Bento Box Lunches

We're loving our bento boxes! They make it so easy to think "what veggie today? What fruit today? What grain today?" ...etc. I don't like making lunches much, but this makes me love it! It really is fun for me, because I like variety, and I hate shopping...so I always have stuff on hand. Not to mention that I love the idea of not creating tons of trash by using a reusable container (and water bottle).

And it helps that I have three different types. Because all are great, but have different purposes.

One for paul that stacks and typically has a salad in the bottom and hummus and veggies on top, or nuts and fruit or cracker mix on top...something snacky. (the top compartment has a removable little container where we put the hummus. It's fine for a thick dip like that).

Ethan has a large and small one to choose from, depending on if he takes a an apple and granola bar on the side or something (then I'd fill a small bento box with the rest of stuff). If I put olives or pickles in this I just wrap them in a napkin or papertowel to absorb the excess moisture, so it doesn't seep into the other compartments. (no one likes pickle-flavored berries) =P

None of these do well with wet items, so we have a set of small leak-proff containers we use for dressings or yogurts, etc.

build-your-own ants on a log

salami pesto sandwich bites

egg salad sandwich

build-your-own pesto open-face

salt and vinegar chips

pb jam rollups and homemade marshmallows

chef salad

pb honey rollups

pickle and cheese ham rollup with pita chips and hummus

sweetpotato/root veggie chips, salami and babybel cheese

pesto, spinach leaf and tomato open-face bites and veggies straws

pecans and dates (Doritos for a special treat)

chicken and pesto bites, pirate booty, snap peas

pasta lugano (peppers, ham, sausage, mozarella), olives

pickle and cheese chicken rollup and honey mustard pretzels

Here is a breakdown of the lunches we've enjoyed this year....
I just try to have a lot of these on hand in my food pantry or freezer and pull out different things each week to keep variety

Sandwiches
- pb jam rollups (or pb honey)
- pesto, tomato open-face
- meat and cheese with cucumber and tomato
- homemade pizza lunchable (crustless bread rolled flat, premade tomato sauce I freeze in cubes and add one to a sauce container in the morning to thaw during day, and toppings--don't forget the knife to spread the sauce)
- egg salad

Sandwich alternatives
- stackers (cut up apples, pickles, cheese, ham, cucumbers, etc. and use a toothpick)
- parfait (yogurt, granola and a fruit)
- cottage cheese and a fruit (or BBQ chips)
- pickle and cheese roll-up (breadless--in a slice of canadian bacon or sandwich meat instead)
- Chicken salad (like tuna salad, with pickles and dill and sunflower seeds, on lettuce, not bread)
- Apple rounds with peanut butter and raisins

Cracker Stuff
- pita chips with hummus
- pretzels with hummus (or cheese)
- mustard pretzels
- veggies traws
- pirate booty (or "Natural" cheetos)

Veggies
- cucumbers
- carrots
- pickles
- canned olives
- edemame (organic soy beans)
- canned green beans
- frozen peas
- celery (with cheese slices or build "ants on a log" style)

Fruit
- pineapple
- mandarins
- tangarines
- blueberries (other berries)
- grapes
- apple slices
- dried fruit: raisins, apricots, figs, etc.

Meat and Such....
- canadian bacon slices (or cubed ham)
- pepperoni
- salami slices
- left over chicken and turkey pieces
- thin sandwich meat slices
- canned chicken or tuna
- hard boiled eggs

Desserts (we typically do fruit, but throwing in a fun surprise now and then keeps it fun)
- dates
- gingersnap cookies
- plums
- bark thin/fruit or nut brittle
- fruit leather

Other
- trailmix
- jerky
- nuts and a dried fruit combo (almonds and craisins)



Typical Week Menu Breakdown
Monday - Sandwich
Tuesday - Stacker
Wednesday - Parfait or cottage cheese
Thursday - Sandwich
Friday - Build-your-own Style (pizza, sandwich or ants on a log type thing)

14 Consumerism Habits

I was going to write a post about a Disposable Society...but I found these interesting facts about our Society's current consumerism trends....

Did You Know...?

1. There are 300,000 items in the average American home (LA Times).

2. The average size of the American home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years (NPR).

3. 1 out of every 10 Americans rent offsite storage—the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry over the past four decades. (New York Times Magazine).

4. 25% of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park cars inside them and 32% only have room for one vehicle. (U.S. Department of Energy).

5. The average 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with just 12 daily (The Telegraph).

6. 3.1% of the world’s children live in America, but they own 40% of the toys consumed globally (UCLA).

7. The average American woman owns 30 outfits—one for every day of the month. In 1930, that figure was nine (Forbes).

8. The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually (Forbes).

9. The average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year (Huffington Post).

10. Some reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago (The Story of Stuff).

11. Americans spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education (Psychology Today).

12. Shopping malls outnumber high schools. And 93% of teenage girls rank shopping as their favorite pastime (Affluenza).

13. Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items.The research found we lose up to nine items every day—or 198,743 in a lifetime. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list (The Daily Mail).

14. The $8 billion home organization industry has more than doubled in size since the early 2000’s—growing at a staggering rate of 10% each year (Uppercase).

So, that said...

Which of these above mentioned facts can you work on so you and your family aren't just another contributor to these statistics?

*These facts taken from www.becomingminimalist.com