Take out bento

Sometimes I ship lovingly take my kids off to a Kids Night out Program. It's a great program and it's $20 for both my kids and I can leave them there for 4.5 hours. What could be better?  Well, it just also happened to by my birthday
WIN WIN for everyone!

The only thing I don't enjoy is that drop off is at 6 and parents are encouraged to bring a dinner for their child. I get that it's a night out and a drive thru window might seem like a God send, but, but, but sending a kid with his own pizza (yup always happens) or sending your baby, under 15 months, with a Happy Meal and a SODA (I was enraged at this) is not always the best option for them. Can't you grab them a deli sandwich and some baked chips? Please?!?

Well, in comes my kids. They are not phased by bright colourful bags of take out because they hardly get it, and when they do I put it all nice on a plate, but Big A still likes to eat with the other kids.
Cue take out bentos!

All those berry containers or even plastic lunch mean containers sitting in your recycling bin are total game for a take and toss bento. Like when your kids go on field trips, pack a lunch instead of risking lunch boxes getting left on a bus or whatnot.

It's a pretty simple idea, but it's really hard to pack colorful foods mainly bc I try and use foods that require no refrigeration and that don't have liquid. But work with what you have and go wild!

First gather what you can safely send with out an ice pack or microwave. 

I chose
- Jelly sandwich
- Choc chip muffin bar
- Pop corn
- Fruit cookies
- and a super cold already cooked fish stick
* It's cooked so good to eat and will reach room temp by the time he eats

Before you cut anything, make sure it will fit in the container. I had to try about 13 cutters before I settled on the airplane. And then 12 cutters were taken by little hands and I am still looking for them.

Get everything all nice and cut, and put your bottom layer in the container. 

I like to use popcorn or veggie straws because it will raise everything up and make it easier for little hands to get. Then just arrange everything on top to make it fit. 

Super easy 

Now you have something you can feel good about your kids eating, and feel good about not making a silly amount of garbage on a simple lunch.dinner

Pair a dinner with snacks for both kids in their adorable reusable bags, and off they go! 

I filled the bags with frozen mini muffins from my stash for two reasons. Baby would eat them as a dinner and he is teething again so it will feel good on his gums. And they would be thawed by the time Big A finished his dinner and was ready for a snack.

See why freezer stashes are so awesome? 

If you like the bags check out Hustle mama on ETSY or you can find her on FB . I really, really, really, love mine. And with 75 fabrics to choose from plus other awesomeness? She will definitely be getting another order from me

Oh oh oh. Since it was my birthday and I am a teeny tiny bit obsessed with bentos, my awesome husband ordered me a ton of stuff (like 26 items) from Bento USA and these

I can't wait to use them! And the kids were passed out on the floor so I couldn't turn the light on to get a decent picture. oops. 

Bento love and it's starting to take over

My first exposure to bentos was when I was in High School and would watch Anime cartoons where all the cool kids would randomly eat bentos. I had no idea what they were called, but remembered the cuteness and that I would totally want one if I ate fish.
Fast forward a good long while and my eldest man child (Big A) was about to start summer camp and I had to pack him a lunch. EEK. What was I supposed to do?!? We feed our kids as unprocessed and natural as possible on a single income and packed lunches were anything but that. I mean, Kids Clif bars are candy to my kids, and melon balls are desert in the T household. How was I supposed to pack that in a brown bag ?
Cue the interwebs!
And then, after a ton of insanely complicated lunches, I found Bentos! After that, I never looked at a brown paper bag again.
So what exactly is a bento? Well my friends, a bento is a single portion of a meal in a cute little box and is uber popular in Japan. All the food groups are there, and everything is made in pretty shapes so your kids will actually *try* that cucumber or bell pepper you have been badgering them about.

They saved my life. Really, Bentos were a sign that I could keep my kids eating habits up at camp and not spend a gillion dollars.

What kid wouldn't want to eat a cute kitty sandwich for lunch? 

I'll go over what exactly you need in the next post, and I guarantee you you have most of what you need in your kitchen already.