You Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!!

In the car, my 3 year old enjoys to listening to audiobooks, her current favorite is The Gingerbread Man. She has been insisting that we make gingerbread men ever since she heard it. Yes, me being the freak that I am, I used all natural (organic) ingredients and left out the eggs from the recipe to make vegetarian cookies (not vegan). We had much difficulty making happy faces on them! I kept them in an OM Goods stainless steel food storage container....Of course they were all eaten within 2 days. Next she wants to make homemade bread like The Little Red Hen does!

Lots of errands to do today

I have a lot of errands to do today. Being a stay at home mom means toting my darlings along with me. Instead of spending money on "Mama, I want this!", "Mama, I want that!", I carry my girls snacks in a tiffin so they can eat yummy food that makes me happy too. I change up the tier size depending on how I feel their appetite will be that day. Since we were going to target, I know that we are going to have to get popcorn for my 3 year old and she won't be as hungry, it's a snack-y day. I used the 2 tier tiffin.


I packed cheese strings, chips, to-go packet of mixed nuts from Trader Joe's, orange slices and organic raspberries.

Outstanding for Oatmeal!

Off to storytime. The girls ate a little bit before storytime, but I know if I can pack some food, they will enjoy listening to storytime a little more. So I packed 1 instant oatmeal packet using one of the nested stainless steel food storage containers and put some organic raspberries on top. Add a spork and cloth napkin and we are set! I like the snug fit of the lid to be able to pack things like oatmeal with out leaking.
Don't know how to pack it all together? Use your cloth napkin and tie a Furoshiki wrap.
My 3 year old likes carrying it like a clutch purse....Furoshiki, what a genius idea.

I sell the stainless steel food storage containers as a set of 3, small, medium and large. This is the small size shown. They are perfect for packing leftovers or round bento boxes too! Please check out www.om-goods.com for more information on the nested stainless steel food storage containers.

Samuel's Lunch!

One of OM Goods customers sent me a picture of her 3 year old's lunch for preschool. I wanted to share. Samuel's lunch shown is veggie seaweed roll, sliced beets, a peach and some pieces of waffle)



Send me your pictures and I'll post them for all to see. Come on, show us your tiffin pride!

Healthy and Tasty Lunch

My 3 year old's favorite thing, mac-n-cheese. It isn't hard to get her to eat with the 2 tier tiffin, it makes her feel independent. Luckily for me, she loves broccoli too. For lunch she had rice Mac-n-Cheese, Steamed broccoli drizzled with olive oil and organic orange slices. Since she is a small eater, I was able to pack the mac-n-cheese and broccoli in the same tier. These tiffins really make my life so much easier and simpliler to pack meals. The fact that she is eating more, makes me feel better too...


Here is my 3 year old holding her lunch:

El Salvadorian Take-out

I have challenged a few people to pledge zero-waste lunches on Facebook: Zero-Waste Lunch Pledge. One of the challenges I listed was to bring your own containers to take-out restaurants instead of using their throw-away containers. I have just started doing this myself with Mexican restaurants and I want to try other cuisines.

Living in San Diego, we have discovered El Salvadorian food. El Salvador's national dish are Pupusas. Pupusas are stuffed (cheese, meat, zucchini) corn flatbreads served with a pickled cabbage (Curtido). Delicious! I brought my stainless steel containers to El Salvadoreno. They were all too happy to pack my food in the stainless steel storage containers. I brought them home and enjoyed them with my family. I can honestly say there was zero-waste involved in that meal, we ate it all. I loved that there was no styrofoam to toss in the garbage!

Trolley Barn Park

We headed to the Trolley Barn Park with our 4 tier tiffin yesterday.

I had my daughters' birthday party (1 party for the both of them) at Trolley Barn Park. It's a great park. In the summer they have Summer Music Concert Series. My 3 year old really loves this park as well. She has a Like-a-Bike that she loves to ride on the walkways that are given the names of San Diego streets in University Heights. If you are ever in San Diego and have kids, this is a great place for them burn off some energy: Trolley Barn Park

Here is a pic with my 1 year old holding the 4-tier tiffin.


For lunch we had Rice Mac-n-Cheese, A tofurky-vegenaise-lettuce sandwich for me, grapes and organic animal crackers and chocolate raisins.

Here is a picture I took of the tiffin before we headed to the park...more detail:

Bring Your Own "Takeout Tiffin" Containers

When we are not at home for lunch...I love toting around my lunch tiffins and getting takeout in them. I love promoting zero-waste lunches and take-out. I encourage you all to bring your own containers next time you order take-out from your favorite place to eat for lunch or dinner. Bring your own cloth napkin and silverware too. Let's see if we can reduce waste one take-out meal at a time!!

The girls and I decided to the zoo. I went to our local Mexican take-out restaurant to pick up some rice and beans as a light meal. I asked them to fill my 2-tiered lunchbox with beans and cheese and rice. Packed my handy bamboo spork and cloth napkin and off we went.


I love the little plate for serving. My 3 year old loves it even more. My 1 year old and I ate the beans and rice straight out of the tins.

Snacks at the playground

Snacks at the playground I used a 4-tier tiffin. I loved how many complements I get when I use these in public!! Shown is: baby carrots, green salad, strawberries and apples, string cheese, chocolate raisins, and animal crackers.

Teddy Bear Softie

I've been meaning to post this. I made an adorable teddy bear softie. I found the pattern online. I need to find some cute fabric to tie a furoshiki gift wrap!

Kala Chana Salad to share with friends

Sharing lunch at my 3 year olds preschool, I brought a traditional Indian salad called Kala Chana Chaat, or black chick pea salad. Ingredients are black chick peas, red onion, potatoes, cliantro, lime and salt to taste. Here I used a steel storage container.

Halloween Party snacks

We had a Halloween party to go to and I quickly whipped up some snacks to share. Roasted pepitas, cranberries and sea salt, YUM!!

Keeping it handy

My girlfriend wanted to meet up at the coffee shop today. I hadn't planned anything for the girls to eat and I knew they would eat something at the coffee shop....Just in case, I packed some strawberries and cheese for them.

My delious scone and coffee with the girls snacks while at the coffee shop. I get so many complements with I go out with my stainless steel OM-goods!

Perfect breakfast for work

My husband had to go to LA for work and didn't have time to eat at home. I quickly packed him a breakfast with the 2-tier tiffin. One tier has yogurt, granola drissled with some grade B maple syrup and the other tier is bananas, strawberries and grapes. I love the handy bamboo spork, it's so small it fits in the tiffin and you don't need to pack any other utensils!


This is my 3 year old's hand, trying to sneak a bite!


Furoshiki of course! Here my 3 year old is holding his breakfast.

Play tea set with Furoshiki gift wrap

I really enjoy gift giving. I went to an antique boutique today looking for a birthday present for a 5 year old girl. I found this darling tea set.


The owner of the boutique gave me this box and I had the tissue paper.


I wanted to make her a pretty table cloth to go with her play tea set. I took half a yard of fabric and finished all the raw edges with 1/4 inch seams.


I thought this fabric complemented the gifts so well.
Used the fabric to tie furoshiki instead of using wrapping paper. Voila! Any eco-friendly gift!!

Packing leftover dinner with steel dabbas

sMy girls love lentils and rice as I mentioned before. Here I used the nested containers to store leftover dinner. Basmati rice, yellow split daal (lentils), boondi raita (yogurt).

Fruit snacks on the go!

We went to the park after breakfast. Here is the 3-tier tiffin. I packed: raw cheese cubes, dried cranberries, cucumber with lime, orange slices, chopped apple and prunes. My girls do best when they can graze all day.

Lunch with friends

Now that my 1 year old is eating more I need to pack more food for her to eat. She still doesn't have teeth so I need to pack soft foods. My 1 year old is a fan of rice, lentils and yogurts. Soft fruits like figs are easy for her to chew. Here we have rice, lentils (daal), and yogurt leftovers from last nights dinner, chips, figs and strawberries, and a cheese-n-lettuce sandwich halved and stacked.

Quesadilla lunch!

My 2 1/2 year old goes to preschool cooperative that I started . Sometimes we share lunch sometime we bring our own lunch. I used the 4-tier tiffin to pack lunch for us. Lunch included: cheese quesadillas, organic strawberries and grapes, chocolate pudding, fresh mozzarella, a mixed snack of veggie booty, corn chips, sesame sticks and dried cranberries. The tiffin curiosity of her friends makes her eat more which makes me happy!

Snacks for a Long Ride

It was 10 am, not quite hungry for lunch and we were meeting friends at Rebecca's Coffee House. Put the girls in the double stroller and enjoyed the San Diego sun!

This is a 304 grade steel storage container, much much better than plastic! Doesn't leach BPA and other harmful chemicals found in plastic.


Here I packed some organic grapes and strawberries with some fresh mozzarella cheese. The girls and I were able to share with our friends too!

Dinner at the park

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to have dinner at the park. Packed the girls and my dinner and strolled over to the park where I set up dinner on a picnic table.


For dinner we had steamed broccoli, rice mac-n-cheese, 4 clementines, fresh payaya and frozen blueberries:

I had to take a picture to show how we all devoured our dinner! Me, a 2 1/2 year old and a 11 month old!

Children's stainless steel set

Here is a sample dinner I made for my 2 1/2 year old. Steamed califlower, milk, brown rice pasta with marinara and cheese. I think this is currently her favorite dinner. I love the versatility of stainless steel and not having to worry about her breaking anything if she drops something.

Breakfast at the zoo

My 2 1/2 year old was very hungry when she woke up and wanted to go to the zoo. We try to go to the zoo 1-2 times a week since we are members and it's only 5 miles away from where we live. So I packed our 3 tier tiffin with breakfast food and headed out to the zoo!

Here's a picture of our lunch container wrapped in a cloth napkin using Furoshiki:


The cloth napkin helps insulate the tiffin lunchbox and you have a eco-friendly napkin to tote along too. It's very easy to tie furoshiki and you can be very creative and use your imagination.

From Furoshiki.com "Originating from Japanese culture where it promotes caring for the environment and reducing waste; Furoshiki is the eco-friendly wrapping cloth. Using techniques similar to origami, it can be used for gift wrapping, grocery shopping or simply as decor. Choose from a wide variety of sizes and designs to complement your lifestyle."

Here is how I tied it:

Then I added the spoon on top and voila! You have made a furoshiki tiffin!!

My 3 year old insists on eating her meal near the elephants. We found a nice shady table by the elephant mesa, laid out her breakfast and let her have at it! I love that stainless steel is so convenient for children and doesn't leach chemicals, BPA etc. like plastic does:


This is the 3-tier tiffin, it comes with 3 containers and 2 plates in between them. For breakfast, I packed, 2 organic hard-boiled eggs, strawberries, 3 clemintines, cubed organic raw cheese, carrot sticks, a handful of cashews, hulled pumkin seeds (pepitas) and raisins. Not shown is her klean kanteen sippy cup which I just love! I think I was one of klean kanteens first customers in 2003 when I bought my kanteen!