Bento Box Lunches

Another week another round of lunches…pretty much sums up how I am feeling about the Bento’s lately.  I feel as thought I have gone from fun and creative to just “get them done.”  That might be due to a second baby on the way but I think after this post I am going to regroup and go back to some of the great bloggers that inspired me to start in the first place.

Even though I am a bit drained bento wise – doesn’t mean you have to be!  I will continue posting great tips and tricks from other bloggers until I get back in the swing of things!  In the meantime take a look at the latest bentos…

I seriously love these yogurt tubes – such a great addition to any lunch box.

Do you have any great tips and tricks for your child’s lunch?  Send them to theobsessivecrafter@gmail.com and you may be featured in my next post!

Bento’s are back!

Welcome back readers!  As I have been so busy with the migration of the blog and a special new project that I’ll be announcing later this week… I realized I had no new bento posts!  Horrible I know! But you are in luck, they are back and I’ll do my best to give them a more regular weekly feature.

My daughter is not into sandwiches, I try every so often to see if with a different combo I can get her to eat one.  This pretty flower one was no different, she ate the insides but left the bread.  I guess I should be happy given my lifelong battle with carbs but I still want her to try new things so we will keep trying.

I also added a small dipping container of sunflower butter (since her school is nut free)  She was not a fan (and as a Peanut Butter addict I can’t blame her) but I thought I would try… it really is a great nut free option but keep it in a separate container if possible since it is super messy to clean up.

After reading some comments on Ritz Crackers I decided to try a different organic non-GMO option, the  brand being Late July.  Isabel liked them so that was the win of the day!

Leftovers are great when you can repurpose them for lunch.  Quesadillas are great for this, they can be cut into any size needed.  Here I added some of her favorite “dips” sour cream and guacamole.  Her teachers said she loved it and was so excited to eat this lunch!

Pretty standard lunch for her today, probably running late and didn’t have much time for any creativity.

Here is another attempt at a sandwich, again bread went untouched EXCEPT that raisin bread with a smear of butter on it – she LOVED that.  Baby Bel cheese are so great for lunches, if your kids can peel them, its tons of fun.  If they are too little to peel them, you can make some fun decorations into the wax that covers them.  This one was ladybug inspired!

So even though its been almost two months since I last had a bento post- this is the end of week 2, stay tuned next week for more lunch ideas for your little one.

Bento Boxes: Out with the old and in with the new!

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the start of school marks a new year for me!  So I have been busy cleaning out all of Isabel’s old bentos and started fresh with the Ziploc divided containers and they are working great so far.  Here is an update on her lunches and some handy new tricks I have been trying…

Don’t the new lunch boxes photograph so much better?  So much more light and fresh looking than the old ones I used before.  They are also great because there aren’t as many little containers to clean!

Trick #1 – Freezing Yogurt: I have been buying the YoKids Yogurt tubes.  I freeze them and then stick them in her lunch box so even with ice packs they stay cold and help keep the other food cold as well.

Trick #2 – Leftovers: Here is an example of where we had some rice leftover from the night before.  Isabel loved it so I added some to her lunch and it came home empty.  Great way to use up the leftovers before they go bad.

Weekly Bento Box Round Up: Week 5

This week in bento’s I tried to be creative… with food combos and presentation.  While some things came out great – some things fell short in my mind.  You be the judge – perhaps your child will eat what I thought was yummy…

Here Isabel’s new food combo was banana and sunflower butter.  She did not like them – can’t say as I blame her since I am peanut butter devotee but alas nut free school means sunflower butter (one of the only options.)

Tuesday’s lunch had a flower theme.  The flower on the right is made of cucumbers and cheese, using snap peas as the stem laid over a bed of rice… this did not go over well with Isabel – she wanted nothing to do with the mixing.  BUT she did eat that cold cut strip flower, not the best looking thing in the world but she ate it.

On Wednesday her new food was jelly and cream cheese sandwiches.  Again, she wants nothing to do with the sandwich idea.  She pulls it apart and may lick what is inside but will not eat it all together.

Onto Thursday, okay she isn’t into the sandwich thing – how about a roll-up?  I see those all the time on the bento blogs I follow right? Nope wanted nothing to do with this sunflower butter and jelly roll up.

Ah Friday – I was creatively drained, given what I thought would be big hits came home barely touched.  So a quarter of a cupcake and her favorite foods and she ate it all.  At least the girl knows what she likes!

In the meantime, we will keep trying to see if she get over her various aversions… wish me luck!

Weekly Bento Box Round Up: Week 4

Getting back to Bento Box fun here at The Obsessive Crafter.  I have been trying some new things but when your child is as picky as mine, I find I am often putting the same thing in the lunch box day in and day out.  

She is also picky about how I lay the foods out – meaning if certain food touches the other food she won’t eat it… gotta love two year olds, at least she knows what she likes and is not afraid to express it!

Here is a look back at week four – hope you get some great ideas!

The clementine with a blueberry in it – super quick and easy way to make a flower

This One minute multi-grain medley (Bottom right and pictured below) is one of her favorite foods – she now asks me to put it in her lunch box, and then eats it all… super awesome!

Again loving the cookie cutters and cupcake liners but I am growing frustrated with the Sassy containers.  Simply from an OCD stand point in how the food doesn’t always fit the best, or the cupcake containers get smooshed.

If you are looking for some other great Bento Blogs to follow – Check out Wendolonia – she has awesome photo galleries be sure to check it out!

Happy Lunching!

Weekly Bento Box Round Up: Week 3

Another week done and I am still loving the Bentos!  It is a great way to get Isabel to try new things without wasting too much food at one time.

Since we are not allowed to send peanut butter to school I am constantly struggling with some form of sandwich.   I have learned the smaller I make the sandwiches, the more likely Isabel is to eat them.  I have also learned that she did not enjoy the cream cheese and jelly option above.

Here is an example of how I packed Isabel some extra snacks to have with her morning yogurt.  I have to tell you even though the yogurt works in the silicone cupcake liners – my OCD will not allow me to put it in there again.  The shape doesn’t hold the more you fill it and it could be messy depending on how you send it.

This lunch I realized I really need to invest in some little sauce containers.  She didn’t use half that ranch dressing so if I picked up some of these, again less waste 🙂

Here is a good shot of all that I pack Isabel.  The bento box, yogurt, fresh fruit as an additional snack and then a great thermos full of milk.  These Thermos brand thermos’ work great at keeping the milk cold for up to 10 hours.  I chill mine in the fridge the night before and it stays great the whole school day.

So here I thought I would get all fancy with a sandwich press (that is supposed to be cookie monstert) but apparently Isabel doesn’t like sandwiches that big when they are bologna and cheese.  Oh well!  I will try again with a different kind of sandwich next week.

This is a bit silly, really didn’t have much creative inspiration that morning but I am sure the teachers at least thought it was funny when they opened it.

Thats the weekly round up of Isabel’s Bento boxes.  I am still trying to figure out the photo situation and improve those, while trying not to give Isabel the same thing every day.  Taking photos helps a lot though in referring back to what I have given her over the course of the week.  I also have to say that since I started doing this a WHOLE lot less food has been coming back home with us!

Don’t forget to check out my Pinterest board – here you can find not only my bentos but lots of other great ideas for what to pack!

Weekly Bento Box Round up

Another great week of making bento box lunches for Isabel.  I picked up a few things to add to my bento box tool kit.  Each of the tools will be featured as I start using them.

First thing I found and the easiest to use are these silicone cupcake liners found at Marshall’s 12 for $4.99 such a great deal – always pays to keep a look out!

This week my goal was to experiment with what Isabel would eat the best and how much to give her of each food item.  Some things were a big hit – like the chicken quesadillas other things no so much.  Another goal was to experiment with was the cookie cutters and different cuts of fruits and veggies.

The other ongoing goal I have is to perfect the photography, I feel like I can never get the lunch boxes right but I will keep trying!

So normally my OCD would not allow me to buy different lunch boxes when the Sassy ones I have work so well – but in the spirit of Bento I broke from my norm and found this super cute (the lid is floral with snap closure) square lunch box.  Again a testament to keeping a lookout because you will never know what you can find and for cheap – that one was on clearance at Target!

Another week another few links to check out for more lunch ideas – I love this site that a friend and reader recommended Happy Little Bento.  Then another great page that you may have seen if you follow The Obsessive Crafter on facebook was recommended by a friend/reader 100 days of Real Food

Bento Box Lunches

Do you have to make lunches each day for your kids, yourself, any other family?  The answer is YES, of course you do…well why not make it super fun and more environmentally friendly all at once!

How do you do that you ask?  Take an idea from the Japanese and turn to the Bento Box.  Bento Boxes offer not only a variety for those eating them but offer a creative outlet for the chef aka you!  They save money and save the environment by no longer using plastic baggies that just get thrown out and end up in landfills.

You don’t need a ton of tools to start either!  I use some cookie cutters, silicone cupcake cups and some great bento inspired lunch boxes like these below from Sassy (find them on Amazon here)  I have have some pretty specific criteria I must follow with sending Isabel lunch.  No nuts/peanut butter, no pork based products and no shellfish.  Isabel is also only two so I have to make sure the lunches are age appropriate and easy to chew.  Instead of feeling a burden of packing her lunch – making her bentos has made me excited again about this opportunity to expose her to healthy and delicious food.

Here is a look at my first week of bento’s – some are better than others and I am still researching and learning.  Stick with me on my journey into the world of Bento Boxes as this becomes a weekly feature here on The Obsessive Crafter.

Two great blogs to check out while you are getting started are Wendolonia and My Small Potatoes.  These will give you inspiration and more insight into the ideas behind the bento box.

I have to tell you this does not take a huge amount of time and as you can see sometimes I just roll the cold cuts or use the rectangle of cheese as a divider in the box or simply leave it the way it is.  You can make them as elaborate or as simple as you like.  You can also make them the night before and stick them in the refrigerator.  Another benefit of these Sassy containers is that each individual container has its own lid, so if you need to refrigerate one container and not the rest you just pop it in the fridge while the rest hang out in the lunch box or on the counter.

One more benefit of the Sassy container is that it comes with a small spoon that locks into the main lid and travels super easy.

If you are looking for more ideas on bento boxes follow my Bento Box Board on Pinterest