Rainy Day Lunches

We are starting the week on a rainy, dreary and windy Tuesday. I decided to brighten their day with colorful lunches and pack all their favorites.

I packed our yumbox with a blueberry Chobani Champions tube yogurt, apple slices and kiwi, left over chicken, mini ice cream shaped peanut butter sandwiches and some baby carrots with dip. We packed milk today instead of water. 

For my second grader I added some sun with a funny Lunchbox Love Card, and packed his yubo with Pirate Booty and cinnamon almonds, puzzle shaped peanut butter and blueberry jelly sandwiches and vanilla yogurt with Naturebox Vanilla Macroon Granola and a few mini chocolate chips. He brought home made strawberry milk in our thermos Funtainer. Hope the sun peaks out for lunch!

My 5th grader brought lunch in his Laptop Lunches bento box filled with Pirate Booty and Cinnamon Almonds, apples (and mini chocolate chips for his yogurt in the mini container), vanilla yogurt and a nitrate-free salami sandwich on whole wheat bread. He packed some lemonade to bring summer to school.

Let's hope the rain goes away!!

Here are some of the things I used to make these lunches (the links contain affiliate links):

 

Muffin Tin Lunch

We are again out and about today so an early lunch is packed in our Innobaby Din Din platter with lid.

We packed no bake energy bites, strawberries, apples, two jelly sandwiches and some carrots with ranch dip.

And thanks to the lid we can bring our early lunch with us if we are running late :) 

[Review to come - stay tuned]

Things I used for today's lunch:

EaRtH DaY LuNcH

Sunday is Earth Day!

To celebrate we are having an awesome Blog Hop again, so come and join the Earth day fun!

I don't always show everything I pack for the kids but today I wanted to show you that we only pack re-usable lunch containers and utensils. I always pack lunch in a re-usable lunch container like the EasyLunchboxes, the kids also bring a re-usable water bottle with ice water, a spork for yogurt and fruit and since last week a cloth napkin. There is always a yogurt in their lunch, too. I don't make yogurt myself, so that is our only throw away item. However, I do re-use yogurt containers for water coloring, bento pick storage and crafts, so they don't go in the trash either unless they are recycled at school :)

I made a no-waste lunch for today. There is the little boy holding and caring for the Earth sandwich decorated with melted chocolate from a left over chocolate Easter Bunny (re-use and recycle!), mini carrots with Earth bento picks, and yellow peppers with ranch dressing in a re-usable dip container decorated with a pepper heart. Because we heart the Earth. And of course everything is packed in my favorite re-usable EasyLunchboxes container!

If you wonder how I could have made a no-waste lunch with cookie cutter cut sandwiches, here is how:

I do have bread left overs when I cut sandwiches into shapes - obviously. But since I cut my bread before I put the filling in - I can save the rest.

Save the rest? Good question ;)

I save all my bread scraps in a freezer bag in my freezer and once it is full I cut all scraps into cubes and make French Toast Casserole :)

I makes the best French Toast Casserole and I feel good about not throwing away good food :)

Especially if you saw the Food Network Special "Hunger Hits Home" you know why I am especially careful about not wasting food. It is so hard to know that 1 out of 4 children under the age of 5 goes hungry every day here in the United States and I always urge my kids to remember that we should not waste food if others have none!

If you wonder what to do with veggie and other left over scraps, check out this post from BentOnBetterLunches!

Happy Earth Day 2012!

And now please check out Keeley's Earthy lunch here:

Helping with one no-waste lunch at a time!