I did pretty much nothing productive today. I had intentions to finally get my pantry emptied and tidied and re-organized when the kids were in school, but that didn’t happen.

Here is where it stands right now. You can see how much space is wasted on non food items.

I am still not sure what I’m going to do about all the lunch making and bento supplies. When they are all binned up, it fills 8-10 of the large ones.  I’ve spent a lot of time and money collecting all these items. And when my son was in kinder through 4th grade, I used it every day. He appreciated fun shaped foods and cheese carving and character meals. Then he grew out of that, and while my daughter was starting kinder when my son started 5th grade, it quickly became obvious it was a waste of time to spend 30 minutes or more on artfully constructed lunches. She barely eats any lunch in general, and refused to eat a cute sammie with a face drawn with food safe markers.  She’s very picky and only eats a few vegetables, so what’s the point of making radish mushrooms or chain link cucumber when she MIGHT eat 2 baby carrots, a strawberry or two and half a jelly sandwich?  She won’t eat eggs or cheese or cured meats in her lunch. She doesn’t like grapes or kiwi or any exotic fruits. She doesn’t eat nuts or dried fruits of any kind. If I line her box with curly lettuce, she won’t eat anything it touched. She won’t eat my sons favorite brunch for lunch with mini pancakes or waffles because they aren’t hot off the griddle/maker. I can’t even make her sandwiches on different types of breads. No rolls or croissants or wraps – even if the filling is the same.

In short, she is challenging to feed.  She doesn’t even like traditional kids foods.  The things I don’t want to make anyway, but have tried out of desperation – no corn dogs, no chicken nuggets.  Only plain cheese pizza.  Even foods she will eat one way, she won’t even try if presented in a slightly different way.   This is not all just pickiness.  She has some genuine issues with food that stem from sensory issues and “overexcitabilities” that are part of her giftedness.  She has a lot of anxieties about new and different things, not just about food.  She is very sensitive to flavors and textures.  Everything seems more intense for her. I don’t short order cook though, or let her limited diet influence my meal plan too much.  I try to include one item that I know she will eat (a lot of the time that is a salad with ranch dressing).  And after seeing a food 2-3 dozen times, she will often finally take a nibble or two.

Well, that got a bit off topic, sorry.  This may give you a bit of insight into how challenging stocking food storage may be for me though!

Anyway, I was super bummed because I was quite invested in my adorable lunches. Aside from the occasional cute food pick or small container for dressing, all those supplies go unused. And it’s been that way for 3 years.  So I am going to have to be emotionally strong and pack that stuff up. Trying to look at the bright side – think of how much more food and supplies will fit after I do it!

So at school time, I stayed to volunteer a bit in the classroom. After that I came home with intentions of attacking the pantry – instead I had a long nap :0