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.
