Repeat!

Today's lunch was such a success that Taia requested the same for tomorrow!


-Watermelon
-Cheese
-Crackers
-Turkey (instead of today's ham)
- An apple in her bag since we're out of bananas

Cheese and crackers with a side of melon!

For tomorrow she's got (in a Hello Kitty box- didn't snap a pic of the lid):
-Watermelon - That little container has a lid so the juice doesn't get on the other food.
-Cheese
-Ritz Crackers
-Ham roll ups on a heart pick
A cute little Hello Kitty baran that a friend sent me from Japan!
-A Banana that I'll toss in her lunchbox separately.

Who needs those pricey lunchables?

Simple lunch

This week is grandparents/family week at school. I intend to dedicate at least one lunch to the theme. But tomorrow's is just a simple lunch. I found a Wonder bread square crust remover and sandwich sealer for $3.99 and really wanted to try it out!

She has:
-Pb&J sandwich (I had a little issue with the cutter so it's more of an odd rectangle than a square? But it was my fault, not the cutters! There are some fruit leather flowers on top and the scraps are hidden under the sandwich.
-Turkey and a cheese stick since chances are she will refuse the Pb&J....baby steps!
-Pears (Thanks to an awesome friend who picked them and gave us TONS!)
-Watermelon (Supposedly seedless.... I've never seen so many seeds in a watermelon....
I forgot to put the picks in before I snapped the picture....AGAIN!

A Whale of a lunch.

This isn't one of my favorites. But I'm out of ocean ideas!
So I'm ready for some creative freedom next week! The theme is family/grandparents but I don't know if I will be able to come up with anything. So I may be themeless! :)

She has:
-2 Whale nutella sandwiches
-Graham goldfish
-Grapes and carrots
-Turkey skewer

Crabby lunch!

It's still Ocean week! I am working on alternatives to candy eyes.... The raisins worked today. Taia actually really liked them. But I'm trying to perfect it. So I tried vanilla frosting with a little chunk of raisin. Not sure if I like it or not....
For tomorrow she has:
-Her usual nutella sandwich in the shape of a crab
-Goldfish
-Grapes and carrots
-A random bunny egg that hopped into the ocean??
It was in the fridge in needed to be used!
And as an after-thought I tossed in some raisins.

Octo-Sandwich

Day 3 of Ocean week!
Today she has an octopus shaped nutella sandwich! I got creative with the eyes. I love the candy/icing eyes but they have food coloring in them. So we are going to have to stop using them. Any alternative eye suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to try cream cheese with raisin chunks in the middle when I have a chance to buy some cream cheese!

Anyways- she has:
-The octopus sandwich
-Apple chunks (the top few are cut into fish- too much waste and work to shape them all!)
(I tossed in a fish pick for the apples. Forgot to do it before I snapped the pic!)
-A few graham goldfish
-Grapes and carrots with a fish pick

Ocean in a box!

Here's the second lunch for Ocean Week!
I think I've achieved a new personal best! Here's the inspiration!
I couldn't track it any further than flicker.


She has -rice with chocolate sprinkles
-cheese fish with candy eyes
-sea grass made of SEAWEED! :) It's nori!
(I've had it forever and finally had a reason to use it!)
-nutella fish sandwich with a candy eye and cheese stripes
-carrots and grapes with a fish pick
Even the bento box is ocean themed! :) I'm pretty proud of this one!
I just hope that the chocolate sprinkles don't melt into the rice.
If so, I'll have time to re-do it in the morning!

Ocean Week!

It's Ocean week in Taia's classroom!

I saw the inspiration for this idea on Pinterest and tracked it back to Lisa Storms. Taia has a food dye sensitivity and cannot have the Jell-o used in the original idea so we improvised!
A friend suggested blueberries and I think they worked great! They'll de-frost by tomorrow and hopefully be prettier!

And I need to go get some dolphin cutters!

Here she has:

-Blueberry "Ocean" with a sailboat made from an apple slice and cheese triangle!
-Apple "starfish" and carrot sticks
-Grapes in a seaturtle muffin cup and a fish pick
-Fish PB & J sandwich

A sandwich of sorts....

For today's lunch, I packed Taia a sandwich on a roll. I didn't post a picture because it honestly wasn't all that cute. Anyways, all but one bite of it came home. So tomorrow she has a sandwich in pieces. She loves all of the components so I'm not quite sure why she won't eat one.

She has:
-Apple slices soaked in tropical fruit juice
-Carrot coins and grapes
-Publix deli roll
-Cheese flowers
-Turkey skewer

A few flowers!

Tomorrow is the fourth day of Pre-k! I had a croissant left over from brunch yesterday so I figured I'd try a turkey and cheese sandwich! She loves all 3 but normally refuses them in sandwich form. She will likely separate it and eat it individually but there's always the chance....




- Turkey and cheddar croissant sandwich with cheese flowers.
-Carrot coins with flower picks.
-Apple chunks soaked in tropical fruit juice overnight ( This makes the BEST apple chunks ever. Seriously..... I randomly decided to try it and now I can't stop eating them! SO GOOD!!! )

We all scream for Ice Cream!!

This might be one of my favorite bentos yet!!


She has her usual Nutella sandwich (I snuck in some PB this time)
-a Cheese Ice Cream Cone with organic sprinkles!
-Apple slices in the shape of Ice Cream cones ( I soaked them in fruit juice)
-Grapes and Carrots with Ice cream cone picks
-The requested turkey skewer on an ice cream cone pick.

2nd bento of the school year!

Taia requested her name in fruit leather for tomorrow. And more deli meat.
Apparently that's her new food obsession! I'll take it! :)



Today we used our Pottery Barn Kids Spencer Box per Taia's request!
She had lots of requests today!

She has :


-nutella sandwich made with my Williams and Sonoma Crustless Sandwich Press with her name in fruit leather.
-Carrots with an animal pick
-Grapes with an animal pick
-Turkey skewers on animal picks
-Juice Box - This box is SO big that I run out of food ideas!
So I just pop a juice box in there! :)
On the website they show food piled to the top but it would take half a bag of carrots to fill one of the spots! This will come and handy as she gets older though! She LOVES this box!

School of Fish!

Tomorrow is Taia's first day of Pre-K! I can't believe it! Time sure does fly!

She has a "School of Fish" bento! Get it? School....fish....!? No? Well, I was amused!




She has:
-A Nutella sandwich on the new Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish bread with a raisin eye!
-A few Goldfish
-Carrot and grape skewers on fishy picks
-Turkey skewers on fishy picks (by request)
-Yogurt covered raisins for dessert. I took a friend's advice and wrapped the raisin box in paper and labeled it "Fish Food!" Thanks for the idea Ariana! LOVE IT!

Valley Parent Article!

I will be back to bento-ing and posting SOON! School starts THURSDAY!!!!

Meanwhile, check out the article about my bentos in Valley Parent Magazine!