberries are weeds, but they had so many blossoms when we went out to hack them down that we decided to give them a reprieve until Fall.) Not sure what kind these peas are, but the husk (shell? pod?) is not really edible. It just kind of pulps up in your mouth and doesn't break up when you chew.

Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn, mystery peas, blackberries

All my animal-y boxes were still dirty, so I used a Tinkerbell sandwich box. Or Disney Princess. Or maybe one of the Target Dollar Spot or Dollar Tree ones I have accumulated over the years...

Tuesday, 8/7/12 - Leftovers! More of the popcorn from the previous day's little baggie (I had bought little individual-sized bags of the popcorn for her T-ball game snack day, and we're slowly going through the ones I have left.) The last four cherries from the previous week's CSA box, two apple slices leftover from McDonald's (no judging. It was next door to the oil change place, and we had thirty minutes to kill at dinnertime,) and two blackberries from the previous day's snack.

Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn, cherries, blackberries, apples

Wednesday, 8/8/12 - The last of that little baggie of popcorn, and I remembered the green beans from the previous week's CSA box. And she had made me buy the champagne grapes at our CSA farm, but then hasn't been eating them when I put them in her snacks and lunches, even though she gobbled them down that first day. Plus I got her drink in the shot, just for fun. And I had forgotten to take the pic before leaving, so had it in my hand and set them both down on the hood of my car for a photo op.

Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn, green beans,
champagne grapes

Snack box from Target's Dollar Spot (via my BBF from Bentoriffic!) Taller muffin cup from IKEA (too tall for our EasyLunchboxes, but just fine for Muffin Tin Meals and these taller snack boxes!)

Thursday, 8/9/12 - Her first real animal-themed snack for animal week. What with the bears and all - silicone bear cup (eBay,) and Teddy Grahams. In the Hello Kitty sandwich box, and (not pictured) with her Hello Kitty Belly Washers refilled with pink lemonade.

Honey Teddy Grahams, champagne grapes, snow peas

Friday 8/10/12 - More backyard Bounty. The last of the mystery peas. One of them was the no-eat-pod kind, the rest looked like eeety-beeety widdle snow peas. The mini hearts were punched out of a Trader Joe's Sweet, Savory and Tart Granola Bar. She had asked for a "chewy bar" when I asked what she wanted her "crunchy" item to be. I wanted to make stars, but couldn't find my mini star cutter. (It was on the baby's bottle-drying rack! Doh!) Star shapes would have gone perfectly with the star cups for my Little Gym superstar! (Blue cups from World Market - 6/$3!)

Trader Joe's "chewy bar," blackberries, mystery peas

Box was a One Fish, Two Fish Seuss sandwich box from Target's Dollar Spot. Not that any of MY stores had them! My Bento Blogging Buddy from Molly's Lunchbox rounded them up from one of her local stores for me! Thanks Mama!

We had also signed her up for a Parent's Night Out at Little Gym, since Hubby will be working several weekend days this month, and out of town another several days and a weekend, so we wanted some mostly-adult time (we had Baby with us.) This wasn't the best week for it, since between the five 3-hour camps, the make-up class from the week before, her regular class, and this, she was clocked in at over 20 hours at Little Gym this week! Oy! But it was the only game in town, and both Little Gym locations near us are close to cheap second-run theaters, so we can take Baby with us and not feel guilty about her making a little noise, or walking away if we have to (one theater is $2 tickets, the other is $3. The POPCORN costs more than our tickets!)
The Parent's Nights Out are pretty much just like camps, except 30-minutes longer, and at night. And they lock the front door and don't have the extra person in the lobby, like they do all day during classes.

I re-used the uneaten blackberries and peas from her earlier camp snack, and added some Brads Raw Leafy Kale Chips - Vampire Killer (garlic flavor) that I received from my August Foodie Penpal (sneak peek!) and some Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.

Garlic Kale Chips, mystery peas, Bing cherries
and blackberries, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies