I recently started making Bento lunches for Rowan, Erin and the children I look after. I’m slowly getting to grips with putting lunches together and have gathered a few cutters and picks. Before I started making my own Bento lunches I loved seeing others idea’s but thought it must take ages to put the lunches together. How wrong was I, it does not take me any longer than putting a non Bento lunch together however Rowan especially loves to get involved and will help choose the shape of his sandwiches and the filling etc each day. But honestly it takes no longer than ten minutes tops to put it together. It’s simply a case of using a little imagination and using pots, cake cases etc to hold food and add some picks for decoration (well that’s what I have been doing anyway!)
I have seen a big difference in the amount of food that Rowan and the younger children actually finish when having Bento lunches compared to when I just gave them sandwiches cut into quarters etc. Rowan used to come home with food left in his lunch box with literally one bite taken out of it and then dis-guarded, something I found frustrating and disheartening. I can honestly say that in the six weeks I have been doing the Bento lunches for him his lunch box is now coming home empty. Rowan is small for his age and a grazer although not picky as such so knowing that he is actually eating and enjoying is lunches is a great relief.
The Bento lunches are also a huge hit with Erin and the children I look after. They have brought a bit of fun to lunch and they too are leaving plates empty at the end, surely that’s a good sign right?!
Erin is a huge Hello Kitty fan so when I came across a sandwich mould in the shape of Hello Kitty’s face I know I had to have it! When it arrived on Wednesday afternoon I know that I would be using it the next day. So yesterday morning I set about involving Erin and the little one I had that day in making fruit kebabs using some picks ready for lunch. At two years old the girls enjoyed pushing pieces of fruit onto the pick and we talked about colours and fruit at the same time. With that done I set about turning ham sandwiches into Hello Kitty with the help of the mold. The mold I have allows you to add detail to the sandwich to help add decoration to the finished sandwich. In this case it was whiskers, eyes and a bow, using a touch of coco powder I sprinkled it over the mold and when I took the sandwich out hey presto, Hello Kitty was complete. I then added a few Ritz crackers, half a mini scotch egg and a cocktail sausage roll along with a couple of fruit kebabs the girls had made and we had our completed lunch.
The girls were thrilled when I put the plates in front of them. They actually ate everything bar the sandwich leaving it until last. Having coco powder on the sandwich didn’t bother them either and both plates were left empty. So safe to say it was a hit!
Super cute lunch! I love it!:)
What a lovely post! I had the same with my son – he wasn’t picky (despite how the press have chosen to report it!), he just never ate very much of anything, and as he was very low on the weight charts it always worried me. So glad to hear that bento is helping with that for you too, and what a gorgeous lunch you’ve made, I want that Hello Kitty mold!
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