Bento Box Fever!

[menageriemama]

So I was thinking about starting a thread about bento boxes, and then today I saw ninjapoodles post in another section featuring one of her bento creations

Bento style meals are a passion of mine. So, anybody else who is interested in them or makes them should post some pics here

This one is from my son's last day of school. The face is made of grapes and cashew brittle, and he got a little extra treat in there just because it was a special day. This is the first one that came up on my file, but I will add more later!

 

[krjwaj]

i just printed this bento box recipe from Rachel Ray today:

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=977&r=977,636

I can't wait to try it.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

You guys would love this site: http://lunchinabox.net/

It makes me want to buy my own bento box and try it.

 

[menageriemama]

Quote:
Looks super yummy!!!

Chicken Lady: Thats one of my faves as well. Some more are www.c4vct.com/kym/bento/ and www.bentoyum.com You can find bazillions of boxes on ebay! Check it out, or you can just start packing them in tupperware

Ok, heres another one, this is a lunch bento for my daughter

This one has turkey "stars" and mini pitas with goldfish crackers, mini fresh mozzerellas in spinach "nests", a smattering of fruits and veggies and a petit four for desert.

 

[ninjapoodles]

OMG, my daughter would FREAK over the Hello Kitty box!!!! Do you get your stuff off ebay mostly? I get so annoyed at the prices there, when the same stuff can be had from Ichiban Kan for $1.50.

I have a Flickr and Twitter buddy who is going to pick me up some stuff from the Ichiban Kan store in San Francisco next month, and I'm GIDDY about it!

This was our first week of school--my daughter just started kindergarten, and I didn't think to take a picture the first day, but I started a flickr set that I'm going to put the daily lunches on, to help me remember when I made what, and not repeat too much. One thing I've already learned is not to pack dinner leftovers the very next day for her.

The first day, I used a plastic sandwich box as a mini-bento, for turkey/spinach/cream cheese pinwheels (rolled up in tortilla, then sliced) and raw baby carrots. Then that went in an insulated lunch sack with her thermos of yogurt/berry smoothie and a small container of almonds and mini cookies.

Day two, she took (my very NOT "cute") onigiri. The ones on top have sesame chicken inside, and the two in the bottom compartment have homemade Old South lime pickles inside. The pickles were kind of my Arkie substitution for umebushi, and the kiddo loved 'em!

I pulled out the red container for snack-time, with yogurt and berries. The little tiny container in the upper right of the box has ranch dip for the carrots. Beneath the mini muffin-cup with the almonds are some mini Teddy-Grahams.

This is packed in a "Laptop Lunchbox," which I highly recommend.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

かわいいです、みっな！

 

[ninjapoodles]

Also: Is it wrong that since starting bentos, I now want some quail, just for the tiny, adorable eggs?

 

[BowChickaBowMow]

fun! I looked into these (recipes 'n stuff) last year. But my kids are homeschooled now. When I used to work at a Montessori school I packed my lunches like that (in a Tupperware lunch container w/ divided sections). The kids there always enjoyed my fun packed lunches. I'd do cookie cutter shapes for things, and pack them all pretty. I think I ate healthier doing that too.

ninjapoodles... quail eggs would be so cute!

 

[lilshadow]

There is nothing like a bento box from Japan, we use to get them all the time when we lived there. We loved them.

 

[flakey chick]

Quote:
Or get some bantams. I hate to admit it but that's part of the reason I got chickens, so I could have the small eggs. In want to get some of those quail sized egg molds.