by Amy Reese

Monday Lunch Madness

You know the scenario. It’s a whole string of events that bring you to this ever so delicate impasse: the realization that you do not have all the essentials to make your child’s school lunch.

And it’s all your fault.

If you don’t have a child, I imagine this could apply to you, solely, on any day, Monday or otherwise.

I was terribly busy all weekend and that grocery store visit evaded me. Yes, it did. All by itself! It’s amazing how this occurs. I drive by the grocery store and I’m lead to believe that it can be postponed. Whatever urgency I feel on any given day is re-adjusted to meet the more immediate need, like getting a smoothie. C’mon, you only live once. At least in this lifetime.

So, I’m making my child’s lunch and I realize I am out of the most critical essential: sandwich bags.

I’m lost without sandwich bags…

Sandwich bags
The sandwich bag box is dark and empty.

The sandwich-sized bags are gone. All that is left is the box of snack-sized bags. If you’ve used them before, you know that they are practically worthless. Worthless. I mean who invented these things? Is this supposed to be a joke? That bag isn’t remotely big enough for any necessary snack. I suppose it could hold a loose tooth or a coin.

You either buy these thinking they might possibly be a good idea, use a few and then have gads of them left, or you buy them by mistake, which is what happened to me.

I try with all my might to fit this item into the snack bag and this happens:

December 2014 282
You know you’re a blogger when, in the middle of a crisis, you document it.

Is your brain wondering why I don’t have this lunch-packing convenience?

6909788139_59828c7de3
A little too perfect if you ask me. Will the lids and containers really be together forever?

Just hold on a red-hot minute. In case you’re dreaming I should have one of these items, I don’t. I planned on buying one of these once, but didn’t get around to that either.

Instead, I must search through my darkened cupboards, pre-coffee I might add, and try to piece random plastics together. They’re close, but these two are not officially a couple.

notquitefitting
Close, but not quite.

I hope my son won’t mind the pink lid. And, an apple has never been so perfect. No bag required:

chipsperfectapple
An apple a day, but my son probably won’t eat it.

Finally, the sweet treat. The only option is animal cookies from our Costco purchase made six months ago. Maybe I can finally get rid of these:

costcocookies
It’s like a permanent fixture like the coffee maker or toaster oven. Please, someone eat these!

Since I cannot make any further lid-container connections, I must resort to the paper napkin. It’s kind of Hobbit-esque, don’t you think? My son can pretend it’s a leather satchel with a little healthy visualization:

Leathersatche
I see a leather pouch with gold tassels.

The biggest challenge is scrunching it all into his lunchbox. I am almost positive he won’t notice the smashed sandwich that will undoubtedly fall out of its container.

As for a beverage, it’s called a water fountain.

Lunch success!

Tell me, do you have the perfect lunch-box organizer? Do you save your plastic bags? Have you had lunch?

photo credit: Sassy On the Go Feeding Set via photopin (license)

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53 thoughts on “Monday Lunch Madness”

    1. They still have water fountains, right? At least the last time I checked, Sandee, they did. Thanks! You too. I hope you’re feeling better today and you don’t have to see the doctor!

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    1. Thanks, Kelly. It’s so hard to have all the pieces together. There’s always something I forgot to get at the store and sometimes I truly don’t make it there. I dread the grocery store. My kids eat up everything so quick that nothing lasts as long as I want it to.

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  5. “You know you’re a blogger when, in the middle of a crisis, you document it.”—Haha, so true, isn’t it?

    I’d say you weathered the crisis beautifully, though I agree he probably won’t eat the apple. But we keep sending them with hopes that miracles will happen. Thank goodness lunch packing days are behind me, but we had a variety of mismatched plastic items we used. The school was anti-plastic bags, which was good, but it made for a lot of forgotten containers at school that would later come home with fuzz in them. Ick.

    Funny post. Thanks for making me laugh. 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Carrie. Oh, the pleasure is mine. I’m glad I could make you laugh. 🙂

      I managed. I always seem to be out of something. It never fails. As for the fruit, they don’t return home. Most of the time, I’m sure it’s tossed. That’s cool that it was an anti-plastic bag school your kids went to. I would be all for that. It’s always something, isn’t it? Then you got to deal with the icky fuzz. Bleech!

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    1. Cool, Audra! Thank you. I know…the dreaded lunch is made even worse when you don’t have all the stuff. My son actually didn’t say anything about this lunch. I wonder if he chucked the whole thing and bought frozen yogurt or something. You’re welcome. Thanks for reading. 🙂

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    1. Yeah, I know how that happens. Then all your food can taste like plastic. It’s hard to get away from plastic though, isn’t it, unless you have lots of glass containers. I suppose that would be ideal.

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    1. Somehow I made it work. Even when I know I’m running out of stuff, I wait too long to replace things, or else something else runs out without me knowing about it until I’m fixing the lunch! Frank, I survived. Whew, it was close. 🙂

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  10. Bravo dear Amy. I found myself without mayo yesterday. But that was OK because the whole gosh darned sandwich came home. This under direct orders after we found out he was pitching whole pieces of fruit. No, they won’t eat the apple or the orange.Perhaps there’s plastic wrap or wax paper in your house. Old school! Do you remember those those first really funny commercials for the disposable plastic containers? Moms asking for collateral from their kids. Funny.You my dear are very funny.
    Love Ya’,
    Shalagh

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    1. I do remember old school plastic wrap, but I don’t remember those commercials. Now, I want to look them up. There is probably a lot of food that goes uneaten at school lunches, especially since kids don’t have much time to eat anyway. In elementary, it’s like a 10-15 minute lunch! No time for chit chat. Thanks, Shalagh. 🙂 Love ya, too.

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  11. I had lunch boxes when I was a smaller fry. My mother used to make my lunch the night before. She tucked my sandwiches in little waxed bags. I always found my lunches so boring unless she’d surprise me with meatballs in tomato sauce on sourdough bread. Those lunches are still memorable almost 50 years later. Granny did the cooking. She made great meatballs in sauce. Fast forward to the present, the lunches I make for myself are elaborate, organic time-consuming endeavors and a contributing factor to why I could not find a moment to crank out a new Lame Adventure Sunday night. Steaming, sauteeing, baking and then all the clean up is quite a time-suck. If I had a kid to take care of on top of myself, I’d never, ever get anything done.

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    1. I had a lunch box once. Those were the days when we could eat outside under a tree. Not anymore for these kids! But, I think for middle school I had hot lunch a lot. I don’t even remember brown bagging it but I’m sure I did. Your lunches sound great! Granny made it! That sounds wonderful. If I had time, I would do what you do. I went on a whole foods diet once and it required a lot of prep. It took all the guess work out of what I would be eating for the week. Good for you. I bet you’re so healthy. When I did that, I had to do separate meals for kids and hubby. A royal pain! Food and meals take up so much time. I wish I could just pop a meal pill and be done with it.

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  13. The beauty of being a blogger? Your son will not have suffered for naught… at least you got a (very cute) post out of it.
    And at my house it’s all mismatched plastic containers. The crunchy earthy school frowns on baggies. Frowns. 😦
    Ha!

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    1. If all else fails, Jen, you can always use your “crisis” for a blog post. It’s funny as it hits me when I’m in the middle of it. I laugh at myself and my husband shakes his head at me. 🙂 Thank you. I’m glad you liked it!

      It seems no matter how hard you try, eventually all these plastics will be mismatched, right? It’s inevitable. “Crunchy earthy” – That’s funny. Ha! When I think about the ocean, I know I can do better.

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  15. This has happened to me – I hate it when it goes! You know, I’m tempted to say that you should have just smushed that sandwich into your kid’s mouth on the way to school. There’s nothing like an early lunch… or lunch for breakfast! Anyway – you made me laugh (and wince – this is so me) but I think you handled this better than I typically do. I usually just run screaming around the house as though my hair’s on fire.

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    1. That’s so funny you say that about smushing the sandwich into his mouth. There was actually another half to that sandwich (or part) and I was pushing it on my husband. Don’t you want a turkey sandwich for breakfast?! Why not? It’s good protein, etc…I agree. Lunch for breakfast. Why not? He didn’t even go for it. Happy to make you laugh. I can’t even imagine you screaming around the house, Trent. You know, that’s what I should have done! If all else fails, run around the house screaming. I’ll remember that for future mishaps.

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  16. Amy, “the thing” that would have packed a lunch if he had gone to school (he was homeschooled) has moved back home, and I am going through this very thing with an adult child!! I finally – finally – bought sandwich bags tonight.

    I don’t dare send any type of Tupperware container with him, because it will never find its way home. I’ve been using recycled plastic containers from Chinese food and strapping whatever is in bread to the top with a rubber band. Smooshed and creased sandwich in plain old plastic wrap? Who cares. If he wants his mommy to fix his lunch, he’ll take whatever he gets. 🙂

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    1. Maddie, you’re cracking me up! That is the truth about those plastic containers. If you send them away who says they’re coming back home?! Not likely, right? I could try to be more eco-friendly, but I’m not sure if it would work out.

      I agree he must be happy with what he’s got. How kind of you to fix his lunch. Bless you. You’re a saint. Or, you should be blessing me…anyway, he can handle the smooshed. I would love to see the recycled Chinese food containers. A lot of times I used the deli meat containers after I’ve run them through the dishwasher. 🙂

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      1. Yes! Those deli meat containers are great, and I never care if they don’t come home. He works in the cold, so I try to send leftovers with him that he can heat in the microwave. He eats sandwiches in the summer – hot food in the winter. Anyway, I don’t know this Chinese place, but I found it right away when I searched online. Look at the last two pictures. Our local Chinese take out uses these, and I love them. http://bit.ly/17qDvNb

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      2. Oh yeah! Those Chinese containers look great, especially if they can go in the microwave. Those are some great prices! it’s nice when you know more containers can be had and more food, too. It’s as good as buying Tupperware in my book. Maybe better.

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