bekal - pizza sandwich

'2014 Cost Saving Initiatives' kick-off!

Walk the Talk bak kata orang ni. Well, I am walking other people's talk and I sincerely hope they do the same :-)

I normally prepare two sets of bekal i.e one for kids to bring to school/kindy and another one for kids to munch at taska. Now tambah lagi satu set, bekal for me and Tebby for breakfast. I can safely say we have saved around RM40 this week. True that it takes more of my morning me-time but the satisfaction is overwhelming :-)

The key-word is 'plan'. Sama jugak macam buat Business Plan kat ofis kan. You need to know your objectives, set your strategy and initiatives in order to achieve the objectives and list out the resources needed. Kalau bangun pagi bukak peti ais baru fikir nak buat bekal apa... kelam kabut juga. Saya la tu, orang lain mungkin tidak. Unless I wake up at 4:00 or 4:30 la.. which I don't anyway.

Semalam plan nak buatkan Pizza-Sandwich for kids. Last night Tebby helped me assemble lebanese flat-bread with pasta sauce, sauteed beef and cheese. Kept it in the fridge and this morning I just heat up the oven and toast it. At the same time goreng ayam. While those are cooking (about 10-15 minutes), don you telekung and do your Subuh prayer. I am sure we women and mothers can multiskill. That's one strength Allah Bestowed upon us ladies. Isn't standing under shower while brushing teeth sound familiar? Or breastfeeding baby while spooning lunch to your other child.

For the Pizza-Sandwich, I used 2 sheets of lebanese flat-bread. Actually cari Missions's totilla wraps tapi tak ketemu. Lebanese flat-bread that I bought is smaller than totilla bread, hence hasilnya kecik cukup-cukup je for the kids bekal.

I am excited to plan ahead for next week. Hope I can squeeze sometime this weekend to try make my own sandwich loaf and to re-try doing my puff-pastry thingy, that was horrendous beyond words. The kind you need to eat with closed-eyes. They tasted good (masuk bakul angkat sendiri) but they puffed too much that you can't tell those are tarts without me telling you.

my make-ahead kids' bekal

As a working mom who live in KL (which translates into being trapped in congestion to and from, approximately 1 hour each), time is luxury. Time management is something you must be good at. 10 minutes delay hitting the road in the morning could mean 1/2 hour delay arriving in the office. Not complaining tho. There's no MV back in my hometown. Neither do they have it in Tebby's hometown :D

My most havoc session is in the morning. Apart from me-self routine (bathing - dressing up - solat), I need to ensure kids get up on time and do their routine (bathing - dressing up - solat). My elder two, they can do those on their own.  Adam, on his goody-goody mood days, he'll shower on his own (with supervision of course), dress himself up. Sans the fuss. On his moody-moody days, (insert crying, refusing to get up and fussing on almost everything, in the normal routine). On those days, it sure requires additional patience!

Anyway, one task I normally do in the morning is - preparing bekal for the kids. All them three are school-goers now. My elder two, despite being given pocket money, insist for bekal as well. Not that my cooking, (or rather just cooking up frozen tidbits ha ha) is good. Kakak for example, dislike having to queue up in the canteen, or also berebut for that matter. Iman, tho he queues up (and fights) for food in the canteen, he eats a lot and that requires bekal for him :D

Due to that, I always have frozen stocks in the fridge - cheesy nuggets, potato wedges, crinkle cut fries, drumettes and sausages are the must. But you know what they say about air tangan right? I sometimes make bekal from scratch. Last week I did Cokodok, Sausage Roll and Crabstick Roll. Adam bought a bunch of banana which the kids later refused to eat once the skin turned brownish. Cokodok it is then! And our loaf of bread was nearing expiry. Rolls it is then. To save time, I make them ahead. Next morning I can smile retrieving those from the fridge :D

Cokodok. Only 3 bananas left. I added extra flour hence the paleness :D Mixed it up with brown sugar. Next morning, goreng only. We had extra so me and Tebby munched our way to the office... 

Sausage Rolls and Crabstick Rolls. Easy peasy to make. For the Crabstick Rolls, first I rolled the crabstick in cheese (hat biasa makan dengan roti, yang square tu) then baru roll them up dalam roti.

Credit to http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/12/creative-bento-boxes-how-to-make.html

And here's what I found on the net - super-cuteness bento box! Kalau cenggini, mau nak kena bangun jam 4 pagi nak berhias bagai *pingsan!*

tips (.. and tricks!)

When your child refuses to do it the conventional way of sitting and learning through books, it calls for a trick or two :D

I notice my two boys fall into that category. When Iman was about Adam's age, he was like that. Refused to sit still and learn. But I was more concerned of his social skill back then. At almost 5, he wasn't speaking yet, let alone other skill like reading and counting. But like I said many times before, tiada yang sia-sia, semua kan ada hikmahnya. I learn a lot through him. Things not on books and papers.

Adam has similar traits. He's one bouncing ball. Always on the move :D Well, Iman still is, especially when he's not hooked on this things-imagine on the net! Take away that iPad from him, he'd go jumping, running, climbing, walking around - bottomline, always on the move. But Adam has acquired those social skills appropriate for a boy his age. He speaks in clear sentences, he gets around people easily (and wraps us around his little finger as well! :P), he recites dua and short surah. Alhamdulillah.

Anyway, back to my original track. People my age sidetrack easily huh?

I decided that from the look of it, Adam is ready for a more serious reading. When my elder two are at the table doing homework or revision, he's one busy boy with books, colors and all :D And asks a lot of questions too! If Kakak books a seat on my right and Iman on my left. He has this seat beside Iman on my left :D But first things first - the foundation of reading - spelling!

I can see he's not so keen on learning spelling via books so it calls for some creativity. I also believe every child foundation years should be fun, fun and fun!

I start with the basic phonics (as per book Bacalah Sayang) - a, i, u - in small letters. Cut out the alphabet a i and u in small pieces, about four pieces for each letter. I used two different colors of card.

3 cards of different colors. Not only it was fun to play with medley of colors, at the same time boleh ajar warna as well. Adam has no problem with colors, he knows all 12 basic colors in his pencil color box. But for the fun of it, I used different colors.

The home-made flash card. Yellow on blue. Letter a i and u on each card.This is my sempoi teaching kit :D

My student! Personal and private class lagi! Gosh, my bakul of unfolded laundry back there ha ha. Prioritize! Laundry can wait, no?

Adam, mana a? Ummi nak a yang warna yellow. Tampal atas kertas biru.

Took an a and paste.

Adam, mana u?

Pasted u.

Mana u lagi?

Pasted again.

Smile.

Finish one card.

On his second card. Grey. Learning is also about repeating so I made 3 cards. 

Third card. Orange. He insisted on bubuh gam sendiri. Cikgu dah malas ha ha.

There, done. All three. Correctly pasted based on my instruction.
Pink on grey, yellow on grey.
Yellow on blue.
Yellow on orange, pink on orange.

He insisted that I take photos of him with each card that he did.

................... as well as the flash card that I used to teach him :P.. layan...

Yayy, I'm the winner.

Yes you are my dear.

Uiks, kurusnya Adik, nampak tulang rusuk.
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Oh my, my laundry back there! Prioritize ha ha.