Bentos!!

I have been taking pictures of bentos when I make them, but I just realized I haven't posted them here. I'm having a lot of fun with them, even though I'm only making one every other week or so. I'm finding that bentos are good not only for going on picnics and such when a packed lunch is sort of requisite, but also a great idea when I'm not sure what we'll be doing for lunch, or where, such as on days I'm running errands. They're really easy to pack up and take with us so that Ellie can eat them in the car as we're driving around or take into the store and munch on while I'm shopping. It keeps her content and keeps us from feeding her a lot of fast food. Granted, the fast food I would buy is from Costco or Target in the form of a soft pretzel or hot dog, but it's still healthier and cheaper to have her filled up on a bento full of turkey hot dogs, apples, craisins, and cheese. Plus, I just like hearing her little excited voice tell me, "Look, Mommy! There are little bears in my bento!" (She did that this week and I decided that it was definitely worth the extra minute it took to cut her cheese tortilla into little bear shapes.) So... here are some bentos from the past couple months...

Sometimes I make bentos for the both of us and package them together in a napkin for easy transportation. Here are the individual bentos...

This is mine. It has Greek salad with dressing, a fruit leather barrier, and mac and cheese with feta.

This is Ellie's. It's has mac and cheese, hot dogs, cucumbers with ranch dip, fruit leather, and something across the bottom (and in the little cup under the fruit leather) that I can't remember.

And like the rest, I tie them up in a napkin and tie in my silverware. I just tucked Ellie's fork into her bento since it fit.

This is mine. Can you tell that I like using individually wrapped fruit leathers as barriers between the food?

This is Ellie's from the same day. These were back in August. When I cut out the little heart shapes from the cheese I used the leftover cheese bits and rolled them into the turkey rolls. That way the "ugly" part of the food was still used and my bento stayed cute! After all, bentos are about both form AND function....

I'm sure I have more bento pictures somewhere, but I suppose I'll share them at a later date. I don't do it every day, and I'm not the most proficient at bento packing, but I am really enjoying it! I'm hoping to prepare bentos at least once a week in the coming months, on days that we have playgroup at the museum. That way I have lunch ready for her to eat at the museum (if she's hungry then) or while I am running errands after playgroup. It made errand running SO MUCH SMOOTHER this week, so I hope I continue to do it!