Lunches #8, #9 & #10

WOW! I did not realize how quickly you can get behind on blogging and not remember where you are at. As I said in the last post K had asked for the exact same lunch that she had on Thursday. Here is K's lunch for Friday. She got cut up strawberries, Honey Nut Cheerios, cucumber slices with black olives and rolled up pepperoni. 

 I have no after picture. I think I decided not to take after pictures anymore as they are not very appetizing.  Well, I have to say I was sadly disappointed when we got home from school. She ate all the strawberries but she left a good amount of the Cheerios and cucumber slices with olives.  I thought it was the best lunch ever. What happened? She had no explanation.

On Monday, I used a Smart Planet Collapsible Eco Lunch box. I had bought this some time last year for Katie. I think we used it a few times and then it went in the cupboard. I pulled it out on Monday because Katie had been complaining the Planetbox was too heavy. I will review it at a later date along with a review on the Planetbox. For now, let's get back to lunch. K had grapes, chili peppers cut-outs of cucumbers with olives (again), flower shaped cut-out Bologna, buttery crackers and red bell peppers. 

Surprisingly K ate all the bologna, red bell peppers and grapes. She left some of the buttery crackers and a lot of the cucumbers with olives. I just realized I have been giving her a lot of cucumber with olives lately. I had a talk with K about being wasteful. I hate throwing away her leftovers. I try to get her to eat them when we get home from school. Some times she will and some times she won't. It took a while to get to the bottom of it but I think it boils down to... I am giving her too much food.

K surprises me almost everyday. Now she tells me she would like to try a salad with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers with no salad dressing. Okay, I am game.  So, today (oh good, I am finally caught up) K gets her salad, Cheerios, sliced red bell peppers with olives and a Cutie (peeled and separated). I felt this lunch had less so hopefully we will be good.

You know I think I need to still post pictures of what comes back home after school. I feel like I am not documenting the whole ordeal. Even though I felt like I packed less some of this still came home. Some lettuce, 2 tomatoes (even though she asked me for more tomatoes next time) and Cheerios. I will try to pack even less tomorrow I guess.

Lunches #6 & #7

This was K's lunch this past Tuesday. Monday she had bought lunch and wasn't very happy with it once again. So, she had star cucumbers, grapes, Gardetto's mix, pepperoni frog sandwich with candy eyes and 2 Gummi Bears.

This is what came home. I did not feel it was a successful day. I sat down with K to figure out why she is not eating her sandwiches. She said she like the meat but guess it is the bread. Okay, not sure I like that considering she doesn't eat much to beginning with. What will be her main dish if she doesn't want sandwiches anymore. Hmm?

Wednesday K was pulled out of school early (so no lunch). We never pull her out of school however I was receiving an once in a lifetime award at work and really wanted her to be there for the luncheon.  It was a really big deal.  K at times struggles with homework and says she doesn't need school. I wanted to be able to show her that with hard work in school you can make something of yourself and be recognized for your hard work.

So back to school on Thursday. I felt like we were running late and just kind of threw stuff in the Planetbox. K had Cheerios, strawberries, the left over cucumbers from the star cut outs on Tuesday mixed with black olives. I left out the bread and rolled up some pepperoni and cheese. Oh and 2 Gummi Bears!

I have no after picture of this one because SHE ATE IT ALL! PRAISE THE LORD! She said it was the best ever and could she have it again tomorrow (Friday). Friday she always buys lunch because it is pizza day. I reminded her and she said she wanted her Planetbox lunch instead. 

Lunch #5

So I am going to date myself right now.  Anyone remember Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure? Today was an "Excellent" day.  K had a pepperoni and mustard heart and 2 mini flower sandwiches, peeled and cut cucumbers, hulled and cut strawberries, Town House buttery crackers and Dove candy.  For snack time, K had grapes.

Here is the "excellent" part. She ate it all! However not all at lunch time but she loved her lunch. When she got in the car after school she opened it up to finish what she didn't get to finish at lunch. The grapes I put next to her dinner plate and she finished those too.  I have to say how good it felt not to throw anything away today.

K has chosen to buy lunch tomorrow and Monday at school so I won't have another post until Tuesday. 

Lunch #4

In today's lunch I tried Jif's chocolate flavored peanut butter made into little rounds with a frog face pressed in the middle.  As you can see I am still trying to get the hang of the cutters. Also packed black olives, red bell peppers the famous Dove candy and something new...Town House Buttery Crackers. 

Grandma picks K up on Wednesday since it is a minimum day. When I got to Gram's house K was nibbling on her leftovers. She tried and ate one whole sandwich round. She stated, "I do not like peanut butter! No matter the flavor."  I guess that puts an end to trying to get her to eat peanut butter. (If you are wondering why the other 3 sandwich rounds aren't in the picture, it is because I gobbled them up.)  The crackers were a hit though. She asked me where I got them as they were so delicious. :-)  

Lunch #3

Today's lunch was complete flop. It started out so good with pepperoni and mustard teddy bear sandwich with candy eyes, sliced carrots, raspberries and blueberries, colorful goldfish crackers and the famous Dove dark chocolate candy along with Cutie's for a snack.

Well, almost all of it came back.  The Cutie's were gone because they were in a separate container.  I guess the raspberries and blueberries were on the verge. They seemed a little wet while I was packing them in the Planetbox however I patted them down with a paper towel.  BUT I guess the juices got the best of me and leaked all over the place. K ended up with soggy goldfish crackers and sandwich and funky tasting carrots.  Even her Planetbox carrier showed signs of major leakage.  How did so much leakage happen? Ugh!  She must have been so disappointment that she didn't even eat the candy.  I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Lunch #2

Today K told me a teacher saw her Planetbox lunch and said, "Wow, that is a lot of food!"  What do you think?  Am I packing too much food? I can say this...so far even though it has only been two lunches she has not come home stating she is starving.

Today I packed pepperoni with a touch of mustard bus sandwiches (I wrote on them with edible markers), black olives, sliced yellow bell peppers, Gardetto's Snack Mix and the Dove dark chocolate candy.

K asked for a separate item for her snack.  I guess they are allowed to have a snack at recess if they are hungry.  I peeled and separated 2 cutie's.  The Funtainer bottle drink is apple juice.

Okay when I picked K up from school she said her lunch and snack were very good.  I had to run a couple of errands after I picked her up.  After a few minutes in the car, she said she was hungry.  I asked if she had any lunch leftover and she said yes.  I asked her to eat it as not to be wasteful.  So when we got home this is what I found.  Yellow bell peppers, olives, cutie's, Dove candy, apple juice, almost a whole school bus, and some Gardetto's gone.  

So far the fruits and veggies I have been packing she already likes.  I will eventually try to branch out to other fruits and veggies to see if I can get her to eat them.  I am not so sure after seeing the sandwiches but I won't give up.  She did ask for the Pepperoni sandwich again for tomorrow but in a different shape.  I told her she needed to eat more of it if I made it again.  We shall see.

Second day of school; First lunch with her Planetbox

The second day of school K took her Planetbox packed with items I know she would enjoy and something new.  This is what it looked like.

It was packed with Jif Mocha Cappuccino peanut butter and Strawberry Jam mini flower sandwiches,  raspberries, butterfly shaped cucumbers, Cheez-Its and a dark chocolate Dove candy.  Raspberries, cucumber, Cheez-Its and Dove candy are things K will already eat but not usually this much and for lunch.  The mini-sandwiches was the something new.  K does not like peanut butter or jam.  When I spotted the Mocha Cappuccino flavored peanut butter I thought she might be willing to try it.  She loves anything coffee flavored.  Blame her father and great-grandfather for that one. :-)  She loves strawberries so I thought maybe if I lightly spread the jam it might not be so bad.  I was excited to pick her up after to school to hear if it was a hit or miss.  When I picked her up she told me she ate all her raspberries and most of her cucumbers and Cheez-Its.  Hmm?  I asked about the sandwiches and she said, "Well, I tried one three times but after each bite I had to take a big drink of my apple juice.  I did not like the jam!"  Ugh, my heart sank.  Here is a picture of what came home. Sorry, I did not get a picture of the sandwiches as I was hungry and gobbled them up before I thought to take the picture.  Just imagine there were two complete ones and one with three little nibbles out of it.

I would say she did a great job on the cucumbers and Cheez-Its.  Oh and she didn't eat the Dove candy because she said she did not finish her sandwiches.  I allowed her to have it for being a trooper and trying the sandwiches.  Tomorrow she is opting for school lunch since it is Pizza.  Monday I will try again.  If you have any ideas of a substitute for jam in a peanut butter and ? sandwich please let me know and I will try it. 

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. The day we had been waiting for and it was a bust (in the lunch department). To make a very long story short. We moved into a new home over the holiday weekend.  We had a new refrigerator scheduled for delivery on Friday morning. It was damaged when it got here and my husband had it sent back. Well, our upgraded replacement refrigerator arrived this afternoon.  We were completely without a refrigerator since Friday.  We were not a very happy family.

So for K's first day of school she bought lunch as the lunch menu indicated there would be the option of cereal, yogurt and string cheese.  This is one of the few lunch items she will eat.  When she came home I asked her about lunch and she said there was no cereal. She was disappointed and had to eat fish crackers she said. She was in the middle of watching one of her favorite TV programs so I hoped there was more to her lunch then FISH CRACKERS (what are those anyways?). We went to Target to get everything I needed for tomorrow.  Everything went well at the store.  It was actually my first time buying groceries at Target.  I chose Target because only Target and Albertson's have the Jif Peanut Butter flavor I want her to try.  Target is closer to us than Albertson's.  Anyway, they had everything I wanted.  I have decided to wake up early tomorrow to make the entire lunch and time myself to see long it takes.  Wish me luck!