It’s time for another post in the 3 Tools, 4 Lunches series! Each week for the next several months, four bloggers will use the same tools to make a lunch in their own unique style. My hope is that you’ll get some fresh inspiration for using some fun bento tools and also that you’ll discover some wonderful blogs you may not have visited before.
Here are the tools that were used this week:
- EasyLunchboxes
— These popular boxes have a large main compartment and two smaller side dish compartments. They come in a set of four and are a sturdy and economical choice for bento lunches.
- Food-safe Markers
— Magic markers that write on food? Yes! These pens are filled with food coloring and can be used to add fine details or big blocks of color to your bento creations. I like to use them to write a quick note to my kids on cracker or bread when I’m in a rush.
- IKEA Drommar Pastry Cutters — This set of cutters features six woodland animals. It’s a great bargain at $3 for the entire set!
Now, let’s check out this week’s lunches:
The first lunch today is from Keitha at Keitha’s Chaos. Keitha’s blog mixes family activities, parenting, bento lunches, cardmaking, learning activities, crafts, cooking, and mini-book reviews. She often packs lunches based on the books she reads with her son. For this lunch, she used the fox cutter and the markers to make a ham & cheese sandwich with ham rope around his front paw. The rest of the lunch includes a small slice of cheese in Fox’s mouth, Zbar (for the ground), spinach tree leaves, berries, and a salad with the word FOX cut from slices of radish.
She says, “I started packing story themed lunches by accident. My son’s lunch for his first day of kindergarten was a lunchbox full of hearts inspired by The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. My son liked it so much that he asked for another story themed lunch the next day. It became something he looked forward to each day. He is now almost finished with 2nd grade and still loves taking story themed lunches to school.”
Perry from Dreams, Schemes and Bento Themes made this adorable woodland lunch. She used the cutters to make hedgehog and squirrel turkey sandwiches on honey wheat bread. The markers were used along with an owl stamp to decorate a Babybel cheese circle. She completed the lunch with some pretzels, red grapes, ridiculously cute strawberry bunnies, and a few Reese’s pieces in a squirrel cup.
This is how Perry describes her start with bento: “I have been packing lunches for years (my oldest is 15) and it was becoming a tedious task that I dreaded — until I discovered BENTOS! I started making bentos in the Fall of 2012 when my second child was in first grade and refused to eat school lunch…ever. I quickly became hooked to the art of bento. After a little gentle prodding from friends and family, I finally joined the bento blogging world in October 2013.” In addition to her blog, you can follow Perry on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Can you spot the secret hedgehog in this lunch made by Jacey Collins at Monkey Munchables? It’s the sun! She cut it out with the hedgehog cutter. So clever! She also used the squirrel cutter to make a PB&J, then filled in around it with broccoli, almonds, and “mushrooms” made with tomatoes and pieces of string cheese. She added more “mushrooms” for the side dish, along with some blackberries. The food markers were used to add details to the squirrel, the sun and the mushrooms.
Jacey started packing lunches when she had begun changing the way her family ate. As she strove for healthier meals she found herself dissatisfied with the options at school and began packing lunches. Soon it became one of her favorite hobbies.
And finally we have this beautiful lunch featuring Sven, the reindeer from Frozen! This lunch was made by Sandra from One Crafty Thing. Here’s what she had to say about this lunch:
Today’s lunch was a Sven cheese sandwich for my preschool kiddo. Since the moose cutter from the Ikea set looks like, well, a moose, I had to make it look more reindeer-like by cutting off the dewlap (the moose’s neck flappy thing) and sort of prodding the back antlers forward by gently pushing on the bread until it gave a little. Bread is pretty pliable, so it bent fairly well. For the muzzle and brown parts, I used crust and for the eyebrows and eyes I used the food marker. The highlight in the eye is just a little white non-pareil. The sides were carrots (which both my kiddo and Sven like!) and mini-marshmallow snowflakes, for which I just took a mini marshmallow and cut around it to make the little snowflake-like shapes.
You can find more details about this on Sandra’s blog. Sandra writes: “One Crafty Thing is about art and crafting. It’s not exclusively bentos, although much of it is, lately. I take a whenever-you-have-the-time approach and hope to inspire other people to create by promoting the idea that it doesn’t matter how often, but to create One Crafty Thing when possible– whether it be once a day, one a week, once a month, or whenever you get a minute. ”
Do you have these tools? How do you like to use them?
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But wait! There’s more! My book, Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go is packed with ideas for fun, delicious lunches. With 50 brand new bento box lunches and step-by-step photo tutorials showing how to make them it will provide you with loads of inspiration when it’s time to pack lunch. Order today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell’s. |
