Bento Challenge week 5 - my focus

I read at Maki's that this week focus will be on: Putting it all together, and moving forward.

quoting from justbento.com:

basic

Make a list of the reasons you want to continue making bentos.
Take a look back at your Challenge weeks, and see what areas are or were giving you trouble, and how you could deal with them.
Consider scaling back or changing your bento-oriented goals if necessary.
Optional: Choose the 1 or 2 main reasons you want to make bentos a part of your life. Print them out in a large font, and stick it up where you will see it daily - on your refrigerator for example.

going deeper

Make 2 or 3 favorites that you can stash in the freezer.
Get into the habit of making more of something you need at a time, for dinner or for a bento, and storing the rest in the refrigerator to use later in the week.
Frozen vegetables are great staples to stock.
Don’t forget your pantry. Stock up on things like canned and dried beans, canned tuna and other fish, canned meats (Spam!), instant soups, herbs and so on, as well as Japanese things like furikake, nori seaweed, etc. Of course, such staples are not just limited to bento use!

Putting it all together, and moving forward: it is exaclty what I had in mind for my week 6 and 7 and 8, that is to say for the weeks and months that will follow the challenge!

Pre-planning and having everyday a nice bento for lunch is not always that easy or natural, but in these past 4 weeks I learned a lot on how to get organized and I tried to see the 'fun side' of cooking and making the bentos, and while doing so I realized how much I can save (money and time) and became more conscious of general wastes in my life that I'm currently trying to 'fix'.

I know that once the challenge comes to an end, I will have to put extra efforts on bento-making (I'm really feeling part of a group now, even though I cannot post in the forum as much as I would like to, and hope to keep this feeling alive) but I'm really motivated to go on with bento-making and adjust it to my habits.

With this week and following weeks I will

:: continue making bento every day, with a 'one-dish obento' once a week (also for weeks to come) like pasta or rice with fish/meet & vegetables
:: try to eat better at breakfast (home made biscuits, dried fruits & green tea) and have healthier snacks

:: focus on the money saving aspect of bento, also by filling it with less meat/fish and more dried beans (cheap & healthy)

:: work on the pre-planning and continue to work on organization of staples and freezer/refrigerator

:: use a smaller bentobox at least three times a week

:: prepare 'dried beans bentos' for my father (who should pay attention to glycaemia and eat helthier)

:: try to be more involved in the forum!!!

my reasons for making bentos
:: to save money (I did not realize how much food I wasted until I got into the challenge) and use all leftovers!
:: to eat healthier
:: to get to practice more Japanese style recipes

still have problems in
:: having the kitchen/cupboards/refrigerator well organized
:: arranging food in the bento and making it look nicebut

enjoy
:: exercising on organization and pre-planning, and love to take notes on bento making and recipes in my notebook!!