la Matriarch

I got this awesome Bentos Laptop Lunchboxfor xmas.  Ever heard of them?   As near as I can tell it’s just a fancy way to bring your lunch and not use all the evil disposable stuff like Ziploc bags and individual yogurts.  It’s sort of like a lunchbox for hippies. 

Wiki says - Bentō (弁当 or べんとう, Bentō^?) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento is readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya^?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend considerable time and energy producing an appealing boxed lunch.

The outside carrying case (above) looks like a thinner well-made lunch box.  Inside the carrying case is a drink bottle and a plastic box (left) which holds all the Bentos, and a fork and spoon. 

The plastic containers are recyclable and very sturdy.  Plus, they are lead and BPA-free. 

I also love that it was designed by a couple of moms who are committed to reducing waste and improving lunchtime nutrition.  Although I think this lunch box is the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time, I’m already concerned about the lack of lids provided.  According to what I found on the Internet, research showed that moms usually pack their kids’ lunches with exactly this number of wet items, therefore this is how many lids (below) are needed.  But, hey, what about grown-ups who want to take left-overs rather than chips?  I’m having trouble thinking of dry, healthy stuff to bring for lunch and it seems that they don’t sell extra lids for these things.  That’s kinda irritating, laptop lunches people!  Can you make one of these things for grown-ups, or sell me some lids for Christ’s sake?

Anyway, I’ll be bringing my lunch in this thing as much as possible over the next year.  It should help me reach one of my other 2009 goals which is to purchase no more than 1 lunch per month from the cafeteria at work or a restaurant.  I’ve been doing OK with this over the past few months but only because I’ve stocked up on Lean Cuisine meals.  I try to find them on sale then buy as many as I can afford at the time.  (If you eat these things, try Target.  They’ve got  Lean Cuisines for cheap). The trouble is that these packaged meals contain a huge amount of sodium and then there’s the packaging.  Each time I throw the empty container in my office trash can, I shake my head in disappointment.

If you own one of these Laptop Lunchboxes or another Bentos type contraption, I’d love to hear from you.  What kind of stuff do you pack in yours?  I need ideas! 

I’ll also be trying to post my lunches here in a new I’m calling In My Bentos.

The more aware I become of the finite resources on our planet and my consumption habits, the more angry I get at myself for wasting food.  I don’t do it intentionally.  In fact, the wasting of the food seems to always result from my efforts to eat better, backfiring.  Here’s how it works…

I decide I need to eat more fresh fruits and veggies (which I do at least every other month), then run out to the grocery store or farmers market and buy a bag of apples or oranges, a couple of bags of salad greens (they force me to buy two because that’s the only way I can get the sale price - the bastards!) and whatever other fresh vegetables seem appetizing while I’m sitting on the couch planning my amazing new eating habits.  Then, when it’s time for dinner, I never want the crap that I’ve bought.  I’d much rather just throw a veggie burger and fries in the oven.  And a few days later, I’ve got a science project growing in my fridge from all the wholesome food I bought but did not eat. 

Over the past year, every time we’ve thrown away food, I’ve gone on a mini-rant about how much we suck for wasting food and money and quite frankly, I’m sick of feeling bad about it.

I don’t think any of us need to hear more lectures on wasting food (starving kids in third world countries, fuel to ship my oranges from God knows where, blah blah blah), we know the deal. 

One of the goals I set for 2009 is to reduce and record the food that we throw away.  As you can see from the picture, I just slapped a piece of paper on the fridge for us to write down everything we discard.  I’m hoping that it will encourage us to eat the food that we buy/prepare before it spoils, but, even if it doesn’t, it should be an interesting exercise at the end of the year to tally just how much food we wasted and estimate the cost of it. 

If you are a food waster like me, feel free to play along.  The only thing you need is a convenient place to write down what you throw away, and a moderate commitment to eat the stuff you buy (or grow for us gardeners) before it spoils.  I know my best friend has this same problem because we talked about it on the phone last night. 

Me “what if I compost the bag of rotten oranges? Do I still need to write that down as wasted food?” Her “Um, yes, you should be eating the oranges and composting the peels, anyway.  OK, maybe you can have partial credit for that but you are really reaching.”

So far, it’s January 3rd and we still have nothing on the list.  But, I presently have two bananas that need to be eaten in the next 48 hours, and left over black-eyed peas, collard greens, salsa chik’n/rice and a 2 day old container of organic salad greens that is virtually untouched in the fridge.  All good stuff, but, it’s Saturday and we almost always eat only bad food (pizza, burgers, etc…) on the weekend.  Plus, my guy will not touch the black-eyed peas or collards and the bananas are already past the point where he’ll eat them (he likes them almost green which totally grosses me out).  As you can see, I’m under a lot of pressure, here!  Wish me luck!