2 Bento #271 - Forgotten Lunch Non-Bento

Do you want to know what to do when your child forgets their lunch, lovingly prepared by you, when you can't get home and go get it?

This morning, I wanted to know too!  The moment before the carpool attendant opened my daughter's door, I heard a forlorn, "Mommy, where's my lunchbox?"  With quick promises to bring her lunch and not to worry, I headed to the closest grocery store that was open at 7am.  Walmart.  You see, it's not really practical for me to go all the way home, since it's an hour round trip with morning traffic and carpool lines.  Plus, I'm pregnant and exhausted.  So, Walmart.

The other day I posted a homemade version of a "Lunchable".  Today I was SO tempted to grab an actual Lunchable and call it a day.  But...I couldn't do it.  Could not.  I stood in the aisle for about 10 minutes looking over what pre-made lunches exist today.  Plastic bread, meat loaded with nitrates, preservatives, HFCS. tons of sodium and everything else artificial.  Even the so-called "healthy" brand option "Active Pack" had added corn syrup and lots of preservatives.

I seriously considered grabbing a pre-made salad bowl, but they all had cubed meat in it which is basically the same as Lunchable meat.  I don't trust it.  That meant it was up to me to piece-meal it.  Literally.

So, here's what I ended up with.

Produce aisle: Snack Fresh fruit/veggie pack.  Includes sliced apples, cubes of cheddar cheese, carrots and a pack of crackers. - $1.98

Deli aisle: Double pack of hard boiled eggs. - $.98

Dairy aisle: Activia strawberry yogurt smoothie drink. - $.88

Total cost: $3.84

Interestingly enough, this is just a little less than hot school lunch costs at E's school.  We attend a public charter school, but we don't get the same government subsidies as other public schools, so all food is ordered in advance and costs $4 per DAY.  And unfortunately, it's not all that great for the price.

This is also the first time in probably two years I've purchased paper lunch bags!  We ran out a few weeks ago when I packed the last disposable field trip lunch, so I did actually need a new package.

So there you have it.  This was a much better collection of foods for lunch than grabbing one of those pre-made lunches.  Though convenient, they will do your body no favors!  And now that I know exactly what to buy and where to get these lunch components, I'll be in and out in 5 minutes, instead of reading labels for 45 minutes!

[non] Bento #271 - Apples, cheese, carrots, crackers, hard boiled eggs and strawberry yogurt smoothie.