Weekend Cooking: A Week of Packed Lunches

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And now for something completely different! Today's Weekend Cooking post is doing double-duty as part of the Pin It and Do It challenge sponsored by Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity. The challenge is basically to get you to use some of the things you've pinned to your Pinterest boards; you can do anything from crafts and cooking to fashion, organization, or workouts.

My challenge to myself was also inspired by Trish, who tweeted about a woman who makes four school lunches every single day for her two sets of twins, now aged nine and six. Let that sink in a minute. Yes, the woman deserves sainthood. And if you click the link (lunches for a year), you'll see that her lunches are not just PB&J day after day. She gives her kids variety and nutritious foods and is even creative in her packaging!

So I figured if she could pack four lunches a day for an entire school year, I could pack one lunch a day for a single week for Mr. BFR. I met my challenge, and found that once I was in the groove, it wasn't so hard. Except, well, he's back to scrounging for himself. Ooops.

First I'll show you the lunches I made, and then I'll say something about lessons learned and packing containers. Click the images to see them full size and to read the descriptions of what's in each box.

My assessment: Day 1 was totally uninspired, but, hey, you gotta start somewhere. On Day 3, I was sure the chicken and crackers wouldn't be enough food so I added a bunch of Cheddar slices. I was surprised when Mr. BFR said it was too much food; he ate the leftovers as a late-afternoon snack!

My assessment: Both lunches for the last two days were a hit. Again, hardly clever, but better than what he usually packs for himself. I had to laugh, because he commented on not having a treat on Day 4! I guess the little things really do count.

Things I learned

• It's really hard not to rely on cheese and as a filler every day.
• It's really hard not to add in some nuts and dried fruit every day.
• If you don't buy/eat lunch meat it's really hard to come up with something different every day.
• I still want to try some mason jar salads, because I know Mr. BFR is happy to eat salads instead of sandwiches.

Notes on containers

• We use the Rover box from Planet Box, which comes with the two small containers you can see on Day 5. We made a decision a couple of years ago to avoid plastic as much as possible, which is why we bought this box. Planet Box now makes a few more sizes, and we may have bought the Launch if it had been available then.
• When Mr. BFR packs something that needs to be microwaved, we use glass containers with plastic lids. When he's working where there's no microwave, we sometimes use thermoses.
• Pottery Barn Kids also makes some nice metal boxes, most of which come with plastic lids.
• I love the containers shown on What Lisa Cooks, but alas they're plastic. Regardless, I may cave and get some silicon cups to use as dividers in our glass containers.

One question for you: If you have any good packed lunch ideas or pins, let me know. I feel so inadequate when it comes to lunch, especially when Mr. BFR doesn't have access to a microwave (meaning no leftovers from dinner).