Wednesday's Lunch

Tomorrow should be quite the day for my students. I teach at a parochial school, so we start every Wednesday morning with mass. This Thursday is the big Christmas concert/play that involves the entire school (K-8) so tomorrow morning after mass, we have rehearsal, which takes about 2 hours, then tomorrow afternoon we have a dress rehearsal. All in all, doesn't allow a whole lot of teaching time tomorrow... Oh well, gotta have days like that every now and then, right?!?

Here's tomorrow's lunch to get me through the craziness, packed in my favorite purple Goodbyn:
L to R: homemade Chex Mix; Dare maple cream cookie; 2 star shaped sandwiches, one has PB&J, the other has sharp cheddar and turkey; FF Pringles; 1 Hershey's Nugget; skim milk; apple juice; strawberry Fruitabu; sugar-free pudding with pre-biotic fiber.

Looks like a lot of food, but I spend 7am-6pm at school every day due to the fact that I also run the before and after school care program, so I eat my biggest meal at school to get me through the long days. When I get home at night, I am tuckered out, so I usually eat a simple supper, pack a good lunch for the next day, and veg out on the couch.

+++++++++++++++++++++

I read my students Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas today. I love Dr. Suess read alouds, and Mr. Grinch is one of my fav's. Thought I'd end this post with my favorite quote from the book:

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more."

25th Bento!

So, as I save the pictures of my lunches on my computer, I give them very creative names. You know, like Bento #16 and so on. Well today's picture is titled Bento #25. Hard to believe I have been doing this long enough to have made 25 lunches. I feel like I have come a long way, especially since that first dreadful 'bento' way back in the day :)

Enough reminiscing... here's tomorrow's lunch:
Left to right: homemade Chex Mix, garlic and olive oil vermicelli with turkey meatballs, white cheddar crackers, skim milk to drink, 2 Hershey's Nuggets, sugar free pudding with pro-biotic fiber (good for my Crohn's... yogurt would be better, but I strongly dislike yogurt), garlic bread, and you can't really see it but there's a pomegranate fruit leather tucked in there too :)

And, just for a treat, here's tomorrow's after school snack:

orchard cherry fruit leather, Chex mix, ff Pringles (I know the fact that they are fat free doesn't make them healthy, I just feel a little better about it), mini juice box, white cheddar crackers, Dare maple cream cookie. I am obsessed with maple.


We had a 2 hour delay today due to the massive blizzard that hit the area over the weekend, meaning that school started at 10:10, and my kids go to lunch at 10:50... not much time for a productive morning but my cereal lunch fit in perfectly with sleeping in!

More Goodbyn Goodness

I wasn't too sure how I felt about my new Goodbyns. They are a lot bigger than I had expected and was kind of thinking... how can I pack a lunch in this effectively. Well for today's lunch, I must say I am a big fan! Here's what I packed for tomorrow's lunch:

Starting top left: White Cheddar crackers, cereal (a mix of rice/corn chex and cheerios), homemade Chex Mix (which explains my choice of cereal).
Middle: 2 Hershey's Nuggets, skim milk for the cereal
Right: Dare Maple Cream cookie, strawberry fruit roll, juice box. The little black container is a mix of sugar and splenda for my cereal.

Yum!

Goodbyn!

I got a new bento box! It's a Goodbyn, and through an amazing online deal, it got delivered to my door for a grand total of $2.95! Ok, so maybe I ordered more than one... I ended up getting purple, orange and dark blue, because, lets face it, some nights I just don't get to the dishes. And with a deal like that who could pass it up?

Here's tomorrow's lunch:
Left Top: Caramel Corn
Left Middle: Pretzel sticks, raisins, low fat string cheese
Left bottom: Orchard Cherry fruit leather, 2 shortbread cookies
Middle Top: 5 peanut M&M's :)
Middle bottom: Skim Milk
Right: Left over cheese bread


Not the healthiest of lunches, but I am finally starting to feel better, so I figured I'd include some yummies I have been missing out on.

Breakfast Bento

I have to have some testing done tomorrow, so no work for me. I need a driver to take me home from the hospital, so my mom agreed to accompany me. I bribed her with a breakfast bento. She gets a kick out of the lunches I pack (and requests a photo each night) so she loves it when I make bentos for her. Here is tomorrow's breakfast bento:

It's packed in a disposable Rubbermaid Take-Along container just in case. We have cinna-sushi, 2 mini banana-walnut-dark chocolate chip muffins (homemade, but out of the freezer), raisins, apple straws and a fruit and nut granola bar for some protein. I also packed her a little container of natural applesauce but that's not pictured.


I know its not as much as I would pack for a lunch, but I am going to do a cost calculation anyways. My school does not offer breakfast, but the public school district where I live does. An adult breakfast costs $2.00 and tomorrow's menu is: Cereal, graham cracker, juice, milk. (Seriously... $2.00 for that... yikes.) My breakfast is healthier and much more filling (in my opinion.)

Cinna-sushi: $0.17 (same as what I made yesterday)
2 Muffins: $0.13 (they are 'homemade'... aka from a 'just add water' mix)
7 apple straws: $0.15
Raisins: $0.12
Granola Bar: $0.42
Applesauce: $0.20
8oz skim milk to drink: $0.18

That's $1.37 for a fun little breakfast bribe :)

Eat Along Challenge - Brunch(ish) for Lunch

Mrs Q. over at Fed Up with Lunch started an Eat Along Challenge, asking fellow lunch makers to share with fellow bloggers what they are making for lunch, as well as cost calculations. I did this in one of my previous posts and I am excited to see what tomorrow's lunch shakes out to be. Here is my brunch(ish) for lunch tomorrow:


In the large section of my EasyLunchbox, I have a few apple straws, some cinnamon bread sushi, a fruit leather to act as a barrier, and mini frozen pancakes that will thaw by lunch tomorrow. In the smaller sections I have veggie 'chicken' nuggets and shortbread cookies.

I made the cinnamon bread to look like mini cinnamon rolls... I tasted one tonight and they're not exactly cinnamon roll good, but they'll do. In looking at my lunch for tomorrow it occurs to me that I haven't eaten any meat in a few days. My stomach is still recovering so I am sticking with my ulcer-approved diet of lots of carbs.

Here's my cost calculations:
-7 apple straws (yes, I counted): $0.15
-2 pieces of white-wheat bread: $0.10
-Country Crock/Cinnamon Sugar combo for bread: $0.07
-Fruit Leather: $0.36
-6 pancakes: $0.28
-5 veggie 'chicken' nuggets: $0.66
-3 shortbread cookies: $0.25
-8oz skim milk to drink: $0.18

and the grand total is... $2.05!

This lunch came in a little higher than the last one I posted, but it is still well under the $3.00 mark, which is the cost for an adult hot lunch at my school as well.

Well, they're not pretty...

...but they're lunch.

I have stomach issues. I have Crohn's Disease, and have been having terrible stomach pain for the past 3+ weeks. I ended up having to miss a day of work last week to go in to the doctor and they think I have an ulcer. I go back in on Thursday to have an endoscopy done just to confirm, so for now I am on an ulcer-friendly diet. Here's what I've been eating...


Today's lunch:
a turkey hot dog with low sodium ketchup, fruit leather, garlic cheese bread, shortbread cookies and mozzarella/Colby-jack cheese cubes.

This one went ok... didn't feel great afterword, but lately I don't ever feel good after eating, so I will consider it a success!


And here's what I packed for tomorrow:
Linguine noodles with mild white sauce, fruit leather, the last of my garlic cheese bread, club crackers with cheese spread and shortbread cookies.