A Trip to the Market

I have to say, the Market at 11 AM is a lot busier than at 3PM when we normally go. It took us almost five minutes just to find a parking space, whereas we can usually find one or find someone pulling out almost as soon as we get there.
What we got this week:

• Celery
• 2 heads of broccoli
• Cauliflower
• A dozen red beet eggs
• Butcher Bologna
• A block of Cheddar cheese
• Organic Strawberries
• Half a watermelon
• Blueberries
• Organic red grapes for 99 cents a pound! For us, this is cheap even for grapes that aren't organic. We were shocked, but they look good and taste great.

We're having sort of an 'end-of-the-summer' cookout this weekend with family, which is why we got the bologna and cheese and some extra eggs, along with the watermelon.

The strawberries are just for me! We only got a little box :( some of the boxes didn't look so good. They were either very over-ripe or growing some of that fuzz strawberries can get. I guess we have to expect that since they come all the way across the country (Strawberries are only in season here in June, I think).

It was a good trip - but we have a ton of fruit now! The next couple bentos might be fruit-heavy.

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6 days till school starts!

Last Day of Band Camp

Today's our official 'last day' of camp - we take pictures this morning, practice all afternoon, and have our first real performance tonight at 7, so it will be a longggg day.

Half of a sub, that was part of a band fundraiser, 2 red beet eggs both cut in half and stacked, salad, broccoli, and half a peach.

I'm also taking some apple...

We don't get red apples very often, and the checkered pattern doesn't really show up on the yellow ones, so I thought I would take advantage of this!

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The No-Name Bento

It has been a long day, my brain is on the frits (fritz? Is this even a word? That's how bad it is) and so today is a no-name bento.

My lunch, on top of a department store ad (woops. I woke up later than usual.)

Top: Turkey/Romaine/Cheddar scraps roll-ups. Note to self: More romaine next time. We've been testing out different brands of turkey, and I don't particularly like this one! Peach, Broccoli, Red Beet Egg
Bottom: Leftover pasta that wouldn't fit in yesterday's lunch, salad.
Spaghetti sauce and dressing on the side.

XX

8 days till school starts! Where did this summer go?!?

Another Meatless Lunch

I'm out of baguette bread, and the idea of eating a wrap wasn't floating my boat for today, so I decided to have pasta as a main course instead.


Top: Penne (with spaghetti sauce on the side)
Bottom: Carrots and broccoli, the last of the bisquick biscuits, a red beet egg wrapped with mini cupcake liners, a quarter of a peach (ate the rest for breakfast) and the leftover pieces of cheese from shapes that I've cut out over the past week or two.

HOT MESS.

^^ That is what our guard instructor teasingly yells when we fail.

Today's lunch was a HOT MESS. It was the first lunch that I tried to use my new teensy weensy box from Jlist. Needless to say, it was a fail. The girls at lunch thought the box was cute, but it's obvious to me that I'm going to have to adapt a lot of my 'lunch staples' in order to make things fit better aesthetically.

And without any more stalling....



Inside the hot mess:

• the usual turkey/romaine/mayo on the last baguette bread in the freezer
• three cherries
• salad with broccoli
• red beet egg and part of a leftover cheese stick. We've been eating junk for dinner lately...I try to make up for it with my lunches, but every now and again, some leftovers find their way in.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better looking.

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New Bento Box!

No food in this post, sorry.

Today the bento box that I ordered from Jlist came, all wrapped up in Japanese newspaper! I wasn't expecting to get it until sometime next week, as their site says shipping can take 2-5 weeks, but it arrived 12 days after they shipped it all the way from Japan, 16 days total from the day I ordered it.

Of course I snapped some pictures, and I'm actually holding the items in a few of them just to show size and proportion.

First impression: WHOA. It's tiny. I know it holds 510 ml, which is basically the same as the tupperware I started with originally...but WOW. I guess the trick is just to pack tightly, and take dense foods. I can see a lot more pasta/rice in my future (not hard for the girl who loves carbs). Any similar experiences?

I also got 3 cute little snack boxes, which will come in handy. I recently found out that while I have to leave my house around 7:15 in order to get to school, I don't eat lunch until 12:45, and I'm definitely not used to going that long between meals!

The next week or so will give me just enough time to play around with these before the start of the school year :)

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Chick'n Nugget Meatless Bento

The main attraction: 4 Morningstar 'Chick'n' nuggets. I was eating them cold here, and I have to say I think they're better cold than they are warm (I had to test one the night before to make sure I liked them before packing in a band camp bento)

Other treats:

• bisquick biscuits
• the last frozen mac n cheese cup (on my to do list this weekend!)
• mashed potato balls? not sure what else to call them, just fried mashed potatoes
• red beet egg, salad, broccoli, carrots

This is my meatless bento for the week :) and also my What's For Lunch Wednesday entry! Check out the other lunches here!

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Another two-for-one special

Going backwards and starting with today's bento:

We made meatballs for dinner one night in the crockpot, and I asked to leave a couple out so I could put them in a lunch. Then I made some penne the night before, and put the two together with a little container of spaghetti sauce on the side.
Also in this bento:

• Bisquick biscuits (at this rate, I'll be out by the end of band camp)
• One of the last few egg rolls still in the freezer
• Red beet egg (We're not going to make it to market this week! I'm so upset, I love packing these in my lunch!)
• lots of grapes and an apple on the side

Now yesterday's:

In this lunch:

• salad with leftover chicken, some broccoli and carrot flowers
• bisquick biscuits
• apple, some cherries, almonds, red beet egg

4 days down, 4 to go! I have the sock tan to prove it.

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Two-for-One

I found one picture leftover from the end of last week that somehow got lost in transit...(my computer is in the shop, so I'm a little out of my element on someone else's) and I also have one for today's band camp.

Last week's bento:

Inside:

• little ham and cheese flower sandwiches
• potato 'chips' (cut/baked them myself, didn't get very crispy but were still good)
• salad with carrot and red beet egg
• some goldfish and apple

Band Camp Bento:

Inside:

• bisquick biscuits with cheddar and a slice of pepperoni. The cheddar was heart shaped too, but I microwaved them to make the cheddar stick, and it lost shape.
• salad and grapes
• red beet egg, apple, soft pretzel bites.

The camp bento took me about fifteen minutes, with prep the night before (cutting the cheddar and pepperoni and putting them with the biscuits), and it's actually one of my favorites. Maybe because all the cheese and pepperoni is so bad for me! ;)

Or because it actually somewhat resembles a bento lunch for once! Either way, this is going to be my link over on What's for Lunch Wednesday! :)

2 days of band camp down, 7 more (and 7 lunches!) to go.

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Muffin Tin Monday and first-day-at-band-camp bento

A very quick Muffin Tin Monday (and not technically in a muffin tin...oops)


Bottom row: part of a homemade baguette with turkey and lettuce
Top row: Carrots in dip, watermelon, Broccoli

Check out other Muffin Tin Meals here :)

In other news, today was the first official all-day band camp. Phew. I survived with a bit of sunburn, some wonky sock tan, and sore feet (better sneakers in my future). This morning's bento took me less than twenty minutes, with some minimal prep last night:

Turkey/lettuce/mayo sandwich on more baguette, with broccoli and watermelon, a red beet egg, grapes underneath sun chips. YUM.

Yes, it's pretty similar to the muffin tin meal. Can you tell I'm trying to use up certain foods? ;)

I've got the guinea pig running around here on the desk just begging for attention, so adorable.

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