Bento Scrap and Salvage Salad Lunches - Made Pretty

These salads were all made from a salad base prepped once... it ended up lasting around two weeks. *cough* I had a head each of organic cabbage and romaine lettuce from my farm share. I don't like cabbage, especially raw, like in salads. But it had to get eaten... I was getting a head a week for around 5 or 6 weeks straight! (Stay tuned for another fun way I used up my cabbage! Coming some time this month at MOMables!)

These lunches also feature bento scraps and salvaged bits of food that were about to go bad, or had been half-chewed by one kid or the other...


Tuesday, 3/12/13 -

Salvaged apple, raspberries, cheese scraps, Van's GF crackers, fancy peppermint patty;
salad mix with golden, Chiogga and regular beet flowers and scraps; carrot flowers and scraps, broccoli,
raspberries, dressing; plus sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, raisins

 

The cheese scraps were from a huge pile left over after our snack week with the Duckling Gets A Cookie!? and Elephant and Piggie cheese cut-outs. Omnomnom.
The apples were rejected leftovers either from a preschool or bedtime snack. And I'm fairly sure the flowers were uneaten from one of Little Z's lunches.

And that Peppermint Patty? Oh yes. As good as it looks! I got it from Whole Foods, since we can't have York Peppermint Patties with their artificial flavors. The only other dark chocolates with mint filling I've found have creamy centers. Mmmmm! Definitely a luxury item though. My eyes popped out of my head and went "AWOOOOGA!" when I saw the price... Can't remember, but they're either $3 or $5. Each.

Wednesday, 3/13/13 -

TJs Coconut Chips on salvaged apple slices, cheese scraps, Van's GF crackers; salad mix w/carrot and
beet flower coins and scraps, strawberries, broccoli, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, raisins, dressing

 

More Mo Willems snack cheese scraps, plus some apple slices salvaged from a half-bitten apple (that's usually as far as Baby gets before she's full or gets bored with it...)

Thursday, 3/21/13 -

Salvaged pear bits, TJs dark chocolate mints, chocolate toffee trail mix; salad mix w/carrot and beet flowers and scraps, pomegranate arils, tomatoes, purple broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, and dressing.

This late in the week I tend to get a little treat-heavy. I'm tired of all the %*!@ veggies! So I used a whole compartment for treaties. Ironically, I'm not eating healthy for my weight or anything. Just to use up all the random veggies we get in our share each week... I can hardly keep up! But I want to set a good example for the girls, and I want to go as natural as we can, so I get the organic produce share. The reason I do that versus just buying from the grocery store is that I get more for my money, I support a local business, it challenges me to eat outside my comfort zone, and it gets the girls more engaged in their food, since we get to choose and count and weigh our own share based on the signs above the different bins each week.

For this salad, in addition to the carrot and beet scraps that get mixed in to all my salads, I have the salvaged bits from a pear that Baby started on, plus the last of the pomegranate arils. Not enough to hold onto to serve to Z (other than sprinkling a few on yogurt or apples or something,) so into my lunch they went!

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