Week #1 Bentos

We made it through the first week of school!  It was easier than I imagined, thanks to a great staff and a little girl who never ceases to amaze me.  And call me a nerd, but I totally loved packing lunches this week.  Here goes:

Day 1: DIY Lunchables. Cheddar, ham slices, crackers, oranges, edamame, watermelon, and a cookie as a treat.
Day 2: Ham and cheese sandwich, oranges, cheese stick, and a cookie.
Day 3: Egg salad and baked tortilla strips, blueberry applesauce, grapes, and cocoa almonds.
Day 4: Corndog mini muffins, cheese stick, cucumbers and ranch dip, grapes, yogurt raisins.
Day 5: Heart-shaped PB&Js, strawberry yogurt tube, cukes and dip, cocoa almonds.

Worth mentioning:  I found a 12 oz. bag of cocoa almonds at Aldi for $4.99 and they're far more wholesome than the Blue Diamond cocoa almonds that most grocery stores sell.  The Blue diamond brand contains a long ingredient list including sucralose (brand name is Splenda) which I steer clear of, while the Aldi brand has cocoa and sugar and oil added to the almonds.  Better price and better ingredients?  Thanks Aldi.  I'm impressed.

I add a small treat to each lunch as incentive to eat--and she thinks this is awesome as I really don't incentivize good and timely eating at home--it's just an expectation.  Some days she hasn't finished her lunch entirely as I'm still feeling out how much I need to pack and she's learning to eat within the time allotted at school. Our deal is that if she hasn't finished her entire lunch, it's perfectly okay, but she can wait until she gets home from school to have the treat.  So far, so good.  But we'll adapt as necessary.

I'm loving the Goodbyn snack containers.  Seriously--they're perfect for a kids' snack.

Snack 1: Strawberries and homemade chewy granola bars
Snack 2: Whole grain goldfish and watermelon
Snack 3: Watermelon and chia pudding (I repeated this snack one of the days)
Snack 4: Cracker sandwiches with nutella and yogurt raisins