My husband was away when I decided to relaunch the blog. When he got home, I asked him if he felt like participating. And by participating, I mean, I'll make him food and take pictures of it, and he gets to eat it along with occasionally using the smoker to prep one of my lunchbox ideas. He's game for that!
I decided that a quick protein box snack was the way to go. He's in the military, so he's up early and by mid morning is looking for snacks. I've seen plenty of protein boxes at the store for $4.50-$5 and honestly? They aren't that impressive for the price. I knew I could make some better ones.
I received a box of Oogie's Seasoning Blends to sample, so I defrosted chicken breast and he put it on the smoker for me. We did all three seasonings--Zesty Cheese, Chicken & Waffles, and Honey Mustard. Once the chicken was done and cooled, I sliced it into thin pieces for lunches.
Today's adult lunchable features:
Spicy peppered cheddar cheese (1.5 oz., 150 cal.)
Smoked seasoned chicken breast, seasoned with Oogie's Honey Mustard (3 oz., 98 cal. )
Green grapes (1/2 cup, 52 cal.)
Boiled egg (1 egg, 78 cal.)
Total calories for the box are approximately 378 cal.
For costs, the smoked chicken was bought on sale at $1.99/lb. That makes it about 12.5 cents per ounce, or $0.38 for the 3 ounces I used here. The cheese was from the deli, so let's say $1.25 on the higher side to be safe. The half cup grapes weigh about 3 oz, so $0.33 for grapes, and $0.15 for the egg. Total cost for this lunch is about $2.11.
In comparison, I found at the store:
$5 - chicken salad, grapes, cheese, flatbread, whole box weighed 5.52 oz
$4.59 - apples, boiled egg, cheeses, cranberries and almonds, whole box weighed 7.35 oz.
$4.59 - apples, cheese, turkey pepperoni bites, cranberries, whole box weighed 6.75 oz.
These boxes are EasyLunchboxes Snack Box once again. They are on Amazon for about $12 for a 4-pack. I feel like they are my favorite default because of the separate compartments. I actually prepped four at once for the week because my husband was fine with 4 identical ones to see how he felt about bringing a snack along with him. They also stack super well in the fridge, so they were out of my way the rest of the week.
We also definitely recommend the Oogie's Seasoning Blends! We were pretty happy with all three flavors and noticed that the Zesty Cheddar one might also be good sprinkled on popcorn. We tried the seasonings on chicken so far, but plan to also see what they are like on pork and on vegetables at some point soon.
Comments
Post a Comment