Alrighty then! The second week of school has wrapped, as well as the long weekend. We were busy, busy, busy this weekend with Augie’s birthday (he turned 6!), time with friends and lots of projects around the house. Also, I stepped on a bee and my foot swelled up and itched like crazy. Yikes!
The bento report for last week is also jam-packed with a lunch and a snack for the boys every day. Here’s what they had:
This post contains affiliate links.
Monday
On Monday I pulled out the PlanetBox Rover for Wyatt’s lunch. He had deli turkey roll-ups, apple chunks, lemon and herb popcorn (from Trader Joes), blueberries and strawberries with silly eye picks. I like the way the points of the strawberries ended up looking like noses!
Have I mentioned yet that Augie is not allowed to bring anything sugary into his classroom? Nothing — not even for birthdays! I don’t usually put a ton of sugar in my kids lunches/snacks (aside from fruit) but I do find it’s easy to send granola and cereal bars now and then and I like to bake for their lunches sometimes too. It’s not a huge problem or anything, but I’m having a little trouble adjusting to these new snack rules because some of the things I’m used to packing are off limits. And I’m not sure where the teacher draws the line. Is a whole grain muffin taboo? What about something like canned peaches? I don’t know! We also had a little trouble this week because Augie is so afraid he’s going to get in trouble for the wrong snack that he opted not to eat what I packed a few times. So frustrating!
Anyway, this week I hit on the idea of popcorn. It’s a whole grain, it’s fun and the kids love it. And as long as I stick with savory toppings it should be OK for snack. I’ve found I need to keep it separate from anything even vaguely moist so it doesn’t get soggy though. So for this snack I pulled out a set of cute nesting car boxes and put lemon butter popcorn in one and blueberries and strawberries with eye picks in the other.
Tuesday
On Tuesday Wyatt asked my to pack his lunch in a Laptop Lunches box. He had an applesauce pouch, carrots, black bean dip (in the blue box), turkey meatballs, catsup for the meatballs in the green box, and lemon herb popcorn. I also included a few Clone Troopers rings because Wyatt was actually up for a little decoration in his lunch. Fun!
Augie had lemon-herb popcorn with an Iron Man ring for decoration and an applesauce pouch.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Wyatt had mini tacos (from the freezer), carrots, black bean dip, white cheddar popcorn, blueberries and strawberries. This was packed in our Yumbox Panino.
Augie’s snack was really simple — strawberries and blueberries with a piece of panda baran for decoration.
Thursday
Dang! This lunch was so easy I felt sheepish taking a photo of it: leftover pasta in our LunchBots thermal jar and an applesauce pouch. That’s all. Lunch came home completely finished.
Augie’s snack was just as easy: white cheddar popcorn and an applesauce pouch. Boom! Done!
Friday
Oh boy! Wyatt’s lunch on Friday was so yummy that I wanted the same thing, so I made it for myself at home! I gave him leftover minced turkey and veg along with some lettuce leaves for DIY Asian turkey lettuce wraps, dried pineapple rings (as sweet as candy) and a mess of blueberries. This was packed in an EasyLunchboxes bento box
It was “blue” day at Kindergarten, so I made Augie a blue snack. Besides blueberries, there aren’t a whole lot of naturally blue foods so I relied on accessories a lot for this one. I poked a blue crayon pick into a few of the berries, then I filled a blue silicone cup
BONUS CUTE LUNCH: When I picked Augie up from Kindergarten he was feeling a little down. He’s been a trooper about all the changes that have occurred in the past few weeks, but with a new teacher, new school, new kids and new expectations it’s been a pretty stressful time for him. By Friday, he was worn out and having a hard time keeping it together so I decided to give him a little extra love with a special lunch.
First I made three heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in three different sizes. I did this so I would waste as little bread as possible, but I also liked the way it looked. Then I added a couple rings of dried pineapple and some strawberries. At the end I decided to cut a couple of the strawberries into heart shapes too, since I had the cutter out anyway.
I don’t usually get to see how Augie reacts when I make him a cute lunch so it was gratifying to see how excited he got when he came to the table to eat his meal. “You made a lunch with lots of hearts, Mom! I know what that means. It means you love me a lot!”
Right-o, Buddy Boy! That’s exactly what it means.
  |
Are you looking for more ideas for packed lunches! 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. |
