This past Friday evening, I went to the local toy store, Imagination Station, for a Bento class for moms. It is one of the best most exciting things I've done lately! Not only for the margaritas but for all the information I learned.
For those who do not know, bento is a Japanese form of packing lunches in compartmentalized boxes that is very pleasing to the eye, environmentally friendly, healthy and just plain fun! I joined in on the fun and got Lena her own bento lunch box for the school year.
At the class, we not only learned about the product itself, but many other ideas for packing healthy lunches for our children when we are constantly surrounded by fast food and other unhealthy options. There are wonderful little "picks" for sticking into a cherry tomato that make lunch enjoyable for the kiddos. You can use reusable silicone muffins cups for a healthy sweet muffin for desert or as another holder for some blueberries. To get away from using baggies, all. the. time, use the Itzy Ritzy line of food grade zipper bags that you can throw in the laundry! There is another similar line at Imagination Station with smaller bags as well.
All of these options can be overwhelming to some all at once. But it got me so excited to start packing lunch for Lena this school year! When I got home and showed Lena her new lunch box she was over-the-top excited and it was purple- one of her favorite colors!
I highly suggest trying this form of lunch packing for the kids and yourself! They have adult lunch boxes as well. If you don't want to buy the bento boxes at least give the style of packing a lunch a try. Just use your plastic containers from home and use them for your child's lunch.
