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
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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.
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| Day Two - ButterFly PBJ sandwich, cheez-its, grapes & zucchini muffin. Pic from "Despicable Me" on lid. |
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| Day Three: hard boiled egg, Club mini crackers, peaches, red, yellow & orange peppers with dip. Ballet pic on lid. |
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| Day 4 - Heart shaped PB&J, club minis, apple slices, bologna & cheese, teddy grahams & a few M&M's. Bambi pic on lid |
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| 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!
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| 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!
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