Bento Box Lunches for Kids

If you follow me on my Facebook page you’ve probably seen the pictures of the bento box lunches I’ve been packing for my 3 yr old son.  He started attending a local summer day camp this week and I needed to pack him a lunch each day. This was my first time packing him a lunch so I knew I had to do some research to find the best option.  After researching food packing containers it was clear to me that I needed stainless steel.  We have dramatically cut back on plastic products in my house and I knew I wanted something environmentally friendly and reusable. I cam across a few different metal containers and finally decided on these- LunchBots Trio for my son and a LunchBots Uno for my hubby.

I love them! At first they look really small and you wonder how you are going to fit a proper lunch in them but as you’ll see below there is plenty of space.  These are a great idea for anyone looking to control their eating habits with portion control. It also helps me pack a colorful and nutritious lunch with a lot of variety. I really like the Trio for my son because of the compartments. I also picked up a pack of these 12 mini muffin silicone liners to further separate his food.  {see pics below}
After posting this week’s bento lunches on my FB page many of you have asked me to continue posting pics to give you some inspiration for your dinner menus and packed lunches.
Bento FAQsThese are the most popular questions I received on Facebook about bento lunches.
1) How do you warm it up, it’s metal!?
     •My son eats his food cold or room temp. We don’t use microwaves so the metal part is not a problem.  My husband reheats his lunch in a toaster oven at work right in the container because it’s stainless steel.
2) How do you keep the hot foods hot and cold foods cold?
     •The idea behind the bento lunch box is that you pack foods that can be eaten cold or at room temp {unless you have a way of heating it up}. We live in Florida and it’s June= HOT, HOT! So, I pack my son’s Trio in an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack underneath it and his glass water bottle with ice in it on top.
If you missed the pics here they are, one week’s worth of bento lunches for my son.
Monday: garlic and kale rice, chicken with homemade BBQ sauce, cherry tomatoes, roasted sweet potato slices and some organic blue corn tortilla chips
Tuesday: steamed green beans, veggie meatballs [this recipe: http://bit.ly/1bpsAh3], sliced almonds, cheese and tomatoes.
Wednesday: steamed broccoli, tostones (twice fried plantain slices) cooked in duck fat w/ ketchup, cheese and kiwi
Thursday: garlic & herb roasted potatoes, baked whole wheat spaghetti and meatballs, kiwi, bananas and tomatoes.
Friday: roasted chicken, quinoa salad, cucumbers, corn, and a lime cornbread cookie
 Do you pack bento style lunches?

Click HERE if you want to get your own LunchBots.

2 replies on “Bento Box Lunches for Kids

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.