Lunches of Love

I've been getting a little carried away on Pinterest looking at all the fabulous ideas for school lunches (amongst other things...of course). I am totally hooked on the BENTO style of packing lunches! I have to admit, I didn't know what it was & had to look it up on Wikipedia but there ya go. You learn something new every day. Basically it's a style/concept from Japan about takeaway food or packed lunches that are in one container, look aesthetically pleasing and well...you can read the rest.

I love the concept of a) no waste...no plastic bags or things to throw away (although I have purchased fruit cups for Dahlia. I would gladly reuse them, but she keeps throwing them away!) and b) making lunch a little *fun* or *cute* for my sweet girl. I LOVE making her lunches. I love tucking a surprise or two in there. Granted, we've only just completed day 5 so I'll let you know if the passion still exists in April.

Most of the Bentos I've seen online are WAY way cooler than mine. I'm happy just to do a few simple things though. I bought some stickers that I stash in there. I write her love notes. I snagged an Entertainment Weekly in the magazine exchange that had loads of pics of lots of things she loves (Mermaids, Bambi, dancing, etc) - I try to put a new pic in every day. I want her to know how much I love her & am thinking about her!

I forgot to take a pic on day one but it was similar to the rest. 

Day Two - ButterFly PBJ sandwich, cheez-its, grapes & zucchini muffin. Pic from "Despicable Me" on lid.

Day Three: hard boiled egg, Club mini crackers, peaches, red, yellow & orange peppers with dip. Ballet pic on lid.
Day 4 - Heart shaped PB&J, club minis, apple slices, bologna & cheese, teddy grahams & a few M&M's. Bambi pic on lid

Day 5 - Canadian bacon & cheese, Club minis, peppers & cukes, pink apple sauce & a few chips. Puppy Bento Fork!

"Day 6" - SATURDAY! I made these up last night for Dahlia & August so that I could easily get them watching cartoons this morning & I could go back to bed (Steve is camping, I need sleep). We *did* sleep in til 7:15 (miracle, I thought they'd be up at 6) so it wasn't too bad. I had these boxes & juice sippy cups ready to go. Left the pillow pit in place from last night & went back upstairs. BLISS!

Watermelon slices, peanut butter Cap'n Crunch & zucchini bread.

 I have more ideas of more exciting things to put in lunches, but I read a great article somewhere that said - don't try to get your kids to eat different foods at lunch. Save it for dinnertime. Mostly kids are inhaling the minimum they need so they have more time to play & a lot of food just goes in the garbage (or gets traded, etc). So I'm trying to keep that in mind. We also got her a thermos which someday I'll fill with leftover mac & cheese or soup or something. Time enough for that coming.

What do you pack for your kids lunches? What did YOU eat for your lunch at school? I remember my Mom always packed a sandwich, a fruit or vegetable, chips & some kind of "dessert." To this day that is how I pack my lunches! (although I try now to break out of the 'sandwich' mode). Funny how things stick with us!



Comments

feisty said…
my mom packed a sandwich (made with whatever leftover meat from sunday dinner), something crunchy (crackers or chips), a piece of fruit (usually an apple- whole) and something sweet (usually a homemade cookie). i remember it got pretty boring, and i usually through half of it away. GASP, what an ungrateful twit i was!
8:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I should've done this a year ago....

Image
A pandemic game time & conversation (via Zoom)   Well, we're about 13 months into this pandemic and I should've been back blogging then. I mean, I was home an awful lot. I could've done it. But I didn't. I wrote in my actual journal but that's a crazy mish-mash of stuff. This would've been fun to keep just pandemic stuff. Ah well, live and learn. I'll be ready for the next one (no, no, I won't). It's been a year...a year of ups and downs; of being laid off and re-hired; of wondering what to do with my life and starting grad school. We got fish, we got two kittens. What a year.  Kids have mostly been troopers but there have been some tough days. August went back to hybrid last fall, then everything stopped for a while and went back to 5 days a week in February - hooray! Dahlia finally got to start hybrid in.....February? (I can't remember) and then started back in person 4 days a week...but after her first 4 days she was identified as a "
Read more

Penguin Shenanigans

Image
For our 2020 Winter Reading program, there wasn't an overall theme. I decided to create my own theme. And the Penguins took over the library! I printed out real-to-life sized photographs of penguins...an Emperor, a Fairy, a Chinstrap and a Galapagos Penguin to be exact. I put them on the walls in one area. My hope was that kids would stand next to them and measure up - and they sure did! It put a smile on my face every time. Above each penguin I included some facts. Usually where they lived, what they ate and any quirky stuff about them. It's always great to be able to provide a little learning opportunity along the way. We also included penguin voting. I always think it's fun to add a pre-math activity when I can. I made 4 buckets with a photo of each of the aforementioned penguins. Kids (& adults) were able to ask for a "voting token" (ie: a saved bottle cap) at the desk and then put it in the bucket of their choice. It was fun hearing t
Read more

I figured it out....

Image
and IT'S A GIRL!! I'll do a proper introduction later and the whole story and everything but in the meantime, we had a baby girl. 2:15pm on Friday afternoon (I posted at, what? 10;30am? You do the math!!). Her name is Dahlia Marie and she weighed in at a whopping 6lbs even. 19 1/4" long and so incredibly gorgeous (although, I might be a wee bit biased). The birth was the most amazing experience I've ever been through and my mind is still, well, blown, quite frankly. I am so tired though...time for a quick nap before we try to feed again.
Read more