Somewhere along the line, I realized that I would never be able to do full-out Bento in crazy intricate designs and I wasn't so sure that's what I would really want to do anyways. What I do know is I have a thing for cute lunch containers, cute lunch shapes, and fun lunches. I have a collection of lunch totes and containers and I try to think outside the box on traditional lunches. This is really hard when your kid isn't quite yet two and your hubby works in the food industry (thus no lunches).
Side note: Poor hubby, when he starts working in the office setting in the spring (prayers please for this!), he will have lunches with cute shaped food and heart shaped notes saying he is loved. I wonder if he will eat in the car instead of with his co-workers out of sheer embarrassment?
Back to Keegan. His meals of choice are PB&J, "fake" hot dogs, and lentil/bean loaf (think the vegetarian version of meatloaf). For his teacher's benefit I try to send finger foods because, let's face it, he still is in the process of trying to master a fork and spoon. He probably gets PB&J at least 3 times a week. Sometimes even an Uncrustable because I am really bad with time management. Otherwise I do send him in with whole wheat bread. He used to eat the crust and all but I think I ruined him with the Uncrustables (bad mommy). Now when I make his sandwiches with cutesy cutters, Daddy eats the scraps (mainly crusts) of PB&J for breakfast or, if feasible, I cut the bread first and save the scraps in my freezer bag of bread for homemade stuffing (have I mentioned it is officially FALL!!!!! yay!).
This weekend I splurged on a new container - the Gerber Graduate Mealtime Organizer ($6.99 at Target and I believe the same price on Amazon but you won't know whether you are getting the red or blue)
The extent of my cutesy lunches of late are just shapes of sandwiches with cookie cutters or sandwich cutters. His lunch and snacks today are dinosaur PB&J, with mandarin oranges, apple stix (chips), an applesauce pouch, and an unpictured yogurt pouch. Since I have an obsessive personality I have certain habits that I MUST do. So everyday I MUST send Keegan with one "main dish" and FOUR snacks. I MUST do this for MY SANITY. Weird, I know.
There are three compartments in the main opening: one larger one that can hold a sandwich or other main item (please note that it is more shallow then the other two because of the compartment above it on the lid) and two smaller ones that are deeper and include one lid to seal off one of the compartments.
I put Keegan's applesauce pouch in the compartment on top of the lid that fits above the sandwich. It's the perfect size for a pouch or granola bar/breakfast bar or fruit snacks etc.
Then there is a lid on top of that compartment that has a slot for a picture or note and a clear covering above that. As much as I wanted to write something like "Mommy loves you dooka doo" I figured he wouldn't appreciate that since he can't read and that even when he can, well, I may need to figure out something else to write. So for now, I have stuck some stickers of some of his favortie characters on an index card and called it a day. I couldn't leave the space blank and I know Nemo and Minnie and Donald will make his day (sorry Daisy, he will be excited to see you too, just it probably won't make his day).
Here are some more stock photos that do a better job of showing the compartments:
Tomorrow or Wednesday I think I will use our Mickey Shaped cookie cutter for sandwiches. He loves those - Oh Toodles!
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