May 14th, 2008 @ 9:59 am
I thought I’d give a little update on how the lunches I’m packing for preschool are working out. Here are some of the lunches I’ve made in the past few weeks:
This lunch had banana bread, turkey roll-ups, cheese men, watermelon chunks and a home-made granola bar. I made the cheese men by folding over a slice of muenster cheese and using little cookie cutters to cut the men out. I “drew” the faces on with a toothpick.
Here we have PB&J on wheat bread, grapes, cheddar cheese cubes and cherry tomatoes with a little bit of balsamic vinegar. You’ll notice that I try to get at least one fruit or veggie in each lunch along with something bread-like, a bit of protein and some calcium. I’m also trying to get a mix of colors and textures in each lunch.
This is one of my favorites. I sent a Babybel cheese with a teddy bear cut out of the wax, salami (one of his favorites) grapes and a mini cinnamon raisin bagel. To cut the bear, I took a small cookie cutter and pressed it into the wax on the cheese — far enough that it cut into the cheese a little. Then I just pulled out the cookie cutter and peeled the cut out shape off the cheese. It’s super easy and soooo cute.
This lunch had turkey and cheese roll-ups, a silicon baking cup full of Cheerios, Cheez-its, strawberries and another baking cup full of yogurt. I put a happy banana food divider on top of the yogurt to minimize “sloshing”.
We got off to a great start with the lunches, but then the amount Wyatt was eating started to taper off to pretty much nothing. When we opened his lunch box up the day I sent the yogurt lunch for example, there was nothing gone from it — at least nothing I could identify. He often will eat some of his lunch when he gets home from preschool, but by five o’ clock many of the foods are no longer safe to eat, so I was finding myself throwing out more and more food. That kind of food waste was really starting to get to me, so on the advice of his preschool teachers, a kind commenter on Flickr and my own logical brain I decided to start packing less food for him. I’ve been limiting myself to one tier in his bento every day for the past few days and it’s been working out pretty well. Even though I’m sending less food, he is eating more. I’m thinking now that the bigger bentos were just a bit too overwhelming.
Here we have a half PB&J cut into strips, cheese stars, strawberries and multigrain crackers.
This one has grapes, a mini-blueberry muffin, salami and more multi-grain crackers. The mini muffin is from Trader Joes and these have been the hit of this week. The TJ’s muffins are basically little pieces of cake though, so I think I will make some home-made mini muffins to have a little more control over how much sugar goes into them.
This is today’s lunch: turkey hot dog cut in half length-wise and then into chunks, ketchup for dipping in the pink container, apple chunks and another mini muffin. The hot dog is new and I’m hoping the novelty (and the beloved ketchup) will get him excited enough to eat it.
More preschool bento ideas are here. Also, I’m constantly adding photos to my preschool bento set over on Flickr, so you can see more ideas there.
bentos · food · kid · motherhood · parenting · photo · preschool
Preschool Bentos | Wendolonia
said,
May 14, 2008 at 10:00 am
[...] have another post with more bento ideas here. I’ve also answered some questions about the supplies I use for my bentos in a post over [...]
Zeynep
said,
May 14, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I am getting hungry just looking at these! Kudos to you for making them look so yummy - my 8year old son saw the pictures and said to me “why can’t you send me to school with lunch that you make, I am sick of eating green gunk.” (They had spinach today
Heather
said,
May 14, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I have seen hot dogs cut so they look like an octopuse, that could be fun! You kind of leave one end intact for the head and then cut the other 2/3 into 8 dangley legs. I forget how they did a face but tiny bits of peppers could be eyes and you could just cut a tiny wedge out for a mouth?
Jacinda
said,
May 16, 2008 at 8:34 am
Found you through Kirtsy.com. These are great! Clare is just 1 next month but Ill have to make a mental note of your great solutions for the future. For now… back to peeling grapes!
Evie
said,
May 16, 2008 at 9:59 am
This. Is. So. Great. I must have cheese men in my next bento!
Sarah
said,
May 16, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Are you serious? How long do you plan on doing this? At what age will you stop cutting the poor kids sandwiches into animal shapes? You do realize that every parent and teacher at your child’s school is laughing at you. Feeding your kid healthy is great, but this is overboard and unnecessary. Stop now, before your kid is the target of constant ridicule.
Victoria Marinelli
said,
May 16, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Well that’s a bit harsh. And also, I strongly suspect, completely off-base. As a mom of two fabulous daughters, I’m acutely aware of the fact that my utter lack of passion or interest with regard to food preparation is setting them up to have the same failures of culinary imagination when they are grown. I consider it a profound mercy that there is an borderline satisfactory school breakfast and lunch program for them so that I only have to think about what to do for one out every three weekday meals (and even then, it’s mostly my husband who cooks; I do dishes. And not even in a timely fashion, I’m afraid).
A lot of the time, my girls want to bring a lunch to school, because it’s a super-special thing to them, even if they’re bringing only the most rudimentary peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in a brown bag or whatever. They’re stoked! But damn, if I was the kind of mom who not only had the imagination but also the energy to devote to making stuff like what appears below? They’d be out of their minds excited about it.
And not, really, in an “I’m more special than my peers” way, but in a way that’s stimulating their own imaginations. Which is going to carry over into their developing lives in all sorts of non-food-related spheres. I tend to think that would be a good thing.
There’s a lot of love and imagination in our own family, it’s just an unfortunate fact that very little of that translates into excitement around sustenance (which can be real teaching moments, e.g. around the production of food, the environment, nutrition, etc.). I didn’t get that from my parents growing up, and neither did my husband. If either of us had half the culinary imagination of the person who not only put all this together but also put time and energy into rendering it in an aesthetically harmonious way here, for others to be inspired by and stuff, our girls would be turning cartwheels over that, and would be stronger for it.
Brent
said,
May 17, 2008 at 1:42 am
Wendy rules! Shut up Sarah, you big turd!
Sarah
said,
May 17, 2008 at 7:38 am
Cutting your kids’ sandwiches and cheese into shapes does not stimulate their imaginations. It’s kind of like giving your kids a coloring book instead of plain paper. This is a pretentious and over the top attempt at gaining attention for your child. I’m sure you’re thinking everyone is saying, “Oh, look how cute. Their mom must really love them.” What they’re really thinking is, “They have way too much time on their hands and are obnoxious.” I’m sorry, but cutting your kids’ lunches up in a cutesy manner is neither cute nor mentally activating. Once in a while, this would be cute (for a really young child), but doing this every day or even quite often makes it unoriginal and grandiose. An expectation of food being cut into heart and cat shapes will not only affect their schema, but will create a strong sense of entitlement that will be extremely difficult to undo.
And Brent, obviously your mom cut your food up because you can’t think of something more original or sophisticated than that.
Victoria Marinelli
said,
May 17, 2008 at 7:47 am
See, the first time around I went all deep and thoughtful-like. Now I’m just like, “Damn Sarah, who pissed in your Wheaties?” (Stale Wheaties, I’m sure. Tossed carelessly in a bowl for you as a child. Is it your own inner child* who is retroactively offended by the concept of mommies who love their kids and the culinary arts so much to make a cheerful event out of a child’s daily meal?)
Why don’t you start an anti-Bento blog or something? Then you could have a dedicated site for your inane speechifying, could attract whatever readers of similar persuasion might exist out there in the world, and would cease with leaving your poisonous prattle on the websites of people who really don’t give a fuck what you think. Everybody wins!
* This is a sarcastic reference.
Sarah
said,
May 17, 2008 at 7:56 am
Victoria,
So cutting your kids’ food = love. Good to know. Instead of cutting my kids’ food into animal shapes, I spend that time to read with them and take them outside. They have friends, though, because they’re not the freaky kid whose mom is still attached by the umbilical cord.
My inner child is great, but thanks for the concern. You might want to look into Xanax or something for that kind of rage. It can’t be healthy for your kid.
Mike
said,
May 17, 2008 at 8:02 am
I agree with Sarah, I do think if she keeps it up once her kids get in elementary school they are defiantly going to be made fun of. Don’t get me wrong it’s a nice idea to do that for your kids every once in a while but everyday is going to bring unwanted attention.
Victoria Marinelli
said,
May 17, 2008 at 8:12 am
Uh, it’s not rage - it’s bemused contempt. But kind of hilarious coming from someone with the time to engage in troll-like behaviors. Clearly, caring attention to meal preparation and, say, reading to one’s kids are not mutually exclusive activities, but nice (if embarrassingly unoriginal) rhetorical trick.
Why don’t you get your nose out of this blog owner’s ass and go write something useful and interesting? I don’t even know the author, but I find unfocused, self-congratulatory meanness loathsome wherever I encounter it, hence my responses above - although this shall be the end of it, because my patience threshold has been exceeded. (Also, you are boring.)
Mike
said,
May 17, 2008 at 8:21 am
Victoria,
I always thought that Lesbians were mean, vindictive bitches, and you proved that for me. Is it because about 95% of the country thinks your life style is sick and that is why you all are so defensive on other issues too.
Jenny, Bloggess
said,
May 17, 2008 at 8:28 am
I love this. I’d totally eat this right now.
PS. “Shut up Sarah, you big turd!” I want that on a t-shirt.
Sarah
said,
May 17, 2008 at 8:35 am
Victoria,
“Why don’t you get your nose out of this blog owner’s ass and go write something useful and interesting?” Useful and interesting? Do you consider your long-winded, superfluous, footnoted blog to fit this criteria? Because that crap put me to sleep. I highly recommend going back and deleting the rest.
And seriously, it was a comment about sandwiches.
Amy
said,
May 17, 2008 at 8:47 am
Get bent(oed), Sarah.
Shannon
said,
May 17, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Wendy, your bentos are totally awesome. TOTALLY. AWESOME.
Sarah, go have fun with your own kids and quit trying to be a fun-killer for everyone else. Seriously I will never understand the grinchy impulse some people seem to have to ruin whatever other people are taking joy in. Go find your own joy and stop being a big sanctimonious pinched-butt nofunski blowhard.
Mike: Most homophobes are secretly gay. The more you talk about how much you hate gays, the more everybody assumes you are just trying to cover up your own insatiable desire for man-meat. FYI.
Sarah
said,
May 17, 2008 at 6:01 pm
While I stand by my original statement that this is over the top, I think it is hilarious that other people cannot allow someone else to have a differing opinion. It has been highly amusing to watch some people freak out in several places; nobody started a petition to ban food cut-outs. An opinion differing from yours was expressed and some people can’t handle it.
Public blogs are going to get some different points of view, but this blog owner allowed them to be expressed and debated, which is highly commendable. You handled this in a way that most people wouldn’t, and I am very impressed. It’s refreshing that the blog owner has enough self esteem not to be upset or hurt by a differing opinion. Wendy, go on with your bad self and those cut-outs. You rock.
Lisa
said,
May 17, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Sarah, I have a simple question… why are you here? Don’t like bento lunchoxes? Don’t make any!! Sheesh. It’s as if you think Wendy is trying to make you (and/or other moms) feel insecure. What she is doing is EXPRESSING HER CREATIVITY and sharing that with her kid. And the rest of us who are too lame to do it.
Anyway, your final words are cool. Are we all friends now? Wendy does rock.
Brent
said,
May 17, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I hate you, Sarah!
Victoria Marinelli
said,
May 18, 2008 at 12:06 am
Sarah: And seriously, it was a comment about sandwiches.
Yes, Sarah, it was. We’re so proud you just figured that out!
Anyway, no one banned you from having an opinion, although that exhortation does tend to be the first line of defense for the inane and/or ridiculous (1). The author wrote a post; you roundly excoriated her, and got called out for being a trifling she-wanker. In your criticisms, petty as they were, you weren’t forbidding the author from having her own opinions about, of all godforsaken things, bento (bento!), and in others’ collective observations of your general assholery, they were not forbidding you from being an asshole (as if this were possible), just saying it was, you know, STUPID.
And a big thank-you to the he-wanker who issued the lesbian accusation, which I can only find supremely flattering.
BENTO! Yes, a blogwar about bento. What a pleasant digression from vigorous debates over substantive issues! (And, Sarah - if Bento (as prepared for children can set you off on a tear like this? You’re the one who needs the benzos, my dear.)
__
1. Your criticism of my blog based on various entries having footnotes? That was especially brilliant. Thanks again for the laughs!
Bini
said,
May 18, 2008 at 6:30 am
Wow, those look very delicious!! I firmly believe that food prepared with some care always tastes better. I don’t have kids, but sometimes I have to make lunch boxes for myself and I think you have some really good ideas there…
Sabrina McCloud
said,
May 18, 2008 at 7:43 am
Well, someone got wind of this.
Sarah
said,
May 18, 2008 at 7:55 am
Victoria,
Do you use a thesaurus to find all you big words to sound more intelligent? Because I think the true measure of your intelligence is when you used the word cu** and tw** on your twitter. Big words my friend, big words.
Victoria Marinelli
said,
May 18, 2008 at 8:06 am
Sarah,
My use of those two words on Twitter had been, until you, unprecedented! Because that’s just how special you are.
Khennedie
said,
May 18, 2008 at 8:44 am
Wow, I found this through another site. People, chill out. Sarah said something you didn’t like, you freaked out, she dealt with it, you continue to freak out, she complimented Wendy, you’re still freaking out.
Joshua
said,
May 18, 2008 at 9:02 am
I’m kind of wondering if Sarah was even serious to begin with. Look at the reaction she got. She’s probably sitting back laughing somewhere.
Shauna
said,
May 18, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Oh come on guys - mom’s just want to have fun! Some moms make heart shaped sandwiches, some moms take their kids on geocaching expeditions, other moms have fun-hand making Halloween costumes. Let’s face it, being a mom verges on being geeky anyway.
Our kids are small enough to enjoy these acts of love (no matter how you do them) for such a short time anyway!! It’s inevitable that our kids will eventually grow out of the things we love to do for them. But hopefully they’ll tell us when they do - so we can move on to something else, done equally out of love but that better meets their ever changing needs.
Laurie
said,
May 18, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Totally digging the bento wars. I find it incredibly hilarious that such a debate has taken place over blog entries by one of the nicest people on the planet.
Michael
said,
May 18, 2008 at 6:55 pm
And right after Sarah’s post, someone named Mike comes up to defend her! They seem to have the same exact opinion and says the same exact thing but with a twist! Lesbianism! : O
Amazing! People have a name for that. A sockpuppet. Obviously a fake person made up by Sarah. D:< didn’t have to use my name though.
http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Sockpuppet
Welcome to Fandom Wank.
Mary
said,
May 19, 2008 at 8:00 am
What a fun idea! I don’t have children, but I plan on brightening up my next Monday with something similiar - what the hey!
P.S. Very puzzled about some of the mean comments I’ve seen. My goodness, sometimes a banana is just a banana. Even if it’s cut into a cute shape. Keep on trucking!
Kim
said,
May 19, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Not sure what the score is now but I vote for Yea, Cute bentos!
Things I found while out exploring the world (techno & real) « Why are they calling ME mom?
said,
May 19, 2008 at 4:45 pm
[...] wish I was like this mom with her super awesome bento box [...]
Until I Blog Again « The Original Multitasking Mama
said,
May 20, 2008 at 9:41 am
[...] Tired of packing the same old lunch? If you’re tired of packing it, your kids are probably tired of eating it, too. Check out these creative (and varied) school lunches! [...]
Helen
said,
May 20, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Just for the record, I used to teach at a private school in Canada and some parents did things like this. It was welcomed by all, children and teachers. But then it was Canada where the vindictive lesbians can roam free and marry!!!!
On to brighter things…the scratch made granola bars, are they good? I’ve been looking for a good recipe and have yet to find one!
daisy
said,
May 20, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Helen — The granola bars are great. I just blogged about them in another post: Home Made Granola Bars
Peri
said,
May 20, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Those are awesome, I wish my mom had made me cool lunches like that when I was a kid.
Caroline
said,
May 21, 2008 at 5:28 am
Those are the most adorable lunches I have ever seen.
Man, I have the urge to go cut cheese into shapes now.
Connie
said,
May 22, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Wow… this was nuts! I am a mom and I can tell you that looks are everything…. somehow a turkey sandwich is just yummier when shaped like a star! Rock on with the Bentos!
Kashira
said,
June 10, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Oh, that’s adorable! <3
Moggy
said,
August 31, 2008 at 10:21 pm
An lolcat suitable to this thread.