Myriad Musings

I found it!  A tool to plan my menu every week!  From the justbento page! Each page is split into breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and notes for pre-prep.  I abhor the idea of printing a page and pasting on the fridge, so I am either going to spend on a whiteboard or simply work with soft copies. I know I don't quite pack my lunch into a bento box, but I think traditional Indian dabbas or their plastic tupperware equivalent my son loves work just as well.  I do plan out a protein, carbohydrate and vegetabes and/or fruits for each lunch box.  The traditional college tiffen box of pulisaatham or lemon rice does not pass muster in my house.  The biggest hurdle for me is the time - my son gets a meagre 25 min for lunch and he plays half that time.

My days are crazy busy. nanny quit so my 19 month old is completely managed between my hubby and me, and work, especially research, has taken a back seat. Even so, I need a lot of planning to get up at 5 and still be out of the house with lunch and breakfast all cooked and stacked at 7.05 am. Since planning is definitely not my forte, I find myself downsizing the variety of grains and vegetables I cook to a bare minimal, easy to mange items. But, I have finally conquered food waste! Most days everything i cook is consumed within the same day. I have decided to start planning the week's Menu (atleast work week).  A good starting point would be consolidating current lunch box options, my starting point for the day's menu Other than the usual suspects - prep time, cooking time, balance, whether suitable for lunch box, i also need to look at how fast by son can eat the food.  His lunch hour is 25 minutes and he chews every morsel 60 times.  He rarely comes home with a e...