Ugh... I can never remember to do ANYTHING!

So, as you can probably guess by the post title, bento didn't happen this weekend. My cousin and her daughter came over earlier than expected and I didn't have time. So I ended up just giving the girls both a plate of chicken nuggets and potato smiles. While I was at Wal-Mart though, I found something that is basically a bento box. It's the EZ-Freeze StayFit lunchbox. It has three sectioned compartments, two small, one large, and has a huge freeze pack that is set inside the lid. Unfortunately, it can't be removed, so in order to keep the food inside fresh and cold, you need to freeze the entire lid. What also sucks with that is that it's so bulky, you have to make sure your food is something that can be easily flattened. I tried to put half an ear of corn in my box today, no luck.

Anyway... some pics.

This is the box itself. It's a decent size. It seals pretty much airtight and there are two tabs on each end to clip the box shut.

The top part opens up to hold utensils, or anything else that is small enough to fit. If i get used to this box, I may store pocky in it ^_^

And tada, my actual lunch. Just a small baked potato, some sliced mesquite chicken, and homemade tri-color rotini pasta salad with ham and cucumber slices. From this shot you can also see how big and ridiculous the freezer pack is. I've tried to remove it, but I doubt I'll be able to. So now, I have to take out my potato to reheat it, and I'll probably just toss the chicken in with my pasta and eat it cold. Not the most glamorous of lunch boxes, but it does its job.

And yes, that is a pack of cigs up in the corner there.

BENTO THIS WEEKEND!!!!

So thanks to my new card from my bank, I'm going to be able to get a ton of stuff that's great in a bento, and will hopefully be making a good one (or two, maybe three) this weekend! I'm starting to plan out some ideas for them, and want to try to make a small one for my 15 month old daughter as well. That one probably won't be too elaborate, as I know she'll just make a complete mess of it, but probably a decent sized rice ball and maybe some chicken nuggets or something. I want to make a nice looking one for my husband to take to work with him on Monday, and of course I need something for lunch besides chicken flavored ramen noodles day after day! I swear, because we haven't really had anything that I can take for my lunches, I've gone through two 12-packs over the past couple of weeks (I eat two ramen packs at a time, one isn't enough). I'm dying for something cute and super filling! Yeah I know, I could always make a sandwich or something, but we don't have a lot that's good. We have the pre-packaged white tuna fish in the soft packs, but there's only so much tuna I can handle. I have a jar of Nutella that I've only used two or three times with peanut butter (and will probably toss it soon, that stuff has so much sugar it's unbelievable). The only produce we have at the moment are (now semi) fresh mushrooms, but I've been using those for my mediocre salads whenever I feel like I'm in a salad-type of mood. I've been eating not-so-great tasting oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast in an attempt to drop some of my excess weight. It's just weird. I go shopping, I buy $200 worth of groceries every other week, and it always feels like we never have anything to eat, or I never want to eat anything I buy.

So this week, I'm stocking up on the good stuff. I'm also getting a head of romaine lettuce to use as a "filler", if you will, for my bento boxes. Plus, it makes them look a lot more neat and organized. And, here's what's going to be on my grocery list:

Cucumbers
Baby Carrots
Empire Apples
Red Seedless Grapes
Fresh Sliced Mushrooms
Iceberg/Romaine Lettuce
Fresh Green Beans
Asparagus (I've only recently discovered my love for this veggie, when made right it's tasty!!!)
Corn on the Cob
Tomatoes (for the hubby, I hate tomatoes...blech.)
Frozen Pre-Cooked Chicken Nuggets (for my daughter, I'm planning on drawing faces with ketchup on them! or, possibly cutting faces into slices of cheddar cheese and placing them...or both maybe? so many ideas are coming to me now!!!!!!)

And I know there's probably more that I could use but I can't think of anything else! Unfortunately the store I go to doesn't carry fresh edemame, only the crappy frozen heat-in-microwave stuff, which turns out tasting awful. So my husband would probably have to make a run to our local Asian market to pick some up (as well as some packs of curry boullion and a bag of rice, we get our rice 25lb at a time! lol).

My daughter is having a playdate with her 2nd cousin Hailey (my cousin's daughter, only 11 days younger than mine) on Saturday, so maybe I could make a cute bento box for both of them! I'm planning to get a kid-size table and chair set when I go to Wal-Mart this week, so they'd be able to actually sit at a "big girl" table and eat their lunches. I will definately have pictures of that posted here as well.

If anyone has any other suggestions as to what I could put in a little kid's lunch (younger than 2) that would complement a few chicken nuggets and a cutely decorated rice ball, please don't hesistate to tell me! The difference between the two girls though, is that my daughter has 10 teeth and her cousin just cut her 6th, so my daughter can eat some tougher foods, while Hailey still has to have fairly soft food. I need to know by 4:00pm tomorrow (Wednesday) as to what I should pick up, if I do not already have the item, or something easy that I could do for them. All ideas need to be posted by 12:00pm on Friday, September 4th so I can start preparing everything that night for easy assembly in the morning!