Will loves his new lunchables

Okay, time for another bad mommy confession. I bought Lunchables. Tons of them. For $1.50 I could feed the boy meat (protein), cheese (dairy), crackers (carbs), and a cookie ( desert... Oh wait, that's not really a food group). Seemed reasonable to me. Don't get me wrong I had moments of thinking this stuff is probably crap, yet I never made the move to make my own, until now.

See, I was recently shamed by my Step-father into it full speed. He remarked to my mother that he was surprised I bought them since I was "usually so careful" about those things. Umm yeah. I'll go hide under a rock now thankyouverymuch.

Step 1-Procure containers. This was by far the most difficult part. I knew what I wanted, a lunchable shaped box with 4 little (but not too small) compartments. My first thought was Bento boxes, but at $20ish a pop I could only afford 1 to start. Hmmm. Next thought was the Internet. Lock n Lock containers had just what I "thought" I needed. Now to just find them. On a recent trip to Winn Dixie I found some 2 compartment ones on clearance for $ .99. Score. Now to find more than 2 of them. 2 hour trip to the 2 closest Winn Dixies and finally success!! Not only did I find my 4 compartment Lock n Lock containers instead ($4.99 each) but I found my long lost IBC Cherry Limeade. All in all a really good day.

Step 2-Procure the ingredients. Cheese, meat, and Ritz crackers. You might be wondering about now why I am bothering if I am just going to use the same stuff. My answer: quailty control. I don't have a problem with the concept, but I'm fairly certain that the meat and cheese I include in my version are of a higher quailty than those of the Oscar Mayer variety. So I exasperated the lady at Wal Mart by asking for 2 slices of ham, turkey, and bologna (I know, I know but he likes it). Pair that with the cheese I bought at Winn Dixie and "Houston we have liftoff". I'll have to get back to you on the exact financials of this endeavour as to date it has been a bit of a mish-mash. It does however seem to be working out to be cheaper once you take the initial purchase of the containers out of the picture.

Step 3-Assembly. I cut my meats and cheeses into squareish shapes. I thought about round but decided it wasn't really necessary to duplicate them exactly, plus that would be a lot of waste. I settled on 8 pieces of each. It just so happens that I could get 12 of my squareish pieces from each slice of meat. Score again. 3 "meals" from my 2 slices. I went ahead and cut up all of the meats and cheese and bagged them up. My very own convenience foods. Now all I have to do is dole out the goods and serve- or refrigerate for the next day ( depending on just how far behind on dishes I am LOL). Now what to do with the other 2 spots. Crackers in the fridge? Not so much. I decided to just vary them depending on what I had on hand. Goldfish (hey they came from a carton, that doesn't count right?), carrots, strawberries, etc. Currently I am featuring carrots in both with blueberries in one and strawberries in the second.

Step 4 The Will test- I made a big deal about these new lunchables the night I made the first set. The next day I served it to him with no mention of the "difference". The verdict total and complete satisfaction. Take that Oscar Mayer! He happily munched on real cheese slices and ham that looks like ham. I have noticed he can take or leave the crackers, so we're leaving them. I added in baby carrots and kiwi and had a happy boy. And the best part, he hasn't even missed the cookies. Seriously.