of packing a healthy and cheap lunch

today is only 4th of february.
megat is only in year four this year.
upsr exam is only two years away from now.

no matter what the circumstances are, megat and his batch (year four) have already started to attend extra classes after school hours with effective today, organized by the school' PTA. take note that megat is schooling in a local chinese school. so as for now he will be going home only at 2.55pm from monday to wednesday, while on thursday and friday is at 2.25pm. parents are allowed to deliver their kids lunch during their second break i.e. when the normal school hours end (1.35pm for monday to wednesday and 1.05pm for thursday and friday).

so as for me it's not a problem at all to bring megat's packed lunch to him at those hours. normally it would be like that anyway, where i would fetch puteri right after megat anyway. so it's definitely fine for me. and the best thing is we do not have to be worried for food poisoning, as the food is home-made. home-made food are more healthy i tell you. if not why on earth we could see quite a number of chinese mothers do the same. in fact one of them who always chatted with me when we bumped in to each other in school, told me that even she do not trust canteen food. she prefer to cook her kids' packed meal herself. besides that, we can teach our kids to save their pocket money since they already bring packed meals/lunch from home.

so as you could see from the above pic, that is the school' side entrance gate. that is where i usually waited for megat. and the missing grill are meant for us parents to pass anything to our kids, vise versa. kewl huh?!!...

i tell you what... isn't it good for you people to adapt this packed lunch ideas for work., no matter whether you are single or married. lunch is the meal where most people end up scarfing down whatever fatty, greasy food they can find. but it only takes a little pre-planning to create a healthy, energy-boosting meal, at little cost to you or your long-term health.

step 1
create a healthy shopping list, with easy-to-pack, nutritious foods in mind. opt for low-fat granola, dried fruit, nuts, low-fat meat slices, whole wheat bread, fresh fruit and deli tray-sized bits of fresh carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and sweet baby carrots, eggs (you can hard boil or create egg salad sandwiches with vegan mayonnaise or olive oil mayonnaise), and peanut, soy, or sunflower butter.

step 2
strategize the night before. it's best to pack more than you think you'll eat. that way you won't run out of the food you need to keep your energy up throughout the afternoon. plus, you'll have a little extra for mid-morning and even a quick breakfast on the run or during the commute.

step 3
include three components to make a meal: a main, snack and side. a salad, sandwich or whole grain wrap is a good choice for a main. throw in homemade trail mix (see #4) or granola for your snack. add in a salad with your sandwich, a container full of bite-sized veggies, or cubes of various fruits and honey for your side.

step 4
make your own trail mix. homemade trail mix can be customized to suit your taste, and can be created as a low-fat alternative to the store brands. mix together some sesame sticks, soy nuts, sunflower seeds, a few dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries and almonds. the result is a snack that's tasty, low-fat and packed with protein and antioxidants.

step 5
try new variations on old standbys. there are hundreds of variations just on a whole wheat wrap. try a garlic or basil flavored flatbread or tortilla. brush on vinaigrette dressing instead of plain old mustard. add almonds for a protein boost, or just switch up your standard wheat sandwich bread with a whole grain roll. that way you'll never get bored and be inclined to stray from your healthy DIY route.

step 6
pack your items in reusable containers. bags formerly containing your snack mixes, veggies and sandwiches have only one place to go after you use them: the landfill. do this for the environment, while you revamp your lunch routine for yourself.

step 7
eat with co-workers in moderation. don't completely cut off lunches with colleagues. these are good morale-boosting sessions (or venting sessions, whatever the case may be). be a team player. you may be overdoing it when your lunches out really start to show up on your account balance and your thighs.

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on another note, kay came over to my place yesterday evening, for us to visit the late kak fairoz' mother. i think probably that time her (kak fairoz) brother was already on the way back to kuale from klia, to bring back her remains. read more about her in today's news here, here, here and here.

"may she rest in peace"... amin.

megat's name

megat finished school late today at 3.30pm. he has to attend extra class after school hours, then co-curriculur activity where he's with the basketball team people ;) when i came over at around 1pm to give megat his lunch, he and some of his friends were so glad to show me this--

its megat's student id for his school's library. if you happened to know chinese language then you should know megat's full name. so go figure! that word 'megat' is not on a wrong alignment occay?!!... of course it has been edited by me dammit :P


and this one is megat's recent pic taken earlier today around 4+ pm. megat's schedule on a thursday is kinda tough. so his looks speak for him. he has a taekwondo class (twice a week) at night that finished at 9.30pm. so normally after reached home and taken his quick shower, he would doze off in a split second... poor megat... besides this, he also has 3 times a week' mandarin tuition class to attend, scouts on wednesday, and mengaji [translation: learning to recite the quran rigorously in its native language, arabic] on almost every nights with his pom (po-po). but anyhow thank god that megat understands that those are for his own good ;)

translate them boy...

i have been wanted to blog since morning but only He knows of how busy i am... hence now only i have some time to breath *phew*

its the second day of schools today. i am sure megat will bring more homeworks later... in fact he brought two homeworks yesterday, even it was the first day of schools. its well known that school children in chinese school in the country intense to get more homework than national school. i know some malay parents (of those who send their children to chinese school) got so many says on this but for me... no hal! at least megat would do something good at home during his past time. well if you people don't like that then don't lar send your children to chinese school kan? we could see nazmi, megat's malay friend from kindy since 2003... all his bro and sis (five of them including nazmi) study in chinese school, now the eldest is in form three. the thing is if we can't do it the hard way, then forget it! if you wanna the best for your children and you think you can get it at chinese school, then face it!

megat came back from school yesterday with so many stories. even during lunch time, he told us so many things. he's excited! yes... especially when he starts going to the main school, the one in town from this year. from what i understand from megat, the children at the main school there get to have malay bahasa melayu language teachers, not like the previous one where chinese teachers teach all subjects except agama, where an ustazah from the main school will go there when they have agama classes. a malay guy teacher came to megat's class during the bahasa melayu subject. according to megat, he got problems to communicate with chinese children. luckily megat and nazmi were there, so both of them helped him to translate to their chinese classmates, of what the teacher wanna say lol... funny or not? teheeheee...

mama is so glad of you boy! ;)

kuE's note:
pic showed this morning when megat was walking in to the main school. take note that the side entrance is just behind yut loy! ;)

welcome 2008...

this is the day children from all over the country started their school days for the year 2008.

we went out of the house about 6.50am. there were some traffic jams when we were heading to sekolah atas bukit, as expected. wa lau ley... some people still send their children to school right up to the front (i mean... they would parked the car, and go down personally with their children in to the school'
compound) even though the children are big enough to do everything her/himself. i saw that situation at puteri's school, when some parents (both father and mother occay?!!), came out from the school' gate :P don't tell me they wanna pay for the children's school fees. even megat can do it himself already. fyi megat now is in year three, while puteri is in form two.

anyhow for megat, i did send him to the classroom, since this is his first day in year three. on the other hand, starting this year, his school is located in town thats specially for year three to year six children. take note that the one near malay college is only for year one and two. while there, we discussed of where i shall drop him and wait for him every day at school from now onwards. oh... forgot to mention to you people that the school also is only few blocks away from none other than yut loy! thats even on the same row, of the main road in town occay?!! hehee... now we shall expect that i will drop-by yut loy more often :) hmm... senang ler nak order pau ek? lol...

owh... how time flies so fast... megat is such a big boy himself now. megat was busy talking with his friends when i interrupted him, saying that i wanted to go home. "okay... bye ma!", megat said while waving his right hand to me. "oik! no more salam and kissing your mama?", i asked him. megat just smiled. i know that he was shy, kissing his mom infront of his friends. but when he realized that i was a bit dissappointed, he came to me whose standing at the classroom door, then salam and kissed me.

oh yes... as you could see from the pics, megat's school is one of the oldest schools in kuale, besides rpk (sekolah atas bukit), koleq and clifford. so don't be surprised to see an old building there. nonetheless, the classroom is already equipped with projector set with slides, hang on top of the blackboard. yes... blackboard! i know i know... some of the new schools these days don't use blackboard no more but they use whiteboard instead.

guess what people... some parents were looking at me one kind only... ya lor... no other parents especially mothers snapped pics of their children at school like i did this morning hehe... let it be! they dunno that megat's mother is a blogger and like what i mentioned many times before, we bloggers NEVER leave home without a camera!!! bwahahahaaa... :D

kuE's related links: 2006' and 2007' post on back to school.