I started out this year with the intentions of following Just Bento’s bento challenge quite closely.  While that hasn’t necessarily transpired as I thought it might (the reasons for another day and another blog post), I haven’t been completley unaware of what’s taking place in her challenge.  I read her weekly challenges and from it take what I think I need.  The first week’s challenge of planning ahead was something that I don’t normally do much, and it was the biggest part of the challenge I’ve tried to adhere to.

With these things in mind, I decided to join together with my mom and get a membership to Sam’s Club, the only bulk supply place in my neck of the woods.  I took a pic of my first purchases just because I was excited.  For my January bentos, I purchased a honkin’ pack of lean ground meat and a honkin’ pack of chicken tenderloins.  This worked out amazingly well for me.

Thirty minutes later (or thereabouts), I had everything divided and ready to go to the freezer.  The groundmeat was put into the ziploc bags, flattened out, and all air smooshed from the bag.  The chicken tenderloins were placed in the bags in even amounts, giving me as a single person enough for about 2 to 2 1/2 meals.

I placed all packages on a flat cookie sheet in the freezer and let it all freeze up nicely.  This made sure that everything stacked neatly in the fridge.  Then I went back and spent another 30 minutes to freezer wrap each package to avoid freezer burn.

This worked out very nicely for the month of January.  While it did limit me to the type of meat I had, I didn’t feel overly limited in the recipes I was able to find.  This past month saw Sesame Crusted Chicken Bites, Chicken & Rice Soup, a Versatile Meat Mix for chicken or groundmeat hamburgers & meatballs, Red Pepper Bites using the versatile meat mix, and Country Captain Chicken.  All of these were new recipes for me.  I still have packs of meat leftover.  I’m hoping this weekend to get back to Sam’s Club and purchase some additional cuts of meat, and maybe some pork chops.  By having ready-to-go-sized-for-me packs of meat, I think I saved money overall as well.  I wasn’t stopping by the grocery store nearly every evening picked up a quick pack of meat to cook for dinner.  I only had to purchase veggies and fruit during the month and that was about it.  I think this is one of the biggest things I’m going to take away from Just Bento’s challenge: planning.  Something my bento life has needed for some time now.

Today’s grocery shopping brought a smile to my face and 2 new foods in my basket, such as the yellow carrots above. Or maybe they were called “golden” carrots. I remember not. All I know is that I like carrots so much I figured I’d give them a whirl this week.  I thought they might look very interesting next to regular bright orange carrots.

Around the corner from the carrots was a fruit display I absolutely could not resist: pomegranate! It made me quite nostalgic and reflective. Pomegranate was one of the very first new-to-me foods I tried when I started Not Exactly Bento a year ago. I’d never heard of the fruit before and Adventures in Bentomaking featured it alot in her bentos at the time. When I saw it at the store, I thought I’d try it. I’ve loved it ever since that first taste. It never dawned on me that with the anniversary of Not Exactly Bento this month that pomegranate would make its way back to the grocery shelves. I’m sooo excited.

I also found this: quinoa pasta. I picked up a small box to try. Since I’ve grown to love quinoa so much in place of rice, I wondered what this would be like to try in place of regular pasta. Something made me pick up this “veggie curl” type pasta. I’m just unsure what to do with it. I want to use it as a side dish with some sort of dressing on the pasta, like a pasta salad. I just have no idea what to dress it with. Suggestions anyone?

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. See you again Monday with a new bento.