www.om-goods.com

Zero Waste Açaí Bowls!

2011-10-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

Açaí bowls are addicting! Açaí, pronounced “Ah-Sigh-EE” is berry which is only found in the Amazon rainforest. Acai berry is full of omega fats, amino acids, electrolytes, antioxidants, protein and vitamins A, B1 and E. An acai bowl refers to a bowl with lots of seasonal fresh fruit, coconut, granola and a smoothie of blended acai in a bowl. Delicious!!

When I moved here I was introduced to the Acai Bowl and now my family and I are always on a the look out for them. Most places use styrofoam cups to serve them in. Not eco-friendly and my girls usually don't finish the whole bowl. I always keep a set of Nesting Containers in my bag. One day I asked an employee at SD Blenders to make our Acai bowl in one of my nesting containers. They were happy to oblige. Now, when we are getting acai bowls I always bring 3 medium sized OM Goods containers with me (along with spoons and cloth napkins). Guilt-free, nothing to throw out. My family and I are on a mission to try all the places that make acai bowls in San Diego. Maybe I'll do a comparison chart on which one is my fav!

Spring rolls

2011-09-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

It's been hot here. My 5 year old loves munching on salads. We had a big salad for dinner last night. She suggested spring rolls for lunch because of the heat. It's basically a salad in a rice paper wrap. Actually, we put anything in them from rice and lentils, to cut up fruit and yogurt. They are fun to eat too.

Today I made rice paper wraps with black beans, tofu, arugula with a homemade vinaigrette. You can get the rice paper from any asian market. I go to an Asian market called Ranch 99. They come in square or circle and many different sizes. I find the small square size is easiest to wrap.

Black beans, tofu, arugula and vinaigrette on a soaked rice paper.

First, you wet one sheet of the dried rice paper by soaking in a big bowl of water for about 10 seconds. Remove and put on a plate. It will start to soften by itself. Add your ingredients to one corner. Try not to over fill or you won't be able to wrap it. Next, you fold the bottom corner onto the ingredients. Then fold over the 2 side corners to the center of the ingredients. Roll until you get to the top corner and voila, a spring roll!

my 3 year old couldn't wait until lunch to eat her spring rolls!

Once you make them, they have a tendency to stick together so make sure you add something to prevent them from sticking to each other or it will break when you try to separate them. I used some celery sticks to keep them from sticking. In the top tier, I added strawberries and peaches. In her cloth baggie she has some gluten free cheese crunchies.

Her lunch is not completely zero-waste because she has a mango gel cup and a yogurt stick. I went to volunteer at her school for snack time and she already ate one! :-)

Half Day = A Big Snack!

2011-09-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

Today my 5 year old has a half day. This means no lunch. I thought I could try and increase her snack and see how she does. My friend Denise, mentioned that this is what she usually does too.

Since my daughter decided on breakfast and lunch for her first day of school, I thought I'd let her pick what we ate for dinner. She picked pizza. Gluten-free pizza and a salad with balsamic dressing. I really love Bob's Redmill Homemade Wonderful Bread mix. I use it instead of the GF Pizza Crust mix because it tastes better in my opinion. We put onions, spinach and olives. I don't eat dairy so I made the other half without cheese.

For her snack today, I popped in a slice of the left-over pizza, sans onions (notice the circles in the pizza?). Cut it into small bite size squares.

Added some celery sticks, a clementine and a cloth fold-over baggie filled with dried mango and trail mix. Today I used the medium container from the nesting food container set. The lid works really well as a plate so she can pour her trail mix into it and search out all the chocolate chips. :-D

Her cloth napkin is used to tie Furoshiki. I'll put it into her backpack with her Kleen Kanteen water bottle and she is ready to go! This would have worked as a lunch for her too!

*I added a little note in there to let her know how much I love her!

First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-09-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

Today I dropped my 5 1/2 year old daughter to her first day of kindergarten. I'm excited and melancholy at the same time. Being a natural foods chef and holistic health counselor, I wanted to make something fun and different for her. Alas, she insisted on a sandwich, boring for me but exciting for her. She has gluten sensitivity so we rarely make sandwiches. Luckily there are a lot of gluten free breads on the market. We like the Trader Joe's brand multi-grain, gluten free bread but it is a little firmer/dryer than regular bread.

The school instructed us to pack a snack that is separate from her lunch and easy for her to get to. Snack time is at 10 am.

For her snack, she wanted yogurt and fruit. So I used the smallest container from the nesting food containers. The night before, I put some plain yogurt in the container and popped it in the freezer. In the morning I put chopped strawberries and drizzled grade b maple syrup on top. I'm assuming it will be nicely chilled but thawed when she is ready to eat it. I really love these bamboo sporks!

You can see the frozen yogurt below the maple syrup:

For lunch (11:30 am) she requested 1/2 a cheese sandwich and 1/2 a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. In her cheese sandwich, I used shredded raw cheddar cheese, grapeseed veganaise and arugula on gluten-free bread. I used a two-tier tiffin.

I packed the other half sandwiches in my 3 year old's tiffin while we are out and about today.

On the lower container, I put white peaches, celery sticks, red grapes and half of a cheese string. Again, this was all her idea.

I made these cloth baggies, similar to the fold over sandwich baggies in the 70's, remember them? I put some some cashews and rice crackers it it. Something a little more crunchy and savory for her.

I froze 1/2 cup of water in her kleen kanteen overnight and filled up the rest with water so it stays cold when she's ready to drink. One of her (too small for her) pink socks work really well to absorb condensation on the water bottle.

Here is her lunch with snack before I packed it in her tiffin bag. Her nesting container fits perfectly on top of her tiffin and I'm still able to tighten the drawstrings.

Hopefully she'll let me get more creative with her lunches as she gets used to going to school!

*not shown is the weelife lunch note I added to her tiffin bag that says: Have a good day! I <3 U!

The Kitchn review by Emily Ho

2011-02-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

Excited about a review by Apartment Therapy's, The Kitchn section by Emily Ho. Check it out!

Plastic-Free Lunch Containers (and More!) from OM Goods

Gluten free lunch!

2011-02-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

I've been gluten free and vegan for about a year now and loving it! My daughter's digestion has improved and no longer complains of tummy issues.

Here is a gluten free lunch that we had at the zoo.

My 3 year old is carrying her pink OM Goods bag with a 2 tier tiffin, utensils, cloth napkin and drink!

Shown below is the 2 tier tiffin with: 1st tier: hummus, apple slices, rice crackers and guacamole. I used the apple slices and to keep the rice crackers from getting soggy from the hummus and guac. I must say it held up nicely! 2nd tier: a clementine and almond butter and fruit preserve roll ups using blue corn tortillas. Really nice combo. The girls loved it!

Mineral rich salad!

2011-02-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

My family's favorite mineral rich salad. Baby greens, chopped kale, dulse flakes, sprouts, tomatoes, avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and a homemade dressing with braggs apple cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, a dash of maple syrup (try grade B, it's got a high mineral content) and a pinch of celtic sea salt.

Perfect meal on the go in an OM Goods tiffin or food container too!

Cute lunch ideas for Kids

2010-10-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Jackie at Weelife just posted two adorable lunch ideas for the tiffin.

See her blog post for more pictures!
Wee Life - 2 Tiered Tiffin

I Love You Notes For Your Tiffin!

2010-09-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

These little notes are too cute for back-to-school. They would fit perfect in your little ones tiffins, tiffin bag or lunchbox! Let them know that you are thinking of them! Make your notes re-useable and laminate them so you can write on them with a dry-erase pen.

Jackie has them available for free download on her Wee Life blog!

Jackie has even has made a second page has blanks spots for a personalized message.

OM Goods Photoshoot - by Julie Prichard

2010-05-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

Some beautiful pictures of our OM Goods tiffins and bags done by artist and professional photographer, Julie Prichard of the Land of Lost Luggage. Thanks again Julie!

Here are the 3 sizes we carry, 2 tier, 3 tier and 4 tier tiffins

A shot of my 2 year old with her almond butter and raw honey sandwich, crusted of course!

My 4 year old, loves her fruits and veggies!

The tulips remind me of spring!

The 2 sizes we carry, Small for the 2 and 3 tier and Large for the 3 and 4 tier. Not shown is the large tiffin bag in Parrot Green

A 3 tier tiffin with a small Parrot Green tiffin bag

3 tier tiffin closed with the small tiffin bag in Parrot Green

Tiffin Wallah!

2010-04-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

I came across this blog and loved the artwork! I like Nidhi's use of soft muted colors. Reminds me of watching them when I was younger visiting India.

What's in your tiffin?

Veggie Spring Rolls

2010-04-28T09:39:00.001-07:00

Inspired by my good friend, I made these veggie spring rolls. They are perfect for tiffin lunches and just as easy as making a sandwich and delicious! Shown is OM Goods small tiffin bag with our 2-tier tiffin.

How to make veggie spring rolls.

Rice paper (you can pick them up in a Thai Asian food market)
Any vegetables you want!
I used:
Anoki mushrooms as is, they are long and thin
Carrots shredded
Cucumbers shredded
Daikon shredded
Tofu thinly sliced
Avocado thinly sliced
Spring onions chopped
Any nut/seed butter you like.
I used Sunflower seed butter

I used a food processor to shred the carrots, cucumbers and diakon. I shredded them each separately.

Dip the rice paper in warm water for 2-3 seconds and lay out on a flat surface. Arrange veggies and tofu on one side of the rice paper. Drizzle nut/seed butter. Roll like a burrito tucking in both sides. Voila spring rolls! If you make these let me know what you think!

OM Tiffin Bag in Black

2010-04-25T10:43:00.001-07:00

Our black OM tiffin bag is a sleek way to tote your lunch. Here it is shown with our 4 tier tiffin carrier and 2 large navel oranges which would fit nicely on top. The shoulder straps are adjustable to you can carry it long across your back. Carry your food with attitude!

OM Cloth Napkins are Here!

2009-08-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs a fresh cloth napkin to put in their lunchboxes everyday. Now Goods has them available to you! They come in a set of 4 for only $10. They are smaller so they are more portable than traditional sized cloth napkins. 100% cotton and 13"x13" square. An symbol is embroidered on each one. Available in " White" or "Parrot Green".

White Cloth Napkins:

Parrot Green Cloth Napkins:

Want more ideas on how to create less waste when eating lunch? Check out my "Zero-Waste Lunch Pledge" Get tips on how you can help the earth one meal at a time!

Our New Large Tiffin Bag!

2009-08-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

Maybe it needs to be called an OM Goods Tiffin "Cozy". Everything fits in this bag so beautifully! Shown is the large tiffin bag for the 3-tier or 4 -tier tiffins. There is plenty of room on top for an extra food container or a couple of whole fruit.

Here is my Klean Kanteen, 4-tier tiffin and a small stainless steel food container. Not shown is the cloth napkin that all our bags come with!

For snacks turned into lunch, we had raw cheese cubes, farmer's market free-range hard boiled eggs, avocado and Trader Joe's Woven Wheat Wafers. In the small nested food container I have goji berries and raw cacao.

Get Ready for Back to School!

2009-08-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

They have been selling like hot cakes at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market. Introducing our newest addition, 100% cotton quilted tiffin bags. Shown is the tiffin bag that fits the 2-tier or 3-tier tiffin. Using the 2-tier in the bag leaves enough room on the top for a whole apple, orange, pear, nectarine etc. The pocket is perfect for you child's Klean Kanteen or Sigg waterbottle. They all come with a matching cloth napkin to lessen the use of paper napkins! The bag colors come in Parrot Green or Hot Pink. We also have shoulder strap bags for our 3 or 4 tier tiffins...more to come!

The lunch shown below has rajma and chawal (kidney beans and rice), an apple and my daughter's klean kanteen.

Sharing is caring...

2009-06-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

sharing with friends...our favorite way to eat lunch. Here I used the 4 tier tiffin and 2 stainless steel food storage containers. The storage containers have almond crackers, almond butter sandwiches and hard boiled eggs. The 4 tier tiffin has hummus, carrots, strawberries, and alphabet cookies with chocolate raisins.

Power Packed Snacks

2009-06-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

Clementine cuties, raw cheese, apple slices, blueberries, cashews, and tofurky roll-ups...all in a 2 tier tiffin! Some chocolate covered sunflower seeds and animal crackers for the sweet tooth afterward.

Aloo Matar

2009-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Leftovers from the night before, I heated aloo muttar, a simple Indian dish of potatoes (aloo) and peas (muttar) with some rice for lunch. Also packed, free-range hard boiled eggs, strawberries, kalamata olives, fresh mozzarella, and tofurky & vegenaise roll-ups. A lunch that left us full for a while!

Victoria's Garden

2009-06-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

If you are ever in the San Diego area, you must make a trip to Victoria's Garden. We had went with some good friends for some strawberry picking and petting farm animals. The kids loved it! My girlfriend, Marla, used the strawberries her kids picked to make a vegan strawberry pie with a graham cracker crust and soy whipped cream!

We packed a lunch using OM Goods stainless steel food storage containers. PB&J sandwiches hummus, carrots, pasta salad, steamed broccoli and cauliflower and clementines.

Cinnamon Toasty...

2009-06-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

We headed to the zoo and packed a breakfast so we could get a head start on the day.

Here we have the 3-tier tiffin with bio-dynamic (organic is such an over used word isn't it?) raspberries and strawberries, 3 range free eggs, and squares of cinnamon toast with butter, turbinado sugar and cinnamon.

caprese salad alternative...

2009-06-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

Fresh mozzarella, organic tomatoes and chopped up greek olives...drizzle some olive oil with some sea salt..yum yum!
we had went to the coffeehouse for breakfast and I used the 3 tier tiffin. Organic strawberries, half and avocado and mozzarella salad. I caved in and had to buy a blueberry scone at Rebecca's.

Murukku & Mithai

2009-05-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Indian snacks are the best...Murukku is a popular spicy South Indian snack. Mithai is a sweet dessert.

A friend brought this amazing tiffin to share with me and our friends. I made some sweet chai to go with the spicy Murukku....YUM!

Papaya, Scones and more...

2009-04-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

The large stainless steel food storage container is perfect for toting along your favorite cut-up fruit...we had some juicy papaya for breakfast at the coffee shop...Of course our breakfast wouldn't be complete w/ a scone and some yogurt!

Shredded Carrot Salad

2009-04-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

My carrot salad is all the rage with my friends lately, I can't stop making it since I bought my new Cuisinart Food Processor. Takes salad making to a whole new level for me! It also make incorporating raw food into my diet much easier!

Here are the ingredients:

- shredded carrots
- frozen peas
- rice vinegar
- agave nectar
- grapeseed oil
- sea salt/pepper

Toss it all together and voila! Shredded Carrot Salad! I usually don't measure when I make this, I just add to taste. I've made variations of this salad with carrots/daikon, carrots/zucchini and carrots/beets...all of them pretty tasty.

Here is the 3 tier tiffin with organic berries, spinach and lentil daal and my famous carrot salad.

Mission Trails

2009-04-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to Mission Trails park for class on opossums. We had made homemade pinto beans with a pressure cooker for dinner the night before, for the first time. I decided to pack everything to make-your-own burrito for our lunch. We used corn tortillas instead of flour. I made Spanish rice using a Trader Joe's rice box with seasoning included. Everyone including our friends ate it all up!

I used the 4 tier tiffin, one tier had beans, one tier had torillas, one tier had rice, and one tier had tomatos and lettuce.

OM Goods Photo Shoot

2009-03-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

We were asked to take more pictures for a review of OM Goods. Here are some picture of the 2 tier tiffin.

Winner of the Zero Waste Lunch Contest!

2009-03-09T03:14:00.000-07:00

We finally have a winner for the Zero Waste Lunch Contest that was held on Facebook last month!

With 21 votes, the winner is:

Deborah Murphy Doughty!!

Here are all the pictures she had posted to the Zero Waste Lunch Pledge Group:

Comment from Deborah: "I take leftovers to work as often as possible and have some cut up veggies or fruit to go with it. Here I have rice in one container and an easy bean chili (a can of beans, tomatoes with hot peppers, corn, garlic, onions, cumin and chili) in another container. Carrots and a sliced avocado round out the meal. I also take snacks with me - an egg with spices for morning snack and an apple and walnuts (in the little woven container in the picture) for the afternoon. My Sigg water bottle goes everywhere with me, and I like to bring a cloth napkin as well. Metal forks and spoons are available at work. The water bottle and Tiffin are clipped together and the napkin holds the apple and walnuts tied to the top of the Tiffin. I put everything together the night before and refrigerate so I can grab it and go when I rush out of the house in the morning."

Congratulations Deborah!

Zero-Waste Lunch Pledge Contest!

2009-02-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

We had a contest on the Zero-Waste Lunch Pledge Group on Facebook. Member's were encouraged to post their best zero-waste lunch photo for a free tiffin. The contest in now closed for additional entries but we want you to vote!!

Here are the entries:

Entry #1

Entry #2

Entry #3

Entry #4

Entry #5

Entry #6

Entry #7
Entry #8

Farmer's Market Fruit

2009-02-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

I did a 10 day raw food cleanse the beginning of the new year. I made me realize how much energy and better I feel when I eat raw foods. I have been encouraging my family to eat more raw meals. I packed seasonal fruit from the farmer's market and some soaked almonds. I used different sizes of the stainless steel nested food containers.

Zero Waste Feast!

2009-02-21T19:23:00.000-08:00

A couple of Mama's and I decided to take our kiddos to Pepper Grove Park for fun in the sun and lunch. We all are very passionate about eco, healthy, waste-free meals. I had to share this picture of all of our tiffins and non-disposable lunch ware. Silverware, cloth napkins, klean kanteens, enamelware bowls, stainless steel containers...we had it all. I'm proud to say zero plastic too! It was nice to enjoy a hot cup of chai (Indian tea) while the kids played...A feast to remember.

Vegan Banana Mini Muffins

2009-02-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

I took a traditional recipe for banana bread and added agave nectar instead of sugar, grapeseed oil instead of butter and 1 extra banana instead of eggs. They came out delicious! We shared them at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market with people that came by the OM Goods booth. As my mom used to say when we were kids, "Sharing is Caring".

I used a stainless steel food storage container.

Round bento!

2009-02-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

I like this breakfast that I made, it's packed nicely. Almost like a round bento box. It reminds me of the center of a veggie sushi roll.

I used a stainless steel food storage container. It's nice and convenient when you don't want to use a tiffin. Shown is, organic baby carrots, organic blueberries and strawberries and cut up cheese strings. Not shown are Stonyfield organic yogurt cups to go with this breakfast.

Homemade pizza and more!

2009-02-02T01:38:00.000-08:00

We made homemade pizza for dinner the night before so I decided to pack it for lunch the next day. I used the 4-tier stainless steel lunch tiffin. Packing this lunch took me not longer than 10 minutes to do. It's so easy to do!

1st tier; boiled edamame with sea salt. 2nd tier; cheese strings, broccoli and olive pizza. 3rd tier; organic blueberries and apples, 4th tier; tofurkey roll-ups with veganaise, organic baby carrots, and olives

Spud Puppies

2009-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

We have dear friends visiting us from Beacon, NY. We planned to meet at the park after breakfast. I quickly made some Spud Puppies (Yes, a fancy name for tater tots!) for all to share. Here I used a stainless steel food storage container. They actually stayed warm until we were ready to eat them!

Leisure bike ride

2009-01-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

My 3 year old insisted carrying her stainless steel lunch tiffin while she rode her bike. The 2-tier tiffin actually fit quite nicely on her handles.

Close-up shot of the 2-tier tiffin.
3 clementines in the top tier and organic raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in the bottom tier.

Dessert to-go!

2009-01-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

I promised the girls that I would give them a treat if they finished their dinner at a dinner party we had to go to. Not a huge fan of sugar, but I don't mind the occasional chocolate raisins and wafer cookies...These wafer cookies from Italy are delicious and all natural from Loacker...Reminds me of traveling abroad before children. Believe it or not I got them at an Asian Grocery store.

Here I used a stainless steel food storage container.

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

2008-12-27T01:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T07:50:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

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!