Coolest lunch ever

Way back in the '70s, my mom was a La Leche League leader with this really amazing woman who had a daughter my age. Flash forward 30 years, and the daughter, Beth, is now a mom of 3 kids and an Ask Moxie reader. And a way cooler mom than I'll ever be. Listen to what she's doing with her kids' lunches:

"My mom thought you might find my new "passion" interesting.  I've taken to bento boxes.  Have a hard time getting my 5 and 8 year old to eat healthy.The only vegetable they like is artichoke, and once in awhile corn.  Both of which won't make it in the lunch box.  I've loved Japanese culture since Akiko, an exchange student in high school, introduced me to her culture.  So we've become bento-addicts in my house.  The first lunch was peanut butter and jelly flower sandwiches (healthy pb and j), a molded hard boiled egg, crackers, cucumber flowers, homemade ranch dip, mandarin oranges, soy milk to drink.

The second attempt was molded jasmine rice, edamame boiled, blueberry and oranges on skewers, soy ginger dipping sauce, rice crispy treats and fruit chips.  I added honey wheat pretzels as the rice crispy flower stems (not in the photo).

And.. the kids gobble this up!  I just ordered soybean paper, as the taste/smell of nori turns me off http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/mamenorisoybeanpaper.htm

Lots of bento boxes have nori cutouts which I can substitute the soy paper for.  There are nori stencils, but I think I can use scrap booking tools from any store to cut the soy paper. 

Making lunch has become my nightly, 1/2-hour of artistic fun, with the kids.  They LOVE to pick out what to put in their bentos.  From what fruits or veggies can we use to what types of protein can we find. And how can we make yummy dips.    I thought people were nuts taking photos (flickr devotes pages to bentos), but I found I was so proud of my little creations that I had to take pics.

And the egg molds.... the coolest thing I've found ever!"

And she sent pictures:

Now I'm feeling reeeeeeeally guilty about leaving my kids with leftover pasta with tricked-out jarred sauce for lunch...

Comments

[Chris Galvin]

Hi Moxie,

Thanks for calling me an amazing woman. Your mom and I had great times together letting our children teach us so much. I remember you and Beth in overalls and am delighted to see both of you have become such creative and capable young women. It makes me smile.

Chris

[enu]

Two comments and a question:

C1. Way Kewl! Wow!

C2. Lunchmaking in particular and parenting in general are _not_ a competition.

Q1. My "little one;" the rabid Japanophile, has wanted to start bringing bento for school lunch for some time (she's 16 and would be prepping her own), but I have been very perplexed about how one maintains careful food safety wrt heat/cold with bento boxes. And I don't mean the Mr. Bento contraption that is on the market - that's really not the same thing at all. Does Beth have any advice on this?

[Marie]

Here's a great blog about bento boxes for kids' lunches:
http://ss-biggie.livejournal.com/

[Reese]

Those are so freakin' cute! I can't wait for my girl to get to the point that she's eat things besides dried fruit, pretzels, and chicken nuggets...

[jessica]

This is absolutely brilliant. I've been a lover of Japanese culture for a long time myself, and when my daughter is old enough I might just have to steal this idea.

[AV]

Have to plug the Vegan Lunh Box: http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

Vegan or not, check out the archives from the 2005-6 school year. The lunches she packed her son are amazing......

[Shara]

Another good bento box lunch site is
http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

It's all vegan and she uses all sorts of eco-friendly reusable packaging. Most of her ideas are for her son, so there is a lot of variety and kid-friendly finger foods.

[Fahmi]

I grew up in Japan, and the one thing I missed the most when I moved to the States is my bento lunches. I am really looking forward to introducing my son to them when he is a little older.

[Charisse]

Wow, so cool!! These links are awesome--thanks guys!!! And timely for me--I just bought Mouse a bento box on Ebay after deciding that the traditional lunch bags and boxes were just too big for a 3-year-old. (She's going to be bringing lunch to preschool starting next month and they mostly picnic outside, so it needs to be portable and easy. So far, she's been to daycares that provide hot lunch, so this is a whole new ballgame for me.) Anyway, there are loads of cute ones in these Ebay shops:

Tokyo Gift
Bento Obento
The Bento Store

The girl who runs Bento Obento also has a website where she does a daily video on some aspect of bento-making: http://www.bentotv.com

I'm not sure how fancy I'll get with it--I've lived in Japan too and you see some really amazing school lunches there--but it just seemed like a better fit for her size and the kind of stuff she eats.

[Amy]

As though I didn't already feel inadequate as a mother...

;)

[Allison]

re: laptoplunches.com (from veganlunchbox) -- how freakin' cool is that?

We've been actively trying to improve nutrition around the house, so I'd love to see suggestions for fixing more healthful lunches for my peanut. :)

[ellen landrum]

Have you seen The Laptop Lunch pool on Flickr? http://www.flickr.com/groups/laptop_lunches/pool/

We use icecube trays and muffin tins to lay out snack/meals for my toddler, who loves to graze all day long. Now if I could convince her not to turn them over . . .

[Megan]

Ellen, that's so funny...I just started doing that with my 15-month-old...he loves choosing among all the little bite-sized snacks in the mini-muffin tray!

[Anne]

We live in Hawaii and there are a lots of Japanese influences here including bentos, in fact at one of the larger malls there is a Japanese store that sells bentos and other Japanese food that my son loves. But I hadn't really thought of making our own really healthy bentos before. So woohoo and cool!

[beth]

I'm lucky that my children have access to a mini-fridge at school and can keep items (like cheese, chicken) cold. Their boxes have a cute little carrying bag you can put an ice pack in if needed. Most of the items we're packing are things that are ok if they reach room temperature. Love the vegan sites, and have saved a ton of pictures for inspiration. These are just so FUN and SO easy, and I plan on designating scrap booking scissors as food scissors to cut cool designs in the soy paper when I get it. Going to get some different hole punches too, to elaborate on the designs. Plus, with these, portion control is easy... the kids don't need a HUGE lunch and I found they were not eating it anyway. Now they can't wait to see what they have. Bento is a culture in itself, and once you start looking... the pictures are endless and I did buy my stuff on ebay as the selection/prices are great! Thanks for posting my message and sharing my new joy! ~ beth

[Sarah]

Holy dangerous precedent, Batman!

I worked in Japan for a few years after college and can attest to the fact that Japanese moms are hardcore.

[cagey]

Awesome! My toddler is starting nursery school this fall and I've been wondering what the hell I was going to send with him for lunch. Since my husband is South Indian, we mostly eat ethnic at home (seriously, my 18 month old cries when I put leftover pad thai in the microwave to heat up - he wants it right then. Waiting? That's so yesterday). I will definitely be looking into this and seeing how I can "Indian-fy" it. Thanks for the fun idea!

[Amy]

Okay, can someone explain the soy paper and fancy punches? How would these fit into the kids' lunches?

[beth]

You can see the soy paper cut into decorative shapes here: http://bp0.blogger.com/_bcCoa8Eh70M/Rfn7nbfsjTI/AAAAAAAAABE/eIrbYTtVEmA/s1600-h/IMG_8927.jpg

Traditional bento's use nori (I don't care for it), but the soy can be used the same way. With stencils, cutouts, etc. It's just a way to decorate the contents of the bento box. These are maybe too much for me to do, but I can improvise: http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/hostesssushi

[Amy]

Thanks, Beth!

(And I love Clare Crespo's stuff... I've seen her Yummy Fun website before... so creative!)

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We live in Hawaii and there are a lots of Japanese influences here including bentos, in fact at one of the larger malls there is a Japanese store that sells bentos and other Japanese food that my son loves. But I hadn't really thought of making our own really healthy bentos before. So woohoo and cool

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