Creating your lunch box pantry (Pantry renovation Part I)

   Spring Break started around our house this time last week.  And it continues until next Sunday at this time!  Yes, we are blessed (or so some would say) with two weeks of Spring vacation this year.  In light of the two week break, I opted to take one week off from Daycare as well.  So, my Spring Break has just started!

    One of the things that I try to do each time I have some down time is pick something around the house to organize, or de-clutter!  This time it is the Pantry.  My goal is that when we go back to making lunches next week, that things will be organized so that even my 9 year old son can get himself organized to make his own lunch.

   The first thing we did was sort out the lower cupboard where the granola bars and protein bars and what-not are stored.  This cupboard has a drawer that rolls out and is low enough for the kids to get into without help.  Using two vegetable bins (you can find them at Walmart or Zellers or Target), we created a space for bars (of all sorts) and a space for packages of crackers and rice cakes and individual fruit cups and apple sauces.  On this same shelf, there is room for a package of juice boxes and some larger unopened containers of mandarin oranges and applesauce as well as extra jars of peanut butter and honey and jam.  This way if the current jar ends up empty, we will have less of a chance of someone having to holler, "Is there anymore peanut butter?"  

   Next thing we did was move the containers of dried fruit (raisins and apricots, we left the dried cranberries in the baking cupboard) into the same cupboard with the granola bars and crackers and such.  Duncan also found a container for the cashews, and another one for the almonds, that were sitting on a shelf in plastic bags.  He put these containers in with the dried fruit.

   Typically, we keep a good selection of fruit in the fruit bowl and then more apples and oranges in the fridge.  Cut-up veggies are usually kept in small containers on the shelves in the fridge, but they end up anywhere once inside.  Duncan asked if we could use the same kind of containers as we had used for the granola bars in the cupboard, however he soon figured out that they didn't fit.  Those containers also did not have lids to keep the veggies from drying out.  He explained that he could never find the small containers of veggies when he wanted them.  So, instead, we found a bigger container that fit perfectly on the shelf above the fruit drawer.  We put a small container of celery inside the bigger one, and then filled up the empty space with carrot sticks.  Not everyone in our house likes celery sticks but they all like carrots.  Next, he found the container of dip and the container of vanilla yogurt and placed them on the same shelf with the box of veggies.  

   The third space we worked on was the big cutting board area that sits on the counter right beside the stove.  There is a basket there that holds the current loaf of bread or package of bagels.  Next to it, is where I keep the container or tin that holds whatever our baking is for that day or week.   Duncan went and found the spreader he likes and moved it into the knife block so it would be close to the bread.  He also moved the peanut butter, the nutella and the jar of honey from the big pantry into the spice cupboard, "Because that makes it close to the bread for sandwiches".  And it really doesn't matter to me if the peanut butter and such is hanging out with the vinegars, the Worcestershire sauce and the spice jars, as long as he likes it.  

   The final leg of our lunch box pantry Reno was the lunch bags, water bottles and assorted containers needed for the actual packing part.  I have the lunch bags stored in the cupboard right near the big cutting board, and he thought that was great, but the water bottles should be there too, he told me.  So we moved them.  Next, Duncan went downstairs and a few minutes later reappeared with a plastic basket in his hands.  He proceeded to remove a variety of lunch containers from the drawer where we keep those sorts of things (as well as all the other smaller Tupperware type stuff, and assorted plastic plates and cups and extra bits for water bottles, sippy cup lids etc) and put them into the plastic basket.  He then stored the basket on the shelf below the lunch bags and water bottles.  Very impressive.  I didn't bother to ask him where we should store the half bag of potatoes, two red onions and the butternut squash that he had taken out of the cupboard to make room for the basket.  I guess that is my part of the re-organizing project.

    "Hey, Mum...Do you think I could make lunch?  Well, it could be kinda like a 'practice' lunch, just to make sure that everything has a good spot.  Can I?"

"Sure. As long as you eat everything you make."

Tomorrow, I owe you all the recipe for the Ginger Molasses cookies!

Until then, happy packing!

Earthquake Emergency Preparedness at Home

 It is a bit of a running joke amongst members of my family when they visit our home..."Nobody gonna go hungry in this house any time soon!"  I don't know how often I have heard my parents mutter this phrase over the years.
Well, in my defense, I do feed upwards of 10-12 people over the course of a given day, and my experience is that those said people like when there is food in the house!  However, it could also be said that I could feed the whole neighbourhood for a week if I had to.
So, when I began to prepare my "Emergency Preparedness Plan" for Daycare (all licensed facilities in BC are required to prepare and maintain both a full emergency kit as outlined by the BC government and a full facilitiy Emergency Plan for a variety of Situations), the food part was easy!  As was much of the "kit", due to the fact that as a family we do our share of camping and therefore have things like a camp stove and fuel, a large selection of flashlights, wind-up radios and flashlights, extra blankets, first aid, water and so on (visit Canada's emergency preparedness website for a full list of items both necessary and suggested, www.getprepared.gc.ca ).
But last Friday, in the wake of the horrific events unfolding in Japan, and then a Tsunami alert announced for much of Vancouver Island, as well as just about all of the Coastal areas of the Pacific Ocean, I spent a good part of the day and into the weekend, thinking about our emergency kit and plans, and went looking for holes.  I discovered that I only knew for certain where one flashlight was (without going into the emergency kit in the Trailer or the shed); that there were no toothbrushes in the "to-go" bags, and that it was time to replace the water (12 litres each for 10 people!).  The next thing I did (which might sound strange to some folks) was start making a list of what we would eat as we worked our way through three days stuck in the house.  I plan to stick a copy of this list into the emergency kit as well as tape one to the shelf in the crawl space where we keep much of our bulk pantry items. 
One of the things to remember, if you are in a situation where you can cook (either on your gas bbq outside or over a camping stove), begin by using the food in your fridge or your freezer.  The first day, the food in your fridge will still be good, but you will need to cook it that day.  The next day, the food in your freezer (as long as you have not been opening the door of the freezer) will still be good, but again, you will have to ensure that you can cook it!  Just remember that any food that would need to be refridgerated after cooking (so those leftovers you would normally use for lunches!) need to be eated up that same day.  By the second morning, you will be ready to move on to your dry goods, as well as any bread or baking that is in your freezer.
Some suggetions for Emergency meals at home that don't require heat (for when you run out of gas for the bbq or the camp stove, or if you don't have access to either of those items): Dry cereal with tetra pak milk or canned milk, or powdered milk if you have that much water.  If it is the first day, you may have some yogurt to use up in your fridge.  Eat the fresh produce you have in the house like bananas or berries, save apples for the end as they have a much longer shelf life.  Use up any lettuces you might have on that first day, and have a salad with canned tuna or sardines, and some cheese.  Canned, ready-to-eat soups can be eaten cold, and if you are feeding more than one person, it is great to lower the sodium of these items by using no-salt-added canned tomatoes, to the soups to stretch them to feed a group of four or six.  Canned fruit is a great way to get vitamin c and fibre into everyone, so keep things like canned pineapple, mandarins, applesauce and fruit cocktail in your emergency food kit.  Dried fruit, like raisins and cranberries or apricots are great sources of fibre.  Canned or bottled 100% juice is good too.  Be sure and add some low or no-salt canned vegetables to your kit.  Things like canned peas, corn and beets are full of nutrition and can be eaten cold as long as you remember to include a manual can opener.  Packaged oatmeal cookies or granola bars are great if you are stuck in the house, but also if you get told you have to leave, these are things that can travel well to your next destination.  Energy bars are good too, but often need to be eaten with water or juice.
Something else to think of when you are preparing your emergency food kit, include some candy or chocolate bars (altho these need to be eaten up about every 3 o 4 months as they don't have a long shelf life).  Fruit gummies are great for the kids, and (as will the colouring books and crayons and story books) will help them feel like things are sort of normal (unless of course, you never give them those!), just like when you tell them to go and brush their teeth after they have eaten them ! (because you remembered to include toothbrushes and toothpaste in your emergency kit!)

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Packing!










http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/prepare_now/prepare.html

Was that really the best price?

Ah, another impending trip to the grocery store.  It involves the usual chores of checking the fridge, the pantry, the freezer and the opinions of other household members (the cat's request was that Grandma and Grandpa's dog be removed from the house and returned to wherever she came from...apparently, he wants to go back to eating on the floor and hanging out in the big play room during daycare time...In a few days, Emmy, it will all be back to normal, and you can run away from the lego cars to your heart's content...In the meantime, go back to enjoying your newfound Cat-tertainment of the fish swimming in the aquarium)...But I digress...
   When it comes to packing lunches, in our house, we try and take a "litterless" approach whenever possible.  Sandwich boxes (I like the Lunchbots stainless steel ones), thermoses, containers for yogurt and cookies, carrot sticks and dip, water bottles.  You know the drill.  We have some great sandwich containers: beyond the stainless steel Lunchbots, we also have Tupperware sandwich boxes, and some snackTAXI's.  They are great when you need to take your lunch, but don't want to carry around the bulky box afterwards.  They are fabric velcro closing snack or sandwich bags (2 sizes), that have a nylon easy-to-clean lining.  All great gear for saving on garbage creation and for saving money.  Saving money, because we all know that it is cheaper to make your own snacks and pack them than it is to let someone else pack them and sell them to you prewrapped and then boxed up in groups of  5 or 6 or 24!  However, while I stand firm on the pre-packaged "Lunchables" or lean cuisine type meals, I do give in and stock (both for their enjoyment and my sanity) cheese strings or Babybels, applesauce, granola bars and small yogurts (the deal being that the yogurt and applesauce containers have to only be used for lunches and that the empty containers come home to be washed and used for daycare paints, glue or other craft helper uses).
    So, I did a little homework this week and investigated where you get the best value for your dollar (and your nutrition) when buying the standard lunchbox fillers.  The yogurt was the easy one:  watch for the sales, as long as you have a few different brands that your family will eat, and aim not to pay more than 0.50 per serving.  Most yogurts are the same, when you compare similar fat contents.That and the sugar content, those are the decisions that you have to make for your family.  The ideal being about 2% mf (for younger children or teens who are maintaining a healthy weight, go 1% or no fat for adults), and the lower the sugar the better, staying away from artificial stuff.  Best is creating your own: plain yogurt and adding your own fresh or frozen fruit, and using honey or maple syrup as your sweetener (if you brought back a bottle of vanilla extract from your last trip to Mexico, add that too!  Mmmmm!).  Bottom line, the less ingredients in your yogurt, the better, both health-wise and taste-wise.  However, if your family will only eat somebody's 2% fruity yogurt, go for it and feel good that they are eating yogurt.  Yogurt (plain or fruit filled) will give your loved one a serving of dairy (and for your kids, that means you are only looking for one or two more servings to meet the RDA).
   Granola bars is another one: we buy Nature Valley crunchy ones or the Kashi chewy ones (altho these are probably the most expensive if you go regular price).  Comparing sizes and prices and nutrition values, Kashi gives you the best bang for your buck.  The key?  The same as the yogurt: the fewer ingredients on the list, the better.  And the Kashi ones had no added palm oil, and I could pronounce and recognize everything on the ingredient list.  However, regular price around here, they go for 4.99 a box (so 6 bars), when you compare with other store brands, you can get the same number of bars for half the price.  The Nature Valley crunchy bars (the ones in the green package containing 2 bars), sell at reg price around here for 3.99 a box, but regularly go on sale for 2 for 5.00 or even 1.99 a box.  They too have a reasonable ingredient list (pronounceable and recognizeable), and average about 4g of fat per bar (so 8 per package).  My suggestion?  Buy what your kids will eat (because it's no deal if it goes in the garbage), but stay away from long ingredient lists (and I won't mention the one big name that I left off of here, that tends to be a big seller because they advertise that they have "Peanut Free" bars...they are filled with puffed rice and all kinds of other ingredients...their bars are smaller than both the other brands I mentioned earlier and when you compare same size servings, they have more fat and sugar, and less fibre).
   The third and last item I compared was Applesauce...Unsweetened (albeit they make a variety of mixed flavours like berry apple and peach apple etc)...Motts, Presidents choice and Compliments (owned by Sobeys) were the three brands of applesauce cups I compared, all unsweetened, and all offered similar nutritional information.  The big thing for me was that as far as I could tell, both Presidents Choice and Compliments are really Leahy (available some places as Applesnax).  Mott's is a US company that began in New York State as a Cider company.  It has been through a variety of changes over the 100 plus years of existance and is now owned by Cadbury-Schweppes out of England.  See their website for more info http://motts.com/ 
Leahy is a Canadian company, based in Franklin, Quebec.  Growing up in the Chateauguay Valley, Franklin was (and still is) "Apple Country", and therefore close to my heart.   Leahy offers both organic and regular unsweetened apple products (both of which are available as Compliments and Presidents Choice across Canada), and are made with Canadian apples.  Price-wise, both of the store brands are slightly less expensive than the name brand, altho Motts is the one available at Costco. Both of the store brands are availabe in larger jars (700ml) and if you go to Zellers, you can find Applesnax (Leahy) in both organic and regular unsweetened varieties in the large jars.
So, while Motts may be the name brand on the shelves, in this case my heart is with the store brands, and my daughter's taste buds are too. 
To read more about Leahy, http://applesnax.com/EN-CA/index.html
The Leahy company is also Apple Boost another interesting concept:
http://www.appleboost.com/index.php

Now, to get back to that grocery list!  But first, take Grandma and Grandpa's doggy for a walk!
Happy Packing!

what did we eat?

When I was in elementary school, we ate lunch in a large cafeteria (okay, well, it seemed large back then!).  I remember when the school bought new tables, and we had the ones that had benches attached to the table (before that, it was all wooden tables and chairs)...I guess those would be old now!
There was a kitchen too, but no real hot lunch to speak of.  Well, there were hot dog days and pizza days...Oh what pizza we had!  It was just flatbread and tomato sauce (and I saw it at the grocery store last time I was in Quebec, not sure you can get it outside Quebec tho'), and we thought that it was soooo good!  And I do recall that there was the odd time when you could get soup, and there were always drinks you could buy...chocolate or white milk and then fruit drinks in cartons too: grape or orange (colour)...
So, I guess when it came to packing lunches, our parents were really "on their own"...my lunch usually consisted of a sandwich (pb and j or bologna and mustard with cheese), an apple or an orange and cookies or a granola bar.  We always had Nature Valley Granola bars, that came in the two pack.  And we would get money to buy a drink, or on hot dog days or pizza days we could have that.  Really quite boring...one of my best friends hated sandwiches, except for pb and j, and her dad almost never packed her that.  He packed amazing sandwiches!  Egg salad or tuna or ham and cheese with lettuce and tomato.  Or cream cheese with grape jelly!  Yum!  It was my good fortune that when my lunch was pb and j, she would happily trade with me.  So, I started making pb and j all the time just so she would trade with me.  Unless there was meatloaf...My dad made amazing meatloaf (he still does!) and a meatloaf sandwich with some chili sauce and lettuce was my all time favourite lunch!  Just recently, I made meatloaf for supper...I'm not afraid to say that I was disappointed there were no leftovers to make just one meatloaf sandwich.

So maybe ask your family what they like and then keep a little list on the fridge to use as inspiration...Tonight, Duncan asked me if I was making muffins for breakfast (must have seen me bring the blueberries up from the big freezer).  When I asked him why, he said he really likes it when he gets muffins with butter in his lunch instead of a sandwich.  I said, "better than ham and cheese?" and he said, "Well, it makes for a nice change"...
Guess I am getting up a little early tomorrow to make muffins!