bento lunches round 1

Yes, I’ve hopped on the Bento lunch bandwagon…this way of packing lunches has a big appeal to me! Even though Sadie doesn’t start kindergarten til next year, we still pack a lunch to go to parks and play dates at least twice a week. (the girls are requesting them on the weekends too….lol!) A few reasons are:
1. Less plastic waste-it’s all washable. Ok, so I did unwrap some string cheese sticks…
2. Getting to be creative with lunches and use all those cute dividers. I am a food separator at heart so I love it!
3. Less food waste. When the girls are finished eating at lunch time, I stick the containers back in the fridge, and then they have the rest for snack later. Win win! (win, if you’re an Office fan)
4. Hellooo cutie pie accessories! Need I say more?
This one had some carrots, blueberries, and grapes on the top tier…the girls adore these picks and enjoy “pick”ing them out each time. ๐Ÿ˜‰ (that was bad, I apologize) The bottom tier had a few mini chocolate covered pretzels, turkey pepperoni and cheddar cheese cut into flowers, and some whole grain Ritz crackers. There were only a few carrots leftover-they loved this one! The box and picks are from allthingsforsale.com.
This box is from Target-Ziploc brand. This lunch had a whole wheat and homemade jam butterfly sandwich decorated with fruit leather (which were eaten by Miss C in about .3 seconds lol)….some honey wheat thin sticks, cut up kiwi, yogurt raisins and cut up cheese stick in silicone cups, and some homemade hummus and carrots.
The girls loved using the little picks to eat the cheese and kiwi!

Box is from allthingsforsale.com. It has some cheddar cheese stars in a silicone cup, PB&J roll ups, honey wheat thin sticks, and on the bottom tier, cucumber flowers, carrots, and ranch dip in that little dip container (also from the site above), then some grapes and kiwi.

Sadie really liked the roll ups, but Charlotte didn’t touch hers. I ended up eating hers for my snack! Both girls won’t eat cucumbers (though Sadie did like them for one day)…but I keep cutting them up and offering them in hopes that someday they will change their minds! Or until I run out of cucumbers.

This lunch box we’ve had for ages-I’m glad I got some similar new ones (top pic) cause I use these for Rory’s leftovers he brings to work, and they tend to smell a little leftover-y…even after being washed a bunch of times. haha! gross.
It has some yogurt raisins in a mini cupcake liner, cut up pears, flower cheese, and a half a heart PB&J sandwich…then some cucumbers and carrots, and grapes. I think I added some hummus under the veggies after I took this pic, too. My girls will literally eat hummus with a spoon!
So anyways…I will probably be posting these bento posts every so often since, well…they’re cute and fun and it’s my blog. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Plus we could all use some lunch ideas, right? I’ve found a lot of inspiration via these cute bento blogs:

I’ve purchased most of the Bento supplies from this site:

Bento USA aka allthingsforsale.com
I got the silicone cups from Joann’s-12 for $10! Use a coupon to make them even cheaper.
To answer some of the questions asked in the comments:
I’ve linked to the boxes on that website that I ordered from (see above).
I’ve gotten my cookie cutters from all over-Etsy, Michaels, Joanns, Hobby Lobby-you name it. For the small fruit leather circles, I used the wide open end of a Wilton piping tip and poked it out with a toothpick.
I usually make the boxes while the girls are still eating breakfast, and they love eating up the scraps as I go! (especially the fruit leather lol) If they don’t eat the cheese nibbles right away I will save those in a baggie and pull them out for snack later.
Hope this answers some of your questions! I’m no authority on bentos, but they sure are fun to make!

favorite supplies below! (affiliate links)









Comments

  1. How fun! I grew up in Japan-my mother is Japanese-and while we didn’t take bento for lunch, she was always decorating our food. Carrot flowers, shaped hard boiled and deviled eggs, fancy oranges and more. There are lots of Japanese doodads for making your food cute. lol.

  2. As you know from instagram, I love them! I tagged one of my instagram pics #cinobentosrock

  3. I’m so happy you jumped in that wagon. My girls are about the same ages as yours but here in Canada, my oldest started kindergarten 3 weeks ago and I pack her bento lunches. I love it!

    Looking forward to see what you come up with ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. I loved this post. I started making bento lunches last year but then fell off the bandwagon. I am now inspired!! Could you send me the direct link to those rectangular boxes you have. I couldn’t find them on that site. Thanks. I am going to have to exercise some serious self control while ordering all these cute little things;)

    [email protected]

  5. Ok I also am curious which cutters you have. Especially the one in the bento with the butterfly sandwich. How did you make the the little circles and straight line. and also the little pieces of cheese for the cup. Thanks and that was my last question. I swear;)

  6. these are so cute!

  7. Cool! I always need more bento ideas!

    I get kids to eat their cucumbers by offering new, yummy dips…sometimes ketchup. It’s gross – but they love it. ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. I hate the left overy smell too. I read somewhere that if you put vinegar and water in the container and sit it in the sun for a while that it removes stains, and I have found that it removes odors too:) You should try it!

  9. We do Fun Food Friday every week and Jill’s lunches are ALL OVER my Kid Food Ideas Pinterest board. I’ll have to go check out the other site as well.
    I also have a board with all our Silly Kid Lunches, and I post all the ones worth sharing as well. ๐Ÿ™‚
    Yours are super cute. I look forward to stealing more ideas from ya. Ha!

  10. These are adorable! My only question is (and always is when I see these cute bento lunches) what do you do with the leftovers? You know, the crusts you cut off, the pieces of cheese that are left after you cut the flowers? Just wondering. . . ๐Ÿ™‚

  11. Cute! It’s funny I’ve never tried bento lunches, considering how much I like playing with food. =) Now I think I need to!

  12. what is bento?

  13. Thanks for sharing! My daughter just started preschool and I am at a total loss of what to pack her – she tells me “peanut butter and jelly” every time I ask. But I’d really like to change it up for her!

  14. I love bento boxes. The last set that I got was from all things for sale

  15. I LOVE your bentos! Oscar doesn’t usually have lunch at school, but I’ll have to start packing these to playgroup. Thanks for sharing your sources!

  16. These are adorable! And now I’m hungry for cute looking food. ๐Ÿ™‚

  17. We started this year too…I actually look forward to packing them lunch (1 in 1st and 1 in preschool). I have been hunting down bento sticks, I have given up locally and will have to buy on line…love them

  18. I also want to know about the cut away leftovers. And which boxes from bento USA they are.

  19. Thank you for sharing that the silicone cups came from Joanns. My sister was stationed in Japan and sent each one of us our own lunch box. I’d love to have the silicone dividers to add to them.

  20. we have some super cute little bento boxes from the Japanese dollar store! LOVE THEM! But since the Japanese dollar store has things from Japan, they are written in Japanese and I don’t read Japanese… They also have all these cute little, what I thought were, cookie cutters. But they are for cutting all sorts ofthings! I can’t wait to goback and get some since I know what they are for now! Love the use of the cupcake liner too!

  21. I’m wondering about the left over cuttings too? How do you use them up?

  22. I LOVE and appreciate the Office reference!!! I say “win win..win” all the time. One of the greatest episodes, in my opinion!!

  23. Hey! I love your site, I just added your blog in my favorite links on my page <3

  24. I read somewhere that if you put vinegar and water in the container and sit it in the sun for a while that it removes stains….I can’t wait to goback and get some…just love visiting your post…thanks!!

  25. Anonymous says

    clean Rory’s boxes with some cider vinegar. It will get rid of the stinky food smells. I soak our daughter sippy cups. I use 1 cup of vinegar in a sick full of water.

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