Yes I still pack lunches

I saw my friend Julia today who inquired about whether I had given up on packing lunches.  My lunch packing has not stopped (I'm still too cheap and too much of a food snob to sign up for the hot lunch program!); I just took a little break from blogging about it.  I actually took photos of about a dozen lunches I packed and dinners I made over the last few months but never found the time to blog them.  My apologies to those who missed me.  I don't really make New Years resolutions but this year I "hope" to spend less, eat less, move more, and give more.  Maybe following those ideals will result in some new and interesting lunches.  Or maybe I'll just keep packing avocados and brown rice.  Stay tuned.

I continue to use and LOVE the Planet Box and I'm told I have convinced a few parents out there to purchase them.  FYI, I don't receive any sort of monetary compensation if you buy anything I recommend on here (though that would be nice!).  I try to use the Planet Box everyday (which means I have to clean it every night - slightly annoying).

Tomorrow's lunch includes: an avocado (natch), grapes, orange slices from an orange given to us by the Julia referenced above (thanks Julia!), leftover chicken cutlet with marinara dipping sauce, and corn and edamame from a Trader Joe's frozen vegetable blend called Soycatash.  I also included a few chocolate covered raisins since the kids who ordered hot lunch will get a dessert in their lunch tomorrow:

Happy New Year everyone!!

The lunch box fairy delivers again - the Planet Box is here!

As you know I have fantasized about a number of stainless steel lunch containers on this website and have added a good number of them to my repertoire with mixed reviews.  You'll remember I swooned over the much ballyhooed Planet Box lunch box only to turn on it later because of it's price, low rating on the "cute" scale, and seeming inflexibility.  Well, as the proud new owner of a Planet Box, I have to say, I was wrong, it's pretty incredible, and Juju and I are in love.

First I have to explain how it came to be that I own a Planet Box lunchbox in the first place.  You'll recall I had vowed to stop purchasing lunch box accessories and focus on making the most of my current stash.  But, I have no control over the Lunch Fairy (who, it turns out, is alive and well and living in New York - after a brief sojourn in Los Angeles when she brought me these).

One of my oldest and dearest friends Erin told me she was coming to LA to visit her family and friends with her husband and ADORABLE 3 month old son, Freddy.  Erin has done so much for me over the years; she consistently goes above and beyond what normal good friends do for one another and I hope I she knows how much I appreciate all she has ever done for me.  Naturally I offered to loan Erin a bunch of Juju's old baby stuff to spare her the hassle of lugging a car seat or stroller across the country or wonder where her little guy would be able to nap comfortably.   Considering how many times Erin has helped me pack up and move dorm rooms and apartments, lug odd-sized things around Manhattan, fend off unwanted advances from cab drivers, and just been there for me as one of the most positive influences in my life for the last 15 or so years, it was the least I could do.  And since her sister lives so close by, I didn't really think I had done very much by dropping the stuff off before her her arrival.

Well, according to Erin, I had done her such a big favor that she deemed Juju and I (but let's be honest, it was mostly for me!) worthy of a visit from the Lunch Fairy.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I opened up a box left on my doorstep last week containing the Planet Box, a beautiful purple carrying case, and groovy magnet/stickers to go on top.  It was so unexpected and unnecessary yet absolutely the perfect gift.  Thank you Erin.  If only you knew getting to hang out with you and Scott and Freddy was gift enough!  You're amazing.

Juju played with the box (without food) all night long and I was so excited to pack her lunch in it the next day.  It has so far exceeded my expectations.  The box is really well designed and I love that the lunch is packed flat (it looks like a mini lap top in a case when packed) so it's easy to store in my crowded refrigerator.  My only problem is that I end up serving more food than I normally would because I try to fill each space with food for aesthetic reasons.  I either need to get over that or figure out ways to make less food look like more.

Here are the three lunches I have served so far with the Planet Box.  The first is shells and cheese with peas, cucumber, avocado, strawberries, and a few chocolate covered raisins.

Today I served cottage cheese, brown rice, tomatoes and cucumbers, strawberries and raspberries, and a mini brownie bite.  I am not sure how I feel about sending a dessert every day.  It was easy last year knowing that we couldn't send any dessert; I didn't have to decide.  I hadn't been sending dessert this year until I learned that on Mondays, the hot lunch served at school comes with a dessert.  I didn't want Juju to feel left out when sitting next to her hot lunch-eating friends so I sent a sweet with her lunch too.  Today's lunch experience also revealed that Juju is probably the first luncher to bring a Planet Box to school. . .nobody noticed that she didn't put the lid back on the cottage cheese container when she was packing up her lunch today and it leaked all over the beautiful new purple carrying case.  Fortunately, it washed pretty easily.  But it was really gross and I'm not sure how to prevent it from happening in the future.

And tomorrow I am serving homemade turkey meatballs, brown rice, green beans, a cut up plum, and ok, yes, another brownie bite.  We have a few small brownies in the freezer leftover from an event this weekend and I might just have to include them until they run out.  My lunch packing-induced OCD is kicking in and I'm just not content to leave any compartments empty.  The first step in healing is admitting you have a problem, right?

I still love Juju's new for school blue lunchbox and I am sure I will go back to it at some point when I decide to switch things up but for now the Planet Box is just too much fun!

I'm still here

I haven't posted much lately because I haven't been packing too many lunches but, for several weeks I have been meaning to tell you all that some of my favorite stainless steel lunch containers are now on sale at Pottery Barn Kids.

The Kids Konserve containers I have are available for the same outrageous price as elsewhere ($26 for a set of 3) however you have a better choice of colors at Pottery Barn - no earth tones there, just pink, red, blue, and green.  Oh and I just checked the link, it looks like red is on sale for $19.99.  That's better than the Amazon price.

I seem to be on the same wavelength as Pottery Barn's buyers because they have also brought in the much coveted Planet Box lunch box I lusted about here.  However, I have to say that upon examining the Planet Box lunch box up close and personal, I'm really glad I didn't take the plunge and buy it online. {Insert audible gasp here} While I love how neat it is (the multiple containers I normally pack can get complicated) it just doesn't seem that exciting in person.  The areas for the food are smaller than I thought and it is simultaneously too limiting (what if I want to pack things that don't conform to it's shape?) and too suggestive (what if I only want to pack two items and can't fill up the rest of the lunchbox?).  It also seems like too much work for a toddler and not enough fun-looking either.  Maybe I'll buy it when it inevitably goes on sale.  I know Pottery Barn Kids shoppers generally have a lot of money to burn but my guess is they will opt for a cuter looking lunch box.

Speaking of cute looking lunch boxes, PBK also solved a problem for me.  I have a little girl who is obsessed with the color blue.  But almost every blue lunchbox out there screams BOY BOY BOY.  It's not that I am opposed to buying her a lunchbox that was clearly intended for a male lunch buncher, it's just that she isn't into Spider-Man or Thomas the Train, or any other images that seem to be plastered on every blue lunchbox out there.  But, lo and behold, in the store that on every other occasion has decided that pink is for girls and blue is for boys, I found a lunchbox that is both blue and girly enough that I won't have to deal with questions from other people who think my 3 year old needs to prove to the world that she is feminine.  Juju will be strolling up to her new school with this lunchbox in hand (only hers doesn't say Caden) and she's pretty excited about it: