I’ve added a list of frequently asked questions about bento boxes over in the right nav.
Curious about where I get my supplies?
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Ever wondered if my kid actually eats these lunches?
All this and more can be found in the Bento Box FAQ!
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I saw this on a blog somewhere the other day (unfortunately, I can’t remember where) and just looking at it gets me excited to make things. I’m going to hang it up over my desk and see if it keeps the inspiration flowing!
My crafty endeavors this weekend are most likely going to revolve around Wyatt’s upcoming robot-themed birthday party.
What are you going to make this weekend?
Comments crafty · misc.
Wyatt’s snack on Monday was some cheese crackers, ham roll-ups and some apple slices. I didn’t have any lemonade, so I squeezed a lime wedge into a little water and gave the slices a quick dip. This kept them from browning and didn’t effect the taste too much. (I know because the apples came home from school un-eaten and Wyatt had them for his snack while he did his homework. Can you believe that a Kindergartner has homework?? Sheesh.)
The Lego construction worker helped build Wyatt’s lunch on Tuesday. He hoisted the strawberries in with a crane, tucked a couple of Hello Panda candies into the pink box, then got his crew to put in the pita crackers and a mini blueberry muffin. He had a specialist in decorative finishes fold the salami and add that. He knows the limitations in his skill set, after all.
Snack was assembled by me under the Lego construction worker’s supervision while he drank a cup of Lego coffee and talked on his handheld radio (I’m an apprentice so he needs to keep a close eye on me). There were dried cranberries, grapes from the farmer’s market and a cheddar cheese twist.
Wednesday’s lunch featured four of the five tomatoes we’ve harvested from our tomato plants this year, along with some baked teriyaki tofu cut into strips, a few strawberries and half a mini baguette.
About those baguettes…. I’ve been buying them for a couple of weeks now and when I looked at this most recent package, there was a big star on it that said something along the lines of, “These baguettes are slightly under-baked. Heat them in the oven for 3-4 minutes before eating them.” Now they tell me! I’ve been sending raw bread dough to school with Wyatt and he’s been eating it! I thought they looked a little pale and I’ve actually checked the packaging a few times to see if they were par-baked and there was NOTHING on there about that before this week. Poor little Wyatt sitting at school with his lump of dough to eat….
Wednesday’s snack was a cheddar cheese twist, grapes, a mini blueberry muffin and one lone strawberry to fill the last bit of space and keep everything from rolling around the box.
Thursday’s lunch and snack were combined in the Laptop Lunch Box. When I do this, I’m really just packing him an enormous lunch. I don’t actually designate any one thing as “snack” and another as “lunch”. This one had a toasted mini baguette, salami, strawberries, a few Panda candies, a mini muffin, broccoli and a rice bear and star decorated with catsup.
Friday’s snack was a few slices of salami, raspberries, and some cheddar twists.
Comments bentos · food · kindergarten · photo
Wyatt just sort of didn’t eat on Monday. He had breakfast, then refused to eat any lunch and then when I looked in his lunchbox when he came home it was still filled with the banana, half a mini baguette and grapes I’d packed for him.
It’s Christmas in September! I let Wyatt pick the cookie cutters he wanted me to use for his tofu and he insisted on the candy cane one. I decided to go all the way with it and cut his garlic toast into tree shapes while I was at it. There are some grapes under the trees too.
His snack box had: oyster crackers, dried cranberries, banana and sliced deli turkey.
On Wednesday, I put everything in the Laptop lunch box and told Wyatt he could just eat whatever he wanted at snack and lunch time so there was a lot of stuff in it: banana, a heart-shaped catsup sandwhich, raspberries and strawberries, green beans, ham roll-ups on skewers, dried cranberries and a little bit of chocolate cake in the blue container. I figured he’d eat the cake right off at morning snack, but it came home un-touched. Go figure!
Lunch on Thursday was leftover pasta salad from dinner the night before, a dinner roll, an apple-carrot crusher and some strawberries. I’ve turned around on those crushers. When I first bought them I felt like they were a waste of money, but now that our mornings are so much more hectic I’ve decided the convenience is worth a little extra moolah. I’m still not thrilled about the package waste though, so I try to only pack them on the mornings that I’m truly desperate to get a lunch put together.
Snack is probably looking familiar by now: dried cranberries, half a banana and a half of a mini baguette.
Oh man — I still haven’t gotten my act together with this new kindergarten routine. I was out running errands with the boys this morning and barely got Wyatt home in time to walk to school with the neighbors. In fact, our friends were rounding the corner to our house as I pulled into the driveway. Zach pulled a snack together for him with fruit salad and a catsup sandwich, but he didn’t get a picture of it. I really need to work on being less lame going forward….
Comments bentos · food · kindergarten · photo
August 27, 2009: We were hot and exhausted as dinner time approached and I couldn’t bear the thought of turning on the stove to make something, so Wyatt and I went to the taqueria to get burritos for dinner.
August 28, 2009: Finally, a nice portrait of my big boy. I’ve been trying to get one of these for months now. Every time I pull out the camera, he starts mugging and making faces. How did I get this one, you ask? I totally bribed him, and in the worst sort of way. He was having a time-out in his room and complaining that it was taking “sooooo long”. Since his offense was relatively minor, I told him that he could be done with his time-out if I let him take some nice pictures. He went for it!
Of course, the picture taking took longer than the time-out would have, but don’t tell him that!
August 29, 2009: We’ve been having a string of hot days, so I pulled out the wading pool and filled it up. Notice how our lawn is totally brown and dead? We haven’t been watering it because there’s a water shortage here. Yeah…that’s why.
August 30, 2009: Augie’s birthday party! We had the family over for bbq, presents and vegan cupcakes. This is the requisite smeary cupcake photo.
August 31, 2009: Today was Augie’s actual birthday. We took it easy and didn’t do anything too festive, other that play with his new toys. In this photo he is demonstrating his newest skill — standing unassisted! He’s could be walking any time now folks. Pray for me!
September 1, 2009: Zach stretches after his run, while Augie looks on.
September 2, 2009: Wyatt is supposed to be brushing his teeth here, but you’ll notice that there is neither a toothbrush or toothpaste to be seen in this tableau. As in many homes, toothbrushing time is a total nag-fest around here. “Get out your toothbrush. Wyatt, please get your toothbrush out of the cupboard. GET. YOUR. TOOTHBRUSH. OUT. Now please. Stop making faces in the mirror and brush your teeth.” You get the picture.
The other funny thing about this photo is that Wyatt is wearing his little brother’s pajama shirt. Neither of us noticed until I was reviewing the photos I took on the camera but it’s obviously way too tight. He must have had a really hard time getting it on.
Comments daily life · photo · project365There was no school Monday because of the holiday. We ate corn dogs for lunch at the fair. Grease-tastic!
Lunch on Tuesday was: an apple-carrot crusher, a blueberry mini bagel (cut in half so it would fit in the box), turkey meatballs on skewers and a hand full of tomatoes from our garden. The blue box has catsup in it.
I used the Laptop Lunch Box
And here’s what came home:
This was a pretty good day. He didn’t eat the bagel and he only ate a couple of the tomatoes, but otherwise almost everything else was gone.
And this was the snack: dried cranberries, oyster crackers and half a banana.
Every bit of his snack was eaten.
(OK, he left 5 cranberries. I can live with that.)
Lunch was raspberries, baked tofu, frozen peas and a half a mini baguette. I got about as fancy as I ever do with the tofu, cutting the giraffes out with a cookie cutter and even going to far as to color them with food markers. It was time-consuming, but kind of a fun little diversion while the kids were eating breakfast.
Snack was strawberries, dried cranberries and the other half of the baguette.
I packed it in a small locking style box that I think I either got at Target or the Container Store (sorry, I can’t remember exactly where). I wanted to show this because this is a perfect example of a non-”bento” box that works perfectly for packing bento-style lunches. Since Ichiban Kan closed their online store, I’ve been getting an uptick in emails asking me where to get bento supplies. You can get some really cute stuff on eBay, J-Box (disclaimer — I’m an affiliate), and other online stores but I find items online can cost quite a lot of money. I really encourage people to look around in their local stores and see what they can find that can work for them.
Wyatt’s primary lunch item on Thursday was spaghetti with butter, garlic and parmesan cheese packed into a Thermos. I sent an apple-carrot crusher to go with it, and I remembered to pack a fork for the spaghetti for the first time in months. (I forget almost every time I give him pasta. Bad mom!).
The snack box had strawberries, pita crackers and deli ham roll-ups on skewers.
I wanted to show a picture of Wyatt’s new lunch bag while I was at it. He had been using a boring, striped thermal bag, but with the start of the new school year, I let him upgrade to a new lunch bag of his choice. He chose this cool Spiderman one. Much more in line with the kindergarten vogue. It works really well for me too. Both the main and bottom compartments fit the bento boxes we use perfectly and I don’t have to turn anything on it’s side to get it into his lunch box like I used to with the old one.
Technically, this was Wyatt’s snack, but he refused to eat any lunch today, so I packed him a lunch-sized bento instead. It had strawberries, a turkey hot dog (with catsup in the monkey box), dried cranberries and cinnamon-sugar whole-wheat tortilla strips. I used to make these tortilla strips for myself all the time when I was a kid, but I’d completely forgotten about them until I saw that Nikki over at Whimsy Love had put some in her daughter’s first bento box. To make them, I just spread a whole-wheat (or regular flour) tortilla with a little butter, sprinkled it all over with cinnamon sugar, baked it in the toaster oven for a few minutes and cut it into strips. Easy peasy and super yum!
Comments bento equipment and supplies · bentos · food · kindergarten · photo
