Recap of Plane Snacks

We've returned from our 3-week vacation to visit extended family on the East Coast. Do NOT take a peek at my living room right now! Three backpacks, three suitcases and one duffel bag, all awaiting to be unpacked, are strewn all over the floor.

I wanted to give another recap about the snacks I packed for the plane ride.

First, here is what we took back on our homeward-bound flights. 1 Welch's fruit snacks, 1 mandarin orange cup, 1 Mott's applesauce pouch, 1 GoGo Squeez pouch, a few fruit strips, 1 baggie of apricots, 1 baggie of blueberries, 1 Kashi, 1 package of Austin crackers, 2 baggies of Cheez-Its, 1 candy necklace, 2 Clif-Z bars. All of these snacks went into a gallon-size, Ziploc bag - 1 bag per person.

Here's what was left over from the kids' and my snack bags. Seems like quite a bit, but remember that is from 3 people's bags. AND I'd much rather be over-prepared and not use it all, then the alternative ... hungry, cranky kids and therefore hungry, cranky momma!

I learned that Nutri-Grain bars are terrific ... but unfortunately, they easily squish into a flat, yet delicious pancake, making them difficult to eat neatly. Perhaps, they are best saved for a travel-by-car snack. Kashi granola bars, on the other hand, held up great!

So, what do I do with the left-overs? I put the fruit-type snacks into 1 bin, and the other snack foods went into another snack bin. And now I just replenished my Smart Summer Snacking bins, except for the veggies. Time to go shopping for produce!

Rainbow of Foods Bento Lunch

Today's lunch is brought to you by the colors of the rainbow. I truly believe that this is one of the easiest lunch to make. Fruits and veggies provide so much variety of colors; it's a perfect starting point for a rainbow-themed lunch!

Quartered, bright red strawberries began the rainbow-theme of this lunch. Since I didn't have much room in the bento box, I combined the orange and yellow categories by using juicy, peach slices. For the green component, I added a few broccoli florets.

To create the blue section of the food rainbow and to add some protein to the lunch, I hard-boiled an egg and shelled it. After lightly rolled it in blue food coloring, I patted it dry and sliced it into easier-to-eat rounds.

The purple part of the rainbow was provided by grapes. Strips of brown toast provide a few bites of grain. The white component is sticks of jicama, and the black category is compromised of black olives.

What colors and foods could you compile to make a rainbow-themed lunch?

Vacation!

Well, folks, my family is currently on vacation, visiting my parents and my in-loves. So there will be no lunch post today!

Hopefully, I'll have a bit of time this week to make a creative lunch for this Thursday, or possibly next Monday.

Enjoy your summery week!

List of S Foods

You can create your own S Alphabento similar to the one I posted on Monday. Simply take an item from each category, artfully place them in a to-go container, and there you have it - your very own S Alphabento lunch!

Breads/Grains:
Saltines
Scone
Sourdough
Spaghetti
Stoned Wheat crackers
Sun Chips

Dairy:
String cheese
Swiss cheese

Desserts:
Skittles
Shortcake
Snickerdoodle cookies
Sponge cake
Starburst
Strudel

Fruits:
Satsuma (like a mandarin)
Starfruit
Strawberries

Meats/Protein:
Sablefish
Sardines
Sausage
Scampi (small lobster)
Scrambled eggs
Steak
Swedish meatball
Swordfish

Vegetables:
Salad
Salsa
Snowpeas
Spaghetti Squash
Spinach
Sprouts
String beans
Sweet potatoes
Squash
Summer squash
Swiss chard

Combos:
Sandwich
Shish kebab
Sliders
Sloppy joes
Souffle
Spanish rice
Spring roll
Stromboli
Stuffing

S Alphabento

It's been a long time since I've created an Alphabento - a bento lunch in which all of the foods begin with the featured letter. Today, I'm featuring the Letter S Alphabento.

Here's what I began with: Salad dressing, Salad, Skittles (for dessert), Starfruit, Swiss cheese slices and Strawberries, as well as Spinach, Sausage and Swiss Stromboli.

The longest part of the process was making the Stromboli. I winged it, using online recipes as a guideline. Basically, I took pizza dough and rolled it out, adding layers of Swiss cheese, baby Spinach and cooked Sausage crumbles. Rolling it up, I baked it at about 375-degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Next, I sliced the Starfruit. Here's how: using a sharp knife, I trimmed the pointy edges off of the starfruit. Laying it on its side, I cut star-shaped slices.

Into a small container, I dropped in a few Skittles for dessert. I tucked in a slice of Swiss cheese behind a condiment container of Salad dressing - happens to be our favorite - Hidden Valley Ranch!

Lastly, I arranged it everything in an EasyLunchbox. And presto, a S Alphabento lunch.

Review of Plane Snacks

Overall, everything handled the trip well! I realized that I overpacked the snacks (and the games). However, I'd rather overpack than underpack in this area.

The bonus to overpacking and not eating it all on the flights? Extra snacks while we traipse around on vacation!

All of the mandarin orange cups made it through the security screening.

The veggie chips got smashed, just like I thought they would. But I packed a spoon for that purpose. They still tasted just fine.

The NutriGrain bars also ended up getting smushed. Although they tasted delicious, they were a bit messy. I made sure to have wipes on hand.

Lastly, the tuna kit - we were gonna eat them in the airport; however, flights changed, and we ate them on the plane. Downside: they smelled a tiny bit like tuna (obviously), which might offend your fellow passenger. Bumblebee also has a Chicken Salad Kit; that might be a better plan option.

Everything else worked out great, and really satisfied our hunger on the flights and prolonged layover.

Leaving on a Jet Plane ... Snacks needed

Yup, in a few days, we're "leaving on a jet plane". Taking a family vacation back to the East Coast to visit extended family. And besides entertainment for the kiddos (which I have plenty of activities packed), SNACKS is the other thing that MUST be packed when traveling with kids. Or even by myself .. I get grumpy if I don't have something to snack on, OR if I have to pay exorbitant airline prices for less-than-appealing snacks. So ... I pack our own.

Here's what I packed in one bag:

3 packages of Terra veggie chips - 1 oz each

2 Kashi granola bars in different flavors

1 Market Pantry 100% fruit strip

1 SunRype 100% fruit strip 

1 Welch's Fruit Snacks

1 TreeTop fruit-flavored applesauce

2 Nutri-Grains in different flavors

1 package of Austin crackers (not healthy, but fun)

Next, I put everything except the applesauce pouch into a gallon-size Ziploc bag, setting the applesauce pouch aside.

When I'm traveling, snacks tend to tide me over. However, on a long trip, after a while, I want some lunch! Instead of buying over-priced sandwiches and salads in an airport or even on the plane, I pack a a light, portable lunch. Bumble Bee Tuna Salad kit comes with a small tin of tuna salad, 6 crackers and a tiny spoon. To round out the light lunch, I am also packing a cup of mandarin oranges and a spoon!

I threw the tuna kit and spoon into the gallon-sized bag, leaving the mandarin orange cup on the side.

Lastly, I placed the applesauce pouch and the mandarin orange cup in the TSA-required, quart-sized, Ziploc bag. They are technically gels and liquids, so into the quart bag they go. I'll have to admit ... I don't know if the fruit cup is under the required 3.4-ounces. I guess, I'll let you know on Thursday, when I blog about my choice of plane snacks. :)

Everyone gets their own gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Each person carries their own snack bag in their backpack; this keeps the little people from fighting over "the good stuff". When it's snack time, everyone opens their own personal bag, choosing which snack they want to eat. Lots of choices!

Like I said before, I plan to discuss the pros and cons of my plane snack choices. Join me again on Thursday to see how well the snacks faired! Here's what is in ONE PERSON's bag. That's right; everyone gets their own gallon-sized Ziploc bag. each person carries their own snack bag (no fighting), and when it's snack time, everyone gets to choose which snack they want to eat. Lots of choices!