It's been a couple of weeks since I participated in My Happy List Tuesday.
Here's what's been making me happy these days.
The school year is almost upon us. Last year, I
spent much of the year lunch-less. I worked straight through the day and found
myself ravenous once the last student had left my charge. This was good - I had
a lot of work to do and it was easier to get it done without taking the time
for lunch. I also spent more time with students. This was bad - I didn't eat as
well as is good for me and I missed out on the bonding time with colleagues.
After school there is always a maze of appointments
and things to do. Evening meals proved to also be a challenge.
This year I decided I would take the bull by the
horns and do something I hadn't done in years - make weekly meal plans. There
was a point when I was reading a lot of books about home organization and all
of them recommended a weekly meal plan. My reasons for resisting trying this
included the inability to take advantage of deals at the green grocer or fish
market - a reason that never stood up to examination. Once tried, it was clear
that weekly menu plans simplified life. Even the odd daily deal could be
accommodated by pushing the plans back one day. It should have been a no
brainer to continue this plan. Yet, it's been years since a weekly menu has
been in residence here.
Enter Just Bento, a website
dedicated to the art of packing lunch boxes, Japanese style. It's a wonderful
site full of great resources. One of the personally most helpful parts of the
website were the meal planning PDFs. These PDFs were what inspired me to get
back on the horse with weekly meal planning. After looking at them, I made my
own forms that addressed the needs of my family. The form includes a checklist
for protein sources and one for color balance. It helps me to see visually that
I am creating a varied menu. There is also a check list for items to be made
the night before. The next step is shopping list.
A few weeks ago we took a trip to Ebisuya, a
Japanese grocery store in Medford, MA. It's a wonderful store with a very wide
range of Japanese foods. In the book section of the store was the Just Bento
book! I snatched it up. Even though our stash of o-bentou making supplies is
prodigious, some new tools ended up in the grocery cart.
I bought some boiled egg molds. You open the up, place the raw egg inside, snap closed and boil. Presto – a rabbit or bear shaped boiled egg! Cute, right?
Meanwhile, I have been trying out an app called Snap Recipes for
tackling the large stack of loose recipes that has defied organization. The app
allows you to take up to five photos of the clipped recipe and add information.
Tagging the recipes make them searchable by type. The elimination of that stack
of clipped recipes and the ease of mobile access to them makes this a real win.
It has helped me to work on this project on the go.
Last week I did a trial run
of week one menu plan. I hope to eliminate some of the kinks of my system and
see where my problems lay. Eventually I hope to have at least four weeks of
lunch plans to choose from.
And here’s the give away!
Tools for making your lunch
special!
Cookie cutters you can use
for cookies, sandwiches, omelets, carrots and more. There are even message
stamps – it’s like scrapbooking your food!
Want to win one of these
prizes? Subscribe to my blog and leave a comment below with your email. I will
select the winners on September 15th.
