A Break Through? Maybe.

Today of course was not a school day. Today was a busy day filled with soccer and a Harvest Festival at a local church. However, between soccer and the Harvest Festival I had to make lunch for K and her best friend M who is spending the weekend. M is a fantastic eater and even eats things I won't eat like mushrooms and sushi. EW! I watch her eat and just wish K would eat as well as M does. Well, whenever M is here she is always reduced to eating the same boring foods that K is. I had never really thought to make her anything different before yesterday. But yesterday, I thought to myself am I really going to feed this poor child who can eat anything something off of K's menu? NO! So, I thought and thought. Hmm! Then it came to me! Both girls are huge fans of iCarly so why don't I make spaghetti tacos for lunch. K will only eat pasta with butter sauce and salt. As a baby she did eat spaghetti sauce and we have proof of it. I couldn't make up my mind on just one. 

 We recently visited a dietitian who suggested letting K pick out the pasta sauce and have her stir in just enough to make her spaghetti pasta red. Today, we used Barilla spaghetti pasta and Ragu sauce flavored with meat. No big chucks of tomato or anything just enough to give the noodles color for K. Well, she did it grudgingly. M and I mixed up the rest of the sauce and pasta real good so we got the yummy chucks. You know I am new to this whole blogging thing and didn't think to take a picture for the blog. Really I wasn't even thinking about blogging about this until I sat down at my computer and what a big step this was for K and I wanted it down in writing. Anyway, SHE ATE IT! M said it was very good. I was so happy. 

Lunch #23

Oh my, do I need to go shopping we are out of just about everything. Hopefully, I can find time to stop by the grocery store tomorrow. It is going to be a busy weekend. I have fridays off so I am volunteering to help set-up the book fair tomorrow. Tomorrow night I will be scooping up a second child for the weekend. K's best friend M. Then we will be off to Family Fun Night (Halloween Party) at K's school. Anyway, back to today's sad lunch. It was a yellow day I guess.

K's snack:

-Cheetos Flaming Hot Limon (Daddy bought them for her.)

Her lunch:

-crackers and pepperoni

-Dole's pineapple

-sliced yellow peppers

-string cheese

-3 Gummi Bears

K doesn't like many things but she loves her bell peppers (no green please.)

String Cheese with a spoon. The spoon is for the pineapple but it fit so well with the cheese that is where it ended up.

These crackers and pepperoni are from the Hormel snack pack minus the cheddar cheese. K doesn't like cheddar cheese (makes me wonder if she was switched at birth). ;)

Dole pineapple cubes drained and rinsed.

HOPE you all have a happy Friday tomorrow!

Lunch #22

I don't have much to say today so on with K's lunch.

For her recess snack:

Oats 'n Honey granola bar

In this lunch is:

-Carrots

-Pineapple and strawberries

-Yogurt covered pretzels

-Pepperoni/mozzarella sandwiches

-Gummy Bears 

K saw a dietitian on Monday. K had liked carrots up until the last time I gave them to her in her lunch. The dietitian got it out of K that she no longer liked them because she got one that was so hard to bite she thought she was going to break her teeth. The dietitian suggested slicing them up so they were easier to bite into. So that is what I did this morning. I asked K after school if that helped and she said yes it did. Hmm!

The strawberries were fresh and the pineapple is Dole's. I drained the syrup and rinsed them in water and patted them dry. I stuck the cute Panda pick in the strawberries so K wouldn't have to use her hands to touch the fruit.

K's sandwiches are from a punch/press. Now that I have learned you are suppose to punch everything out individually and then make your sandwich they came out much nicer. The sandwiches are pepperoni, mozzarella on white whole wheat bread with mustard. In the middle are three flowers cut from a fruit strip with my veggie cutter.

Here are some yogurt pretzels. K won't eat yogurt but she will eat yogurt pretzels. haha

And this is what came home uneaten. UGH!

Review of the Planetbox Rover System

Since K bought lunch today I decided I (we) would review her Planetbox Rover Complete System. I have to tell you a friend of mine first purchased and turned me on to the Planetbox. My friend J is very green and wanted to make no waste lunches for her 2 kids. I believe she purchased 2 systems a year + ago and still has not used them because she is afraid her kids will lose them. Oh wait...back to me and K. It took me a good 6 months before I made the plunge. The cost is very scary unless you are made of money which I am not but some times think I am. ;) If you read my very first post you know K is a very picky eater. I thought the Planetbox would help me put together healthier lunches that were easy for K to eat.

K picked the perfectly pink Carry Bag with the groovy magnets. 

The Planetbox fits perfectly in the carry bag even when open. We put the ice pack in that black mesh area you can see in the picture below on your left.

It comes with a big dipper (left) and a little dipper (right) for wet foods.

We paid extra for the fork and spoon. K has used the fork once.

Compartment #1 is for your main dish. See the 4 raised bumps that is where you would put the big dipper if your main dish is a wet food like yogurt.

Compartment #2 is for fruits.

Compartment #3 is (where the little Planetbox symbol is) for a small dessert.

 Compartment #4 is for vegetables (see the raised 4 bumps that is where you would put the little dipper maybe filled with Ranch for the veggies).

Last, is the compartment #5. You could put pretzels, string cheese, chips or Pocky sticks in there.

So after about 2 months of using the Planetbox Complete Rover system here is what K and I found:

K's review

    Pros:                        Cons:

Food doesn't touch       too heavy

                       looks cool                    popcorn & chips get soggy 

                                                                      from condensation from ice pack

My review

Pros:                                                               Cons:

helps make healthy lunches                                price

no squashed lunches from kids stepping on it                             can't be microwaved

                    promotes waste free lunches               compartments are not leak-proof

After all is said and done I would definitely buy the Planetbox again however it would not have been my first waste-free lunch box choice. I think if I could go back I would have bought a microwaveable lunchbox first and then a Planetbox when I had the money. Actually, a Laptop Lunchbox is en route to our home now.

Please note: I am not paid by any supplier for my reviews. I have paid retail price for all products seen in my blog unless I have been lucky enough to find an online coupon or a sale. 

Lunch #21

Okay, I am back on track. This is K's lunch for today.

She had yellow bell pepper slices, strawberries, yogurt covered pretzels, crackers and pepperoni (10 each). One cracker came home.  Tomorrow she is buying lunch. I have some other news I would like to share so I will take tomorrow to share one item. I guess on the days she buys lunch I will take those days to share other info/ideas. 

Lunch #20

October 17th K bought lunch again. On the 18th we tried something different. 

Since K has decided she doesn't like bread. Lord only knows why! She said I would use tortillas. So, last Thursday K took to school a pepperoni wraps with mustard (yup, that's it), strawberries, sugar snap peas yogurt covered pretzels and for snack (which I don't often use) pineapple wedges. Just a few pineapple wedges came home. K said it was because they were soggy.

Lunch #19

Last Monday the 15th K bought school lunch. On the 16th I don't know what happened. I made lunch for her but only have an after picture. It was not a happy day.

She had left her Planetbox at school so she was not able to eat her leftovers in the car on the way home or to the my allergist appointment. This lunch was slices of bacon (which she begged for), flower cut out cantaloupe, black olives and garden style Sun Chips. The Sun Chips are gone of course. They are one of her favorite snacks.