Mini Sandwich Days

The kids liked the mini burger buns so much, that I thought I would do it again.  Yep, I'm using them up, before they start growing.  Um... I mean, yeah... the kids liked them so much!  I'm hoping that in the near future I can convince the kids to have some rice in their lunches, and then it will be a better opportunity to do some cute stuff.  Yeah, I think that I'll need a little more time and imagination too.  Well, I guess I have to go shopping tomorrow then.  I have a limited amount of things that I can shop for, but I try to think outside the box... (or is that Inside the bento box?)

Okay, enough funny stuff, here's the bentos.

Box number one is my daughters.  These things all have similar contents, so here's the big list first! 
Contents:  Bologne and cheese sandwich on thin mini burger buns, grapes, tomatoes, nectarines, snap peas, cheese shapes and mango.  OH, not to mention the mini brownie muffin.

Box number 2 belongs to my son...about the same ingredients, except we included a few tortellini.  They were a hit, except for the fact it was Pizza day during second lunch break!  *doh!*  *head to desk*.  Yep, one day I'll remember the pizza day too!

Bento #3 is for the youngest who is almost 3.  Same ingredients.  I snuck in a few gummi bears after these pictures were taken.  The daycare owner said my daughter was telling *her* that she had to eat everything first, then the gummies at the end.  Hmmm... I may have her trained yet!

Last one is mine.  Same ingredients as the kids, but I also added some black olives and a gold coin, (for my chocolate fix).  I put in some leftover chicken which was Delish!  Hmm... love these kinds of bentos.  Even showed some friends.  I love that, because bentos are never seen here in Northern Ontario.  The ladies all loved it!  hee hee hee!


Anyway, I've gotta get going... super tired, and I have to do a little shopping tomorrow.

Gnight!

New Bentos! YAY!

I was so excited last night to create these bentos for my kids.  I really wonder who was more excited... me or them??!!  I really was wondering what to put in their bentos as a "first" bento, but in the end I decided to work with what was already working... good food that they love!  We'll leave the cute stuff until later.

So, fun stuff.. not too exciting.  Each bento is mostly the same, but there are a few things that are different.

Pink bento has (top) mango and fig, then cheese stars, cuke, carrots, grapes and cut up kiwi in the cup. Bottom: has 1 long wrap cut in 2,gummy worm. red tomatoes, carrots, and goldfish crackers.  Plus a pocky or two in where the chopsticks go.

Blue one (top) - Pocky in with chopsticks, cereal bar, fruit star, goldfish, tomatoes, kiwi pieces.  (bottom) cukes, grapes, carrots, wraps, and a few more carrots.

And, they are off!  wow, their lunchbags look so big, and the food so small.  But, in the end there were no major complaints.  Just a few to make sure that I don't put sticky fruit leather near REAL fruit then it won't get mushy.

YAY! Can't wait until they see this dish.  Hopefully they love it.

Edit: Added to What's for Lunch Wednesday

It's here! It's here!!

Okay I know that this will be a little longer of a post, so grab a coffee, and sit down.  I'll show you my bento, as well as my nice purchase from Texas! :)

So, lets start with the kids' bentos

 By Friday the fridge is getting a little sparse.  So, what kind of leftovers could I muster?
My daughters bento on the left has wraps, a gold chocolate coin, cucumbers, tomatoes, dried cranberries, black olives, grapes, and a few cutouts of mango.  Of course... the cheese face too! :)

My son's on the right:  the last of the meatballs, cucumbers, cheese stars, yellow tomatoes, bean sprouts, black olives, a little strawberry peeking out, grapes and dried cranberries, and a few pieces of apple with lemon juice and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar. 

Whew... that was a lot of food in a little space.  Believe me, I was looking for something good last night in the fridge, and kinda coming up empty, but at least the lunches came back mostly empty.  Well, my son didn't eat a few of the cheese stars, because they got into the cinnamon, and "didn't taste right". (so did 2 of the meatballs)  Well, that didn't stop my youngest from chomping on the apples!!  I wonder if it was just that he was full from eating all the other goodies??

Onto the other stuff.. MY PACKAGE ARRIVED!!!  My first bento stash!  The fitjp store was great sending me the package, it's was my mother-in-law who resent it to us... that's the point at which things slowed down.  That darn Canada Post! the fitjp store doesn't ship to Canada!   But, at least I've got it! Wanna see?

 Yes, there are 7 boxes.  One for each member of the family, but a slim one I wanted to check out, and an extra black one for my niece.  There are also 2 bento belts that I purchased - mostly to see what they looked like so I can sew up a few for myself.  I also got a bear and bunny egg shapers, elephant baran, and those wonderful picks that transform your mini tomatoes into balloons! :)  I've seen them everywhere!  Love them!

To give you an idea of how big these things are, I've included a couple of pictures with a ruler (sorry, metric only, I can't find the other one), and one with my hand.  Hopefully you can get the idea.

 

Yep, this black one is about 18cm long (approx 7 inches)

the biggest black one here is about 9.5 cm tall (3.5 inches). 

So, I knew that I would figure that they were small.  They are actually not too bad when you think about how much they will hold.  The largest holds about 1000 ml, and the smallest about 500 ml (when you add the two levels together).  Very cool!  I was so happy about the prices, and the quality of these items.  They aren't perfect, but they are really good for us to start with.  And I love how small they collapse to.  Basically the height of the top layer!  So, it shouldn't be *too* bad trying to find space in my small kitchen.

Okay, I'm going to play with these guys this weekend, and look forward to sharing REAL bentos next week.  That's not to say we won't use the lock and lock again, but we are certainly going to try these new ones.  Lets see how the kids feel about it come Monday afternoon!

**I get nothing from the store for suggesting to use them... I just love their prices.