There was a big change around here this week. Augie started going to daycare two days per week. And get this:
I have to pack him a lunch.
I swear, that’s not why I chose this daycare!
He’s going to be going on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I’ll be posting photos of his lunches on those days along with Wyatt’s. Packing a bento for a toddler is a little bit different from packing one for a preschooler or kindergartner. One big difference is that they’ll heat food up for Augie at his daycare, so I can pack stuff that doesn’t necessarily have to be eaten cold. I’m hoping to make some batches of meals ahead of time to freeze to make lunch-packing go a little more quickly. The other difference is that I need to do a bit more chopping up of fruits and veggies and whatnot so there’s less room for cute-ification (not to mention the fact that the cute stuff goes right over Augie’s head). Still, it’s kind of fun to be able to mix it up a little. Augie eats almost everything we give him so it will be nice to branch out a little.
Monday:
I tried to do too much before Wyatt’s school drop-off on Monday and I found myself really pressed for time when putting his snack together. He begged me for chips and bean dip and I figured it wasn’t the worst snack in the world, so I gave in. Just so you know, I co not recommended packing bean dip this way! It got everywhere inside the bento box and Wyatt still had bean dip on his hands when he got home from school. I also sent an applesauce along.
Tuesday:
Wyatt’s lunch and snack were: more chips and bean dip (I put the lid on the red container which worked pretty well), a mini-tangerine, banana bread, fresh pineapple chunks, rice and deli ham roll-ups.
Augie’s lunch box had leftover carrots from dinner on Monday night, rice, peas, tofu chunks, more rice and pineapple.
When I picked Augie up from daycare and checked in on how his day went, the daycare provider told me, “Wow! You did an excellent job putting his lunch together!” I had to work really hard to keep from laughing out loud. Little does she know about my secret life as a lunch-obsessed crazy lady! Bwa ha ha HA!
Wednesday:
We broke out the jelly bean lunch box for Wyatt on Wednesday. The top layer had a couple of mini-tangerines in it which made Wyatt really happy. This batch of them has been perfect — sweeter than candy. I also put in a jelly sandwich cut into the shape of little men and some ham roll-ups on skewers.
Snack was a cup of pineapple chunks and some graham crackers. I also packed a yogurt tube, but forgot to put it in the photo.
Augie’s lunch was rainbow colored again. I packed peas, chopped grape tomatoes, tangerine wedges cut in half, rice and leftover curried chicken from dinner Tuesday night.
Thursday:
I loved how Thursday’s lunch looked — almost entirely straight lines with the chaos of the tangerine wedges breaking it up a bit. This Mondrian-esque lunch featured a half banana, a hot dog bun with strawberry jelly inside, tangerine wedges, Triscuits, banana bread, green beans, and salami.
As always, when I’m particularly proud of a lunch, Wyatt likes to keep me humble. Here’s what I found when I was unpacking his backpack last night:
It looks like he ate the salami, the banana bread and a few tangerine slices.
Friday:
This hastily assembled snack was a jelly sandwich and a tangerine.
Monday’s snack box contained a buttermilk biscuit decorated with the Batman logo (I used food safe markers). The monkey box has a little bit of strawberry jam to spread on the biscuit. I rounded it all out with some dried cranberries.
Tuesday:
Tuesday’s lunch and snack were packed together in the big box. It had pineapple, cantaloupe, two mini blueberry muffins, chicken Italian sausage slices leftover from dinner on Monday night, and pepperoni pizza leftover from dinner on Sunday night. I had to cut the pizza into strips to get it to fit in the box and Wyatt found that so bizarre that he wouldn’t eat them. Or maybe he doesn’t like cold pizza. I dunno.
Wednesday:
On Wednesday, I packed a banana chunk, some grape tomatoes, a mini muffin, baked tofu and more pineapple. Those pineapples go a long way.
For snack, I sent cantaloupe chunks, another muffin, pretzel thins and a yogurt tube.
Thursday:
Thursday’s lunch/snack combo was packed into the laptop lunchbox. It contained: a half banana, pretzel thins, garlic toast cut into star shapes, salami, pita bite crackers, and peaches with sprinkles.
I usually make Wyatt’s lunches while I’m giving the kids breakfast, fixing my own breakfast, nagging Wyatt to put on his shoes, and all that other morning stuff. For the first time ever, I made this lunch from start to finish all in one shot and on a whim, I got out a stop watch and timed how long it took me to make it. The result: 12 minutes and 4 seconds. I had no idea what I was going to put in the box when I started the timer, so part of that time was spent staring into the refrigerator tapping my foot and trying to get inspired. It probably would have been more like 10 minutes if I’d planned a little better because at the end I had all the boxes filled except for the yellow one and I had to take the time to make the toast. If I’d thought of it sooner, I would have just popped the bread in the toaster oven at the beginning and cooked it while I was doing the rest of the lunch.
I’m curious: How long does it take you to pack a lunch for your kid?
Friday:
On Monday, I discovered that biscuits are a perfect canvas for drawing with food markers so I couldn’t resist drawing a kitty face on another one for today’s snack. I also added a couple of orange wedges from Wyatt’s aunt and uncle’s tree. I love how this orange looks like a sparkly jewel.
Phwew! After a week off school, I was completely out of the habit of making lunches and snacks for school! I totally forgot to put something together until 5 minutes before we had to head out the door so I threw together this quick snack of ham cubes and one of Wyatt’s beloved buns. I added a lion pick to snazz it up a bit and to give him something to use to eat the ham besides his fingers. The lion pick was chosen to match the lion on the lid of the bento box:
I’m all about the coordination, folks!
Tuesday:
Tuesday was Laptop Lunchbox day. I put in a couple of Chessman cookies, pretzel sticks, dried cranberries, peaches and pears with sprinkles, a whole wheat bun, ham cubes and apple slices. As usual, he didn’t eat the apple slices but I like to put them in now and then just in case he decides to try them.
Wednesday:
Lunch on Wednesday was sweet Italian chicken sausage rounds, a lone cherry tomato, banana bread and pineapple and blueberries arranged to look like a bumble bee (though I didn’t really realize that until I was reviewing the pictures).
The Italian sausage is a new food we’re trying. As you’ve probably gathered by now, Wyatt is a sausage lover, but he’s always declared Italian sausage to be “too spicy”. I bought these sausages for a lasagna I made on Tuesday night and he was eating the chunks almost as fast as I could put them into the pan so I decided to try them out for his lunch on Wednesday.
I packed an applesauce crusher, pretzel thins and dried cranberries for his snacks.
Thursday:
Thursday’s lunch had wedges of whole wheat flat bread that I toasted and spread with a smidge of butter and garlic salt, blueberries, pretzel thins, banana bread, pineapple chunks, grape tomatoes and a block of baked tofu with his name in it.
Friday:
Today’s snack was some blueberries and a hand full of pretzel thins.
Wyatt’s was off school last week, so I haven’t been making him lunches. (Well, actually, I have been making him lunches — I just haven’t been packing them into bento boxes.) To keep the bento love flowing, I thought I would share some of my favorite places to visit for bento inspiration.
Lunch in a Box — This is the blog that started me on my bento hobby. Biggie doesn’t make super-arty bentos, but she does make attractive bentos quickly which made me think, “Hey, I could do that!”
Mr. Bento Flickr Group — My first bento box was the Mr. Bento set that my husband bought me for Christmas. I used to fill it dutifully every day to take to work with me and I would photograph my lunches and post them to this group. Since I got laid off, poor Mr. Bento has been collecting dust, but if I’m ever gainfully employed at a job that requires me to work on site again, I’ll be pulling him out and putting him to work again.
Sakurako Kitsa’s Flickr Stream — Sakurako Kitsa makes my absolute favorite art bentos. They’re whimsical and adorable and I pour over her photos trying to figure out what she used to make the various elements of each lunch.
Happy Little Bento — Sherimiya always has something fun and delicious-looking to share.
I forgot to take a picture of Wyatt’s snack on Monday so you’ll have to use your imagination to visualize it. It was mini blueberry muffins and blueberries. Can you see it?
Tuesday:
Tuesday’s lunch/snack was garlic toast, cut into a heart shape, carrot sticks, blueberries and clementine wedges, a mini blueberry muffin, craisins, ranch dressing for the carrots (in the little yellow box), skewers of pork tenderloin chunks, and pretzel sticks.
Wednesday:
The main event in Wednesday’s lunch was a thermos filled with garlic butter noodles (not pictured). I packed an extra big snack box to supplement: two skewers of shrimp, blueberries, clementines and some graham crackers. I also threw a yogurt tube in the lunch box. Wyatt has been coveting these for a while because a lot of kids from school bring them, so when I saw some at Trader Joes, I picked up a box.
Thursday:
On Thrusday, I sent a WALL-E lunch. My attempt was kind of lame compared to some of the WALL-E bentos I’ve seen online, but I gave it my best shot. Really, the only thing that makes this a “WALL-E” bento is the hard-boiled egg decorated to look like Eve (I used food markers). Oh, that and the banana with the word WALL-E written on it. I chose the banana to write on because it’s yellow like WALL-E. See how much thought I put into that choice? The rest of the box was packed with dried cranberries, graham crackers, clementine wedges, a whole wheat dinner roll, and cubes of ham.
The first time I saw an Eve egg was in Anna The Red’s famous WALL-E bento. If you’re not familiar with Anna the Red’s bentos, you really must check them out. They feature fun subjects and are beautifully prepared. I was recently reminded of this excellent idea when I visited Fuzz Food and saw Mrs. Fuzz’s cute WALL-E bento. Both of these guys did a much nicer job with their WALL-E and Eve lunches than I did.
Friday:
No photo of the snack today either because I was running around like crazy trying to get Wyatt’s valentines packed and nagging him to get his shoes on while I was packing his snack. Besides I ended up sending something super-fast and easy: a banana and a yogurt tube. Not really photo-worthy.
My camera started flashing an error message on Monday afternoon, so most of this weeks photos were taken with my iPhone.
Monday:
Monday’s snack had a cup of blueberries and clementine wedges, a half a mini baguette and a little monky box with strawberry jam for the the bread.
Tuesday:
Lunch and snack on Tuesday was Pirate’s Booty, more baguette and jam, clementines, blueberries, rice balls with happy faces on them and salami.
Wednesday:
Wyatt is totally ga-ga for the laptop lunch box right now, so it went back to school with him on Wednesday with many of the same items: bread and jam, whole wheat pretzel sticks, blueberries, clementines, a strawberry cereal bar cut in half and stacked, and baked teriyaki tofu.
Thursday
Thursday’s lunch was crackers, salami, clementines, dried cranberries, and half a hot dog bun. Wyatt has informed me that he doesn’t like sesame seeds, so I just sent the bottom of the bun.
Snack was Pirate’s Booty and I didn’t think it was worth photographing.
Friday:
Friday, I sent pretzel sticks, blueberries and a clementine.
Comments
bentos · food · kindergarten · photo · toddler
. It contained: a half banana, pretzel thins, garlic toast cut into star shapes, salami, pita bite crackers, and peaches with sprinkles.
so I couldn’t resist drawing a kitty face on another one for today’s snack. I also added a couple of orange wedges from Wyatt’s aunt and uncle’s tree. I love how this orange looks like a sparkly jewel.
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