Planning: A Packed School Lunch

Bento School Lunch

My daughter will start Kindergarten this Fall and will be taking a packed lunch.  Honestly I have been thinking about this for years.  I like the idea of sending her off with a nice little bite that she will enjoy.  Currently I pack a lunch for her when she goes to swim camp for the day...I give her a couple choices:  tuna or turkey?  strawberries or raspberries?  chips, popcorn or carrots?.  Her choice is always the same:  tuna, raspberries & carrots with homemade ranch.  Excellent.  When I have sushi rice her choice will always be onigiri.  I really need to learn from her eating habits...on more than one occasion she has been given a choice of a cookie or apple and she will choose an apple.  Goody goody.

The idea of a bento lunch makes so much sense to me.  The portion size, the aesthetics, the variety...all of it excites me.  When Bebe was 2 I knew I would be packing a bento style lunch for her.  At that time I would walk to the coffee shop with my girlfriend, while she and I sipped our coffee Bebe was so happy with the peanut butter bento box I'd buy her...a tiny pb&j, raisins & shredded carrots.  It was packaged so pretty.  She would eat an entire item before she started on the next.  It was obvious to me and my friend that Bebe thought it was pretty to.

This week I ordered The Just Bento Cookbook, Geisha Bento Box, sauce containers, egg molds and veggie cutters.  The cookbook is fantastic, takes the 'what am I gonna pack for lunch' question a thing of the past.  The bento box looks tiny...I had to remind myself 'this is for a child'...it's so cute!  The sauce containers have 2 sizes, the smaller will be perfect for soy sauce and the next size up for salad dressing.  The cute bunny and bear egg molds are genius, once you peel the boiled egg (has to be warm/hot) set it in the mold and it comes out the exact shape.  The veggie cutters have not arrived but am looking forward to getting them.

ps...each element ordered rated 4+ stars.