Toddler Times
Are Bento Lunches Worth the Time?
Coolest lunch ever!
I must admit I am a little late coming onto the whole bento scene, but I am thoroughly intrigued by them.
From the little rubber containers, to the lunch boxes, cookie cutters, and basically everything that goes into them, but I started to look at it from a busy mom point of view as I was googling supply lists, and how much the initial investment would cost me, and I just had to put the question out there…
Are bento lunches worth the time they take to make?
I mean, every child is incredibly important in their own way, but when you are outnumbered, is a stylish lunch something worth taking the extra 15 minutes on?
My youngest son who is 2 will eat anything you put in front of him, heck he will probably eat stuff he isn’t supposed to eat too… but maybe this will help my picky 3 year old to start to eat better and more nutritious foods?
Man, I just need some overall input from parents who actually have taken the time to get into the bento craze.
It almost seems to me like you have to be crafty to take it on, and since my boys have gotten older DIY (do it yourself) and art projects have become more common in my house. A house that previously had two left hands and couldn’t cut a paper shape out to save my life.
In the mean time, I want to share a couple bento lunches I found during my searching on the subject that really helped my push over to this project…
Spring Flower Bento on Bento-logy
photo: Bento-logy
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5 Comments
Alyssa commented on Aug 04 11 at 8:54 amHere is a link to a bento box lunch menu planner.
http://www.laptoplunches.com/bento-menus/
I think these ideas are much more realistic than the pictures. Who has time for that? This site makes it seem doable!
Carrie commented on Aug 04 11 at 12:01 pmMy daughter is a bit little for this at 19mo. but she does go to daycare daily so I pack a lunch for her every weekday. In fact I actually use the little bento in #1 (sassy makes it). I’m intrigued by the whole bento craze and I appreciate the artistry that goes into the beautiful pictures I see on the web, but haven’t gone so far as to actually do any of it.
The box itself encourages me to fill it with a variety of appealing and colorfull nutritious foods and I think that’s part of the whole craze. My next step might be to just add the silicone cupcake cups to compartmenalize the box, adding cute color and more food variety. I think going the whole cookie cutter, cute toothpics etc..would be fun for special occasions, like a birthday.
Kaitlyn commented on Aug 04 11 at 2:52 pmI had never heard of bento lunches before…….THEY ARE SO CUTE!
Anne commented on Aug 04 11 at 5:45 pmI honestly don’t have the time or skills to make most of this. But, kids seem to love presentation and bright colors. At home I try to arrange things on the plate prettily. I found some sandwich cutters at my grocery store that will make dinosaurs and hearts, while still wasting very little bread. My kids (2 and 5) will eat anything when shaped like a dinosaur.
Also, I wonder what these lunches look like after being slung around by a child for a few hours.
Nancy commented on Aug 09 11 at 2:26 pmLove them!!! But, start with these lunches while the kids are still toddlers. My public-schooled 1st grader is now too cool for such awesomeness and I feel I just didn’t make lunches fun often enough.
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