The Week in Bentos: August 2-6, 2010

by Wendy on August 7, 2010

Monday

Day Camp Snack #127: August 2, 2010

Wyatt was swimming at camp on Monday so I wanted him to have an extra big snack. I packed tofu cubes, blueberries and whole wheat pretzel sticks. Gotta get that protein in him, don’t you know!

Tuesday

Toddler Bento #38: August 4, 2010

On Tuesday, the toddler’s lunch had turkey roll-ups, strawberries, mango chunks, shrimp fried rice (pulled from the freezer) and soy-catash (also from the freezer).

Edited to add: Donna pointed out in the comments that shrimp fried rice is not a dish that would be safe to pack in a lunch box and eaten at room temperature and she is absolutely right! It was safe for me to pack this for my little guy because his lunch is refrigerated at day care and then reheated for him at lunch time. I would not put this in a lunch box that was sitting in a backpack all morning though — with or without an ice pack!

Day Camp Snack #128: August 3, 2010

Wyatt’s day camp snack was turkey roll-ups, pita crackers, clementine wedges and three (3) decorative blueberries.

Wednesday

Toddler Bento #39: August 4, 2010

On Wednesday, Augie had clementine wedges, deli turkey, a banana chocolate chip muffin (extra healthy with the addition of whole wheat flour and flax meal), grapes and soy-catash.

Day Camp Bento #338: August 4, 2010

Wyatt was scheduled to go to a full day of camp on Wednesday, but ended up staying home sick at the last second. I packed his lunch the night before though: pita crackers, a banana chocolate chip muffin, strawberries, blueberries, snap peas and tofu with his name cut into it with cookie cutters.

Thursday and Friday

I am at the BlogHer conference in NYC right now, so I wasn’t home to pack the kids’ lunches, but my husband assures me he fed them. No pictures (though Daddy makes bentos for them too!).

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Tagged as: bento, bento box, bento boxes, bentos, children, creative, cute, idea, ideas, kid, kindergarten, lunch, lunch box, lunchbox, photo, preschool, preschooler, snack, snack box, snack boxes, toddler

  • Lynette Breedlove

    Tell me more about using frozen foods in their lunches. Does it thaw by the time they eat it? Or is it just thawed enough to be crunchy? My 3 yo loves crunchy things, but not so fond of really cold things. He shudders if he takes too big a bit of ice cream. He eats in tiny licks off the spoon. I'm still searching for Bento boxes in my area.

  • http://www.wendolonia.com/blog wcopley

    Hi Lynette — I send completely frozen foods in my toddlers lunch box and they are usually not completely thawed by lunch time. His day care provider will heat things up for him though so it doesn't really matter with his lunches. If I am sending frozen foods in my big kid's lunch, I usually run them under hot water before putting them in his lunch (works great for peas, corn and blueberries) to give them a head start. By the time lunch time rolls around, they are still cold, but no longer icy.

  • Lizweiss

    Your bentos are beautiful. You definitely make healthy eating fun! This week on Cooking w/ the Moms, we're recording a show about our time at Blogher 2010. We'd love to mention you and your site! Any chance we can use one of your photos (w/ a credit back to your blog) on our blog post? Let me know!!

  • http://www.momentswithlove.blogspot.com lo_ve

    love this! this is my first time here and i'm so glad to see you regularly post your bentos! we got our 1st three boxes in the mail today and i'm so excited to use them!

  • Pingback: Pacifier In My Pocket | blog archives | Photo Story Friday-Bento Box

  • Donna Jannuzzi

    Hi Wendy, I haven't been to your blog in a while and I was just catching-up on all the things you've been up to… I really hesitated to comment about this, but I felt that I should… I don't know that sending frozen shrimp fried rice in a bento is such a great idea. I'd be *very* worried about food safety issues. As soon as anything frozen (or refrigerated for that matter) reaches 40 degrees F it starts to grow bacteria (the vegatables I would have no problem with, but what's getting me is that shrimp in particular are extremely perishable). I know that the shrimp are already cooked, but products such as these still need to be heated to 165 degrees F to be considered safe for eating. You can get sick from eating frozen foods that have not been properly reheated since the bacteria growth is not necessarily stopped in the freezing process. It is just slowed considerably. Sorry, if this sounds… I don't know, like I'm being a know-it-all, that's not my intention. I'm just very particular about the subject of food saftey.

    And btw, I love your blog, I really should visit more often – if you'll have me. :)

  • http://www.wendolonia.com/blog wcopley

    Hi Donna —

    I absolutely agree with everything you say!! My toddler's lunch situation is not a typical packed lunch scenario though because his day care provider refrigerates and reheats his lunch. The only time his lunch is not refrigerated is on the 5 minute drive from our house to his day care and even then it's packed into a cooler bag with an ice pack.

    You make a good point though and I shouldn't assume that people reading this blog for the first time will know all of that. I'll be more careful to make a note about the more perishable items I pack for him in the future!

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