The Lunch Boxes Journey - January 2016

i have wanted to prepare lunch boxes for the boys to bring to school. but the L word - that's laziness, to you - always overcomes the want. its way much easier just shoving a couple of bucks into the boys' hands. but this year, this year, i pushed myself. that plus 4 boys at 2 schools really burns a hole in our pockets.

so beginning the later part of the first week of school, the earlier part i was busy beyond words, i started the boys on this journey. during the school holidays i stocked up on good containers of tupperwares and other brands. i wanted the ones with sections but they aren't always easy to get hold of. so i bought some with sections and some without. i got dividers from daiso for the ones without sections.

i'm not the most adventurous or most creative person. i'm like wayyyy at the bottom of the pile so i didn't plan big. it would be sandwiches generally, more on additional food or snacks to make the lunch boxes more interesting. some occasionally there will be food that takes more effort to make, i.e. fried rice, noodles, pasta, eggs and the like. or maybe leftovers which are much easier to prepare.

so for the month of january, we've went on the journey, stopping a couple of times particularly when the boys have after school activities or when i'm super lazy (i'm always lazy, but this is super lazy). other than that, we've, or i've, been good and stayed true to my plans. so true that even hubby have decided to join in and bring his own lunch box. of course his has more variety since he would take the effort to prepare his side dishes, something i don't do.

the sandwiches that we've had this month - ranging from beef sandwiches, beef wraps, egg sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, beef in mini buns, fried eggs in buns.

and then the breakfast set of hard boiled eggs, sausages & mini buns, burgers, meat and hard boiled eggs.

and the heavier fried rice, mac n cheese, fried pasta...

i like to stock up on cookies as side for the lunch boxes. i would alternate them with fruit loops, fruits, wafers. i found a lot of sandwich fillings that i think would go down well with the boys. i hope to try them bit by bit next month. hubby brings home from work all sorts of things that would go down well with the boys - jacobs cookies, oreo, zip, toblerone, tiger biscuits, fingers. ah the perks of working in a 'fattening' company.

so far the boys are pretty ok with what i prepare. there are days they come home with not-empty lunch boxes, they don't devour everything, which is ok with me. sometimes its because they don't have time, sometimes they were just not in the mood for what i prepared. fine by me, everyone goes through that. i just get them to finish during lunch or bring to the afternoon school. i also get them to share with friends if they can't finish. i'd rather they bring back empty lunch boxes so that i can wash. out of the four, only ariff is not easy with lunch boxes. he wants to play with his friends during recess and don't want to eat (only applies to lunch boxes though, lunch money is fine by him) and i have had to beg him to bring one measly buttered bread - which is why most pictures only contains 3 lunch boxes.