All-Natural Preschool Snacks, September 2012 Week 2

Monday

Snappea Crisps, TJs Cheese Puffs, TJs Seaweed Snack, Strawberries

Before you get all Judgy McJudgerson about her junky snack, please understand that I negotiate these things with her. She chooses a juice or sweetened milk at school, that's her one sweet drink for the day. Higher salt items mean I crack down on it more later. She gets a treat in her snack, she's on fresh fruits, veggies, and cheese for any other munchies she might be craving later on. Etc. This is not indicative of her entire day's worth of meals!
Plus these are reduced fat Trader Joe's ones. I was surprised at the nutrition stats, and was not at all concerned about putting them in her snack. I'd even let her have more later, to equal a full serving-size, if it meant she'd let me take an afternoon nap push came to shove.

Tuesday

Grapes, blackberries, edamame, Brown Sugar-Cinnamon (Purple) Kale Chips

I decided to try out the new Tupperware toddler dish I found at a vendor booth at a fair (mine didn't come with that clip-on handle thing though. Hmph!) I got it with Baby E in mind, since soon I'll get to pack little Baby bentos!
Organic grapes skewered on long heart picks with a few blackberries from our backyard, some edamame, and some Brown Sugar-Cinnamon (Purple) Kale Chips (recipe coming eventually.)

The container was a bust. A TOTAL BUST! I get her snack all packed as we're heading out, only to discover I CAN'T CLOSE THE D@MN LID! No matter what I try, it's open at one point. I swear, a few times I checked all the way around and it was sealed, then suddenly OPEN AGAIN! I ended up setting it on the floor and kind of sitting on it as I went around the edge. It was RIDICULOUS! I apologized to the teacher at pick-up. She hadn't been able to close it either. I'm glad there was nothing messy in there! Sheesh. To make matters worse, it was heinously expensive, comparatively. For roughly half the price you can get the Dr. Sears Nibble Tray, which is super cute and much more user friendly! Plus kids prefer a wider array of foods on their plate (at least 7 different items,) so more compartments makes it easy to remember and try!

Wednesday

Pretzels, Rosemary crackers, Pink Dip, green beans, mini carrot

I was excited to go back into my bento box stash and resurrect her Sassy On the Go Feeding Set. A few pretzels and crackers to dip, plus some cut green beans. And a mini carrot from our organic CSA farm with a leaf pick stuck in.

Thursday

Double Chocolate mini cupcakes, Horizon Organics Strawberry Milk;
Veggie Straws, TJ's Seaweed Snack, edamame

Her snack is in a discontinued Paperchase snack box that I got used from Jenn at Bento for Kidlet because Kidlet has outgrown it. Awwww, so sad. But yay for me! [♪♫*dance dance*♫♪]
I didn't pack a lot for snack, and made it kind of veggie-heavy to counteract the cupcake for a class birthday (see cupcake debacle below.) Horizon Organic "Pink Milk" to drink, just in case. But the teachers have been checking the frozen concentrate ingredients list, and offer her the same drink as everyone else when it's safe. Then they store her extra drink box in their mini fridge for another time. Hopefully they'll let me know if they're running low, since I don't send one each day. I've kind of been asking Z on the ride home and keeping track that way. Which is a recipe for disaster, since I have a crap memory.

The Cupcake Saga: So I found this organic/all-natural cupcakery. I call and ask about artificial ingredients, and she says the only thing with fake colors is the Red Velvet cupcakes, so I know to avoid those. Excellent.We go in and Little Z taste-tests all the flavors (except Red Velvet, obviously,) to determine which one(s) she'd like to have in the freezer for preschool birthday treats. She likes Carrot Cake the best, but also wants some Double Chocolate. Excellent. So I call to order them for pick-up this week, since I know there's a class birthday coming up.

So on Wednesday I drive 20+ minutes to get there, and go in to get my order, only to discover that instead of 12 Double Chocolate ones with the 12 Carrot Cake cupcakes, there are 12 RED VELVET ones. Yikes! Luckily, there are enough in the case ready-made to swap out. Except then I notice the colored sugar sprinkles. And ask if those have fake colors. The guy doesn't know, but just then the owner walks in. SHE doesn't know! (!!!)

She calls her supplier, and finds out that the sprinkles do, in fact, have fake colors. It had apparently never occurred to her to check the ingredients on her ingredients! So we can't take the Carrot Cake ones either, as they have sprinkles on them. Ugh. So I agree to come back next week to pick up my two dozen cupcakes (I got a Groupon for two dozen for the price of one!)  But I have verified with the teacher that cupcakes will be brought the next day, so I have to get something. I know the chocolate ones are safe, so I buy two of those to tide us over. I know there's another birthday next week, or else I can give the extra to her as a treat since she's having a hard time adjusting to her new classroom. The bakery owner gives them to me on the house, which is not only great customer service, as she'd messed up my order and been mistaken about the safety of her ingredients, but also she's won me for life. Because the way to my heart is with free crap.