chez Kirby

As you may have noticed, we were away on holidays for a couple of weeks. We had a wonderful winter get-away back home with family. Ice fishing, skiing, skating, and walking (and even driving) on the frozen over lake are fun, cheap ways to spend a winter holiday!

Even with sick kids and four days of driving to get there and back, it was well worth it! But the sea-salty air and warmer wind were a good reminder of why we live out here on the Island. The warmer clime was especially welcome after a heroic drive over two mountain passes, over two days, to get home.

And now that we are home, there’s the reality of our regular lives and responsibilities to resume. Being that we were on the road home over the transition to 2009, I haven’t given much thought to a list of resolutions until now. I’ve been sitting here, between games of Go Fish and Connect Four with my five year old, pondering that list, as well as my return to work.

I will be going back to my old job with the Government in a couple of days. I have been home with my babies for three years now, so this is a big transition. It took me a month to wrap my head around it all. We got incredibly lucky with a couple of child care spaces at the same place for the kids. And now, after a couple of weeks of ignoring reality, we’re home and getting geared up for a new way of life.

My biggest concern is food. I have had the lovely luxury of feeding the family, based on the whim of the moment. I’ve had the time and freedom to cook when we were hungry, and follow our cravings meal by meal, snack by snack.

But those days will soon be over. It’s time to plan!

I’ve been surfing around looking for some good ideas for food storage. My sister recommended for the kids that we try using a large Ziploc bag, with smaller Ziploc bags inside to hold choices of foods for snacks and lunch. They can see what’s inside, and can pick and choose what they will eat for snack and then eat the remainder for lunch. I was disturbed by the concept of so much plastic, but she says they reuse the bags over and over, washing them when necessary. If you’ve got a few almonds in a bag, it won’t need to be washed every day.

I’m leaning towards a more sustainable solution to our lunch box needs. I’ve been considering these stainless containers from LifeWithoutPlastic.com.

I’ve also looked at these non-toxic (BPA, pthalate, and lead free) reusable, recyclable plastic bento boxes from LaptopLunches.com.

And I’ve had some very good advice and ideas from Tyee Columnist James Glave at Glave.com. He wrote about recycling his plastics this summer, much as I did last year, and I really enjoyed his take on the whole plastic scare.

We’ve already got the Kleen Kanteen water bottles, that have held up very well, and have miraculously not been lost. Hopefully, something for food storage will become obvious over the next few months.

My sister and brother-in-law (the lunch maker in their house) gave us a whole tonne of suggestions for snack foods to put into the bags. Our kids have some similar food preferences, so their suggestions were very helpful. I started a new little notebook for planning meals, and I madly scribbled down ideas as they brainstormed with me.

Here’s what I’ve got down for snacks so far:

Almonds, rice cakes, pretzels, sliced apple, dried fruit, fruit leather, mini bagels with cream cheese or peanut butter, crackers and cheese, chicken quesadillas, yogurt, mini muffins (which can be frozen, and then thawed individually in their lunch bags), carrot and celery sticks, tuna sandwiches (vary this with cheese buns, bread, pita, etc), pickles.

My notebook is slowing filling with ideas for dinner. I’m aiming to make up a weekly meal plan. My sister and many working Mum girlfriends claim the meal plan as their secret to success.

I’ve copied out a new recipe for Friday Night Pizza, from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I gave this book to my Mum for her birthday last year, and although we both found the book a little boring (we are very well informed on this subject, so there wasn’t much new to keep our interest), she has had some success with this pizza recipe. Pizza is a great option for us, because the kids will definitely eat it, and we can easily make a portion of it vegetarian for me.

My lists of recipes, snack ideas, meal plans, and food storage ideas are growing, alongside my hope for the new year ahead. I am no longer paralyzed with fear by the idea of being a working Mum. It might actually be nice to have a new routine. I think as long as I can conquer these lists, I might not sink into the abyss of eating convenient (bad) food.

And if there’s anything that can make me feel good, in other words In Control, it’s knowing that my family is eating well. With all this obsessing about healthy food, I might just keep my weight under control while sitting at a desk for hours on end, and keep our family food expenses down (a real bonus in a time of recession).

But more than anything, this might just be how I will cope with the separation anxiety of leaving my kids with someone else five days a week. Because that’s really the biggest issue here. And if as my Mum says, “Food is love,” then I’m doing what I can to let them know that even though I can’t be with them, their lunchboxes are full.