Bento (No. 87)

Super cheap bento time!!

This bento contains food that cost a total of 68p!! Not quite the 33p I was aiming for but:

– this bento was for the bfs 10 hour shift (he said it was plenty of food for that shift too!);
– it contains a nice healthy split of carbs, fruit, veg and protein (and a treat) so it’s pretty balanced;
– it was super quick!

The bento contains firecracker rice (cost a few pence more than plain rice but was worth the yumminess), steamed brocolli, grapes, jaffa cakes, and peanut butter crackers.

I’m going to try and make a cheaper bento for myself as it’s given me lots more ideas!

Would this bento appeal to you?

New style of Bento – helping you eat healthy on a budget

Bento lunches/dinners/breakfasts/snacks are amazing in many ways, including:

1. Encouraging children (and some adults) to eat a variety of food;

2. Weight management (in adults);

3. Using up leftovers;

4. Getting your family involved with meal planning and designing.

 

And many more…

 

But, it is a very real thing that food prices are increasing dramatically. Can you still make tasty, healthy and appealing bentos on a tight budget?

 

I would like to investigate.

 

Over the next few weeks, I am going to try and reduce my food bill (to the extreme if possible) while still maintaining a healthy, balanced, and active lifestyle and meal plan. I plan to share tips and bentos on here, as well as get feedback from your lovely selves!

 

Speak soon!

Bento (No.86)

 

This contains simple sandwiches (with deli Ham and salad in), carrot sticks, cereal bar, unsalted nuts and raisins (in the orange lidded pot), cucumber, satsuma, cheeky jelly worms, and grapes tucked down the side.

Sorry about the lighting on this one! I made it for a night shift (the bfs) and the flash makes it look all superimposed!

How do you deal with lighting issues for blog/web photos?

Bento (No. 85)

 

 

You know I like a salad. So my bentos are not all pretty, but they are yummy-looking enough for the blog 🙂

 

This bento-salad consists of lettuce, onion, pepper, cucumber, carrot and paprika Quorn chicken-style pieces.

I love a bit of Quorn.

What’s your favourite protein to have on a salad?

Bento (No. 83)

Nice and healthy bento for a warm (almost) summer day.

This bento contains ham salad sandwiches on seedy bread, quorn chicken style nuggets tucked down the side, a multitude of fresh fruit, unsalted nuts (in the pot) and a cereal bar.

I know this glorious weather is not going to last but pretty please van we have dry weather for june?

I hope everyone is having a lovely week so far!

Bento (No. 81)

I always prepare myself lunch for work but it’s not normally in usual ‘bento’ form.

Here is one of my lunches from last week.
It is a big leafy salad with kale, cucumber, carrots, onions, kidney beans and hummus. I drizzled a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice on top as a dressing. I also massage the kale with a little bit of salt and pepper before I pop it in the salad.

What yummy things do you put in your salads?

Lent (no sugar) recap

Happy Easter!

Benn far too busy for anyones liking but I thought Easter would be a good way to get back into the writing swing.

Right, lent was interesting. I cannot say I was 100% processed sugar free all the time but it was a big eye opener. I thought numbered points might help with the recap (all of the following points are my own opinon or observation and not medically or scientidically proven in any way):

1. Processed sugar is in everything! – we (as consumers and producers) rely on it far too much and to really cut out all processed sugar I would have had to cook every little bite from scratch!
2. Processed sugar is the cause of a lot of the body issues I have. This may be the case for most people but I cannot generalise – processed sugar makes my skin oily and spotty; my overall skin condition is better without it; my mood is more consistent without it; colds feel easier to handle without it; and I seem to drink more water!
3. Everything tastes really sweet now. Fruit teas are lovely and sweet and I even have to water down my smoothies and fruit juice! Chocolate is lovely but extremely sweet – no choccy overload for me!
4. My mid morning or afternoon cravings have been reduced – either through less sugar or more fresh fruit and veg.

Those are the main points I could think of but overall I will definitely try and reduce my processed sugar intake on a daily basis as I feel so much better for it!

How did your lent go? And I hope you had a fun Easter!

Bento (No.84)

Guess what’s in the foil!

 

Have you figured it out yet?

Also, while you’re at it, have a guess at why I have been a very bad blogger these past few weeks?

It’s VERY exciting news….

Super breakfast!

It’s a shame we don’t always have time for super special breakfasts on a weekday but there’s no reason not to have sometjing really tasty.

This quick breakfast was sliced avocado on seeded toast and a bowl of baked apple pieces with sliced banana and blueberries. I ‘baked’ the apple in the microwave by cutting it into bite sized pieces and zapping it for 5 minutes while I was doing the toast. The bowl had 2 whole apples in – skins and all. Super tasty and super healthy!

Baked apple has continued to be a saviour during lent as it tastes so puddinh-like without the processed sugar.

Talking of lent, I may have gone overboard at the weekend. No excuses: I just didn’t avoid sugar when I could have. So today (as well as yesterday) it’s back on the no-processed sugar bandwagon!

Give me all of the baked apple!

Bento (No.75)

Been very busy over the last few days, birthdays galore and multiple goings on soooooo…

Bento back log!

Good old salad with lots of green stuff! Yay for olives! Baked tofu (baked in sesame oil and soy sauce) and red grapes. I had rice cakes with this and it was super yummy!

Over the next few days I’m going to be prepping and planning better lunches and meals to centre around better nutrition for running. Last week a lot of my bentos contained a lots of carbs (mainly brown rice and lentils so not terrible for me) but it reminded me (again) that carbs don’t make me feel 100%. I would definitely like to feel 100% before the half marathon I’ve got it March! Oh yeah, forgot to mention that……

Got any races/events coming up? Or how is your general gyming/exercise going?

What would you recommend I start eating more of in prep for race training/increased exercise in general?