Friday, October 01, 2010

Bento lunches week of 9/27

Bento boxes and their accoutrements can be very hard to find. I got lucky with the one and only store here in Jacksonville that carries them. I bought the only two boxes they had. When I've gone back again, the store has not had any more. You can order some of the boxes and elements online but most of the stuff that I want can only be purchased on Ebay from Japan.

So when Karen and I landed in San Francisco, I told her that we had to go to Ichiban Kan. And being a sweetheart, she took me.
092210-ichibankan.jpg

There were two aisles of bento things.
092210-ichibankan-aisle1.jpg

And heaven help me! The bento boxes were only $1.50 each.
092210-ichibankan-aisle2.jpg

I went nuts and started throwing boxes into the hand cart Karen was holding for me. She kept a mental tally of the amount of each item. I had asked her to not let me go past the budget amount I had set for myself, knowing full well that I could go overboard without a little help. I ended up with two whole bags of bento wonderfulness. When we got outside, I did little jumps and happy dances up and down the sidewalk. In this picture, you can see me giggling as Karen and some complete strangers were laughing at me.
092210-happydance.jpg

Thank heavens Karen got a free backpack at her conference in CA. My sweet wife wore the backpack (in addition to the backpack holding her computer) through two airports in order for us to get the stuff home. Isn't Karen just awesome?

So without further ado, here are Kylie's lunches for the week!
092610_bento.jpg
Turkey sandwiches on pumpernickel bread, carrots, pretzels, watermelon, blueberries, raisins, grapes, cantaloupe flower. The cartoon character is part of a some food separator sheets. I couldn't use the sheets in this box but couldn't resist tearing one square off as a surprise for Kylie.
Here's the closed box.
092610_bento_closed.jpg

092710_bento.jpg
Boiled egg, potato chips, chocolate covered plum bites, clementines, grapes, blueberries. The boiled egg was shaped with an egg mold into the adorable bunny shape. I got around six more of these molds so you'll be seeing more of these in future lunches. After I molded the egg, I sliced it in half horizontally. Kylie ate all of it.

092710_bento_closed.jpg

092810_bento.jpg
Strawberry yogurt with chocolate chips, wheat thins, granola bar, jelly beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, dried apples. I have offered yogurt to Kylie lots of different times. She's always turned her nose up at it. But apparently, some of the kids at her school eat it routinely. When we were in the grocery store together, she saw some yogurt and asked me to get her some. And sure enough, she ate a whole container of it that day as her snack. And she ate all of it in this lunch.

092810_bento_closed.jpg

092910_bento.jpg
Turkey, mandarin oranges, red pepper, cucumbers, carrots, dressing. I've started making Kylie's lunch the night before. But I completely forgot about it on Wednesday night and threw this together on Thursday morning. I was able to use the little sauce/dressing container, the tiny plastic container for the oranges (it has a lid), and the little molds that are holding the hastily torn off pieces of turkey--all new purchases from Ichiban Kan.

092910_bento_closed.jpg

093010_bento.jpg
Dried fruit, chocolate covered plum bites, banana, bacon, pringles chips, chocolate chip cookie bits, jelly beans. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the snapped together triangle box.

So there you have it! A week's worth of lunches that were completely fun to make!

12 comments:

Loralou said...

They are so cute! It must cost you a fortune though putting so little of lots of things into each box...unless of course you finish things off yourself as your lunch!

Michaela said...

How AWESOME!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing all this wonderfulness with us. :D

Wendy and Karen said...

Hi Loralou,

Thanks for your comment. We've always kept our fridge and pantry full of fruit, veggies and such so I haven't noticed any increase in our grocery bill since I've started making bentos lunches. And I haven't noticed any waste of food, even with using the small food cutters.

Then there is the money I save from not using any plastic baggies. :)

Dani said...

This may be a silly question, but how do you close the box without the food falling from the two compartments and blending? Is there a separator that goes in between the layers?

Wendy and Karen said...

Hi Dani,
Each layer has its own lid that fits on kind of like a tupperware lid. If you look at the first lunch box..the blue one...you can see the lids in the picture where the bento box is closed. All of the bento have that kind of lid. But some of the bento boxes (like the round, blue country kitchen one) and a lid that covers both pieces. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

K J and the kids said...

I drooled a little while reading this post.
I can't believe you didn't buy more. I can't imagine being faced with all of that stuff and not loading up with 5 or 6 bags. :)
I'm jealous and will have to make a special trip just to stalk up.

E and M, jumpingoutoftrees said...

Awesome job! We just do bento type lunches on the weekend. How do you keep the fruit "fresh"? How do you keep it all cool?

Teaberry said...

Awesome! I love the bunny egg!!

jenn p. said...

i love the bento boxes you put together! the love you have for your daughter really shines through in the care you put into them. it must have been really hard to pick out only a few things to get. i came across these adorable boxes http://www.dharmacrafts.com/106xGS/SBENTOBOXC/child-Japanese-Bento-Box.html and just had to share them with you! have you thought of seeing if she likes sushi? vegetable sushi would work really well in the bento boxes.

jenn p. said...

i love the bento boxes you put together! the love you have for your daughter really shines through in the care you put into them. it must have been really hard to pick out only a few things to get. i came across these adorable boxes http://www.dharmacrafts.com/106xGS/SBENTOBOXC/child-Japanese-Bento-Box.html and just had to share them with you! have you thought of seeing if she likes sushi? vegetable sushi would work really well in the bento boxes.

Wendy and Karen said...

Hi E and M,
Kylie has an insulated lunch box/bag. I put a frozen pack (one of the ones that looks like a square hockey puck) in the bottom of the bag and the bento box on top of it. It keeps the fruit cold and fresh! Thanks for reading!

Wendy and Karen said...

Hi Jenn,
Thanks for your comment and the link! I love those boxes and have them on my wish list. I want to try some vegetable sushi with Kylie! I bet she will love it.