Packed with Love

Bella has whole wheat fig newtons, Annie's Homegrown organic fruit snacks, cauliflower florets, a carrot stick, celery & peanut butter to dip it in, and wedges of sharp cheddar cheese. She's a very helpful girl, always asking what she can do to help, and doing more than her share when cleaning & picking up, so I added a Lunchbox Love note acknowledging that:

Beanstalk's Planet Box is packed with fruit snacks, Cheez-its and Cheese Nips (he said he prefers the Cheese Nips, but we didn't have quite enough left of them), smoked ham, and honeycrisp apple wedges. He likes the facts on the flip sides of the Lunchbox Love notes. I often learn something new from them as well - like this fact about tongue prints - who knew?

Want to add some Lunchbox Love to your little one's day? 

MOMables is giving a set away! 

Stuff in these lunches:

Disposable Field Trip Bento

Bella has a field trip today and needed a throw-away lunch. We did have brown paper bags, but no plastic baggies, so I packed everything in a plastic basket the grape tomatoes came in, lined with a coffee filter. I figure that's better than baggies anyways, it will protect her lunch from getting squished by her drink or other lunches - and it's re-using something :) Lunch itself is pretty uninteresting - she has fig newtons, half an apple fruit leather roll, cheese (under the) grape tomatoes, a whole carrot cut in 2, and a mini bagel:

For her drink, I washed out and refilled a water bottle from our recycling bin and put a fun new label on it.  I re-labeled the tomato basket too - just to make it a little bit cute :)  I also instructed Bella to look around to see if there was a recycling bin before tossing anything in a trash bin.

While I was packing the tomato basket, Bella decorated her paper bag. I think she's actually going to enjoy the novelty of this disposable lunch! 

I didn't get creative with her lunch (unless you count the label - which I don't) but here are a few links to some fellow bloggers who did make some cute disposable bentos to go :

The disposable bento Ludicrous Mama of Biting The Hand That Feeds You made for her daughter's field trip to a local Children's Museum was inspired by a book they had just read in her preschool class, My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss.   

Shannon of What's For Lunch At Our House has made a few field trip bentos, including this astronaut themed one, and a bear face in a reused take-out box.

Sheri of Happy Little Bento has packed many disposable bentos for her son, and has lots of examples of recycling containers for bento - like this Ponyo bento packed in a recycled bowl and blueberry basket.

Keeley of Keeley McGuire dressed up her daughter's recycled strawberry basket bento with a personalized label, and a Hello Kitty ribbon - which also helped keep the container closed.

How do you pack your kidlets' lunches for field trip days? Does your school request a disposable lunch, or provide a box or bagged lunch?

Lunch for The Man: So nice he asked for it twice :)

Bella came with me the last time I went grocery shopping and asked if we could get some tomato basil tortillas to try. She didn't care for them though, so Sailor Boy's been getting a lot of tomato basil tortillas in his lunches :)

Roast beef & mayo on tomato basil roll-ups with cherub & sunburst tomatoes, with fresh raspberries & pineapple on the side. I stared at the lunch above thinking "something's missing" for some time before it hit me - I forgot cheese in the roll-ups, what a terrible oversight! I added some cheddar hearts  ♥ 

Déja vu... roast beef roll-ups again :) Sailor Boy actually asked for the same thing 2 days in a row! Well, almost the same thing... these ones have the cheddar in them :) He wanted the same fruit on the side too!  So strange and unlike him - he usually doesn't even like leftovers...

Finally used the last tomato tortilla - yay! - so he got an egg salad sandwich :)

Nothing at all creative about this one, just a normal sandwich, grapes & blueberries - but I think adding a Lunchbox Love note made it special  ♥ 

Somebunny Loves You

Yesterday I made Sprout a bunny themed lunch in her new favourite lunchbox. Funny how much she loves that Goodbyn Bynto - she's even asked to take it in the bath and to bed!

She has cherub tomatoes with bunny food picks, a whole carrot peeled and cut in half with flower stem picks added, a pouch of Annie's organic bunny fruit snacks, Annie's organic bunny grahams, a mini bagel, sharp cheddar & white cheddar faceless bunnies (I always seem to make a mess of it when I try to add features), and a bunny face hard-cooked egg.

Birdie had a similar smaller version in a Sassy box. I forgot to take a photo before it was too late! Oh well :)

Linked to:

Stuff used for these lunches:

 

Bunny food picks & shape cutter & flower stem picks from

BentoUSA by AllThingsForSale

 

In Other Lunches...

Since Bella & Beanstalk's lunches were included in my LunchBots Review & Giveaway yesterday, I wasn't going to bother posting Sprout & Birdie's, and I forgot to take a picture of Sailor Boy's before he left for work... 

BUT...

Sailor Boy sent me a phone pic of his lunch to show me that it made it to work with the cheese "me" and message intact  ♥  

He has the meat from leftover Shepherd's Pie wrapped in a tomato tortilla. We always have lots of meat left over since I only eat the carrot & potato part :) On the side he has raspberries, blueberries, and kiwifruit. The little "me" was inspired by Ludicrous Mama's food family at Biting The Hand That Feeds You.

And Sprout insisted I take a picture of her MyPlate, since she picked everything that went on it herself and was so proud of herself for reading the food groups and choosing the right foods :)  So here it is:

Did you know that there's a Pinterest board full of MyPlate meal ideas? Yep :)

Stuff used for these lunches:

 

Review & Giveaway : LunchBots Stainless Steel Food Containers. Metal is cool!

My family got to try out LunchBots stainless steel food containers! 

In case you missed it, here's another look at the Earth Day lunch I packed in a LunchBots Trio yesterday. Mini bagels fit perfectly in the Trio's largest compartments. Kiwifruit is very juicy so I packed it in a silicone muffin cup to keep the juice from seeping under the divider and making the bagel soggy.

 

LunchBots makes a variety of container styles with a rainbow of lid colours. We chose the 3-sectioned Trio & the 4-sectioned Quad in all stainless. Hand washing is recommended for the coloured lids, but the unpainted lids and all the containers themselves are dishwasher-safe; perfect for us since Sailor Boy is our Chief Dish Washer and employs that appliance as much as possible :) ... I kind of want to get a coloured lid one (or 2) anyways though, just because they are so pretty...

The first thing I noticed was how solid they felt - much sturdier than I expected. I guess I had in mind something like the tins that some cookies & chocolates come in...but LunchBots are solid! Wait, I already said that... Oh well, it bears repeating :) They are not at all like candy tins. LunchBots are made of 18/8 stainless steel. They look and feel sleek & substantial.

The second thing I noticed was how lightweight they are! One might think a metal lunchbox would be heavy and clunky... but nope, not these anyways :) Both 5 year old Sprout and 3 year old Birdie enjoyed  their lunch packed in LunchBots. Birdie did have a hard time with the lid, I had to take it off for her. Here's Birdie with a garden themed lunch packed in a Quad:

She has raspberries, cheese flowers, honey wheat crackers, grapes, blueberries on stem picks, & a hard-cooked egg shaped with an egg mold.

Sprout had a pretty lunch as well, packed in the LunchBots Trio.  Her lunch is guest posted at Bento for Kidlet, where Jenn blogs about the bento lunches she packs for her son, often in a LunchBots Uno. Here's Sprout's berry pretty Trio lunch - click it to visit Bento for Kidlet.

I've been interested in getting some LunchBots for a while, for 10 year old Beanstalk. He really doesn't like his foods to touch, so I like that they come in divided styles, and the fact that they are durable  stainless steel, so should see him through the rest of his school years.  Here's the Quad packed for my picky boy's lunch today...  a trash-free, healthier version of a "lunchable" :

Beanstalk says he likes the LunchBots a lot. In his own words: "I like that there are sections. I like that they look really clean and don't have a smell or get stains. And the metal is cool. "  That's important ;)

While the sections are not completely sealed from each other, we haven't noticed any seepage from fruits like grapes or apple slices.
I use muffins cup just to keep foods separate, as Beanstalk prefers.
The long section of the Trio is perfect for a granola bar or Clif bar.

I was surprised by how much food they hold! They seem small, but they hold quite a bit. Both the Trio & Quad hold 600 ml (20 oz), which is more than enough for Beanstalk, and even enough for 9 year old Bella's healthy appetite. Here's a pizza roll-up lunch I packed for her in the Quad: 

The only downside we've found so far is that the lid of our Trio fits more snugly than that of our Quad, so is harder to remove - Birdie & Kate can't take it off themselves. Beanstalk & Bella can manage it with some effort.  This slight difference also means the lids aren't interchangeable. I'm hoping it loosens up in time,  but better too tight than too loose, right? It's a minor thing for us, but worth mentioning in case you are considering these for a preschooler.

Bella took the Trio today, packed with the ingredients for a build-your-own Hawaiian pizza bagel lunch: 

LunchBots are not water tight, so are best for dry foods, but since the juicy kiwifruit in yesterday's lunch was fine in it's silicone muffin cup I think the pineapple will be as well, and I put the pizza sauce in a small lidded container.

I really like LunchBots stainless steel food containers, 
and definitely recommend them! 

If you've been looking for a well-made, kid-friendly, plastic-free, eco-conscious food container, look no further! LunchBots is a family-owned business with a simple mission: to provide the highest quality, best-looking, healthiest food containers on the planet. Looks like mission accomplished to me!

Want a LunchBots of your own? 
Enter my giveaway!

LunchBots is giving away a Trio or a Quad to one lucky winner, in the colour of their choice! All you need to do to enter is Like LunchBots on Facebook then leave a comment on this post saying you do, and which colour & style you'd like if you win  - easy peasy!

It'd be super if you left a comment on the LunchBots Wall telling them I sent you, but all you get for doing that is my gratitude :)

And if you just can't wait to see if you win one, you can take 10% off and get free shipping at LunchBots.com with the coupon code BETTER, good all this week until the giveaway closes at 11pm Sunday, April 29th. 

Giveaway ended :)

Disclosure: I received a LunchBots Trio & Quad to review. No other compensation or payment was given. 

All opinions, descriptions, & lunch photos are my own.

EasyLunchboxes Winner & A Little Bit of Lunch

Here's an EasyLunchbox I packed for Bella last week:

I gave her Sunburst & Cherub tomatoes,  Mystic grapes, Hot & Spicy Cheez-its, and Mesquite turkey roll-ups spelling out L O V E.  She says it was "a little bit not enough",  it was "only enough to keep from starving". Noted :)

And now for the winner of my EasyLunchboxes giveaway!

Comment # 57 was made by Jenn of  Blissful Planet Photography, who kindly wished everyone luck!

Congratulations Jenn! Look for an email from me with instructions for claiming your EasyLunchboxes & Cooler Bag!

Stuff used in this lunch:

Happy Earth Day!

It's a beautiful sunny day here on Whidbey Island! We had a full day out as a family yesterday, complete with soccer, a picnic lunch, ice cream in Coupeville, and a fun barbecue with a bounce house, Nerf dart tag, quad rides, and lots of good conversation & laughs ...

 

... so today we are quietly enjoying our Earth Day Sunday at home.

I made an Earth Day lunch for my Sailor Boy, in our new LunchBots Trio:

Cheese bagel sandwich with a fruit leather Reduce, Reuse, Recycle symbol, kiwifruit, blueberries, a carrot stick, and a celery stick spread with peanut butter and topped with "earth  ♥" spelled with Craisins.  

Tomorrow I'll be posting a bunch of lunches I've made this past week for my review of the LunchBots Trio & Quad my family was fortunate to get try out - and I'll be holding a LunchBots giveaway too - don't miss it!

Lunch for the Man : Home & Away

I've been glad to have my Sailor Boy home this past week. His recent trip wasn't a long one by Navy standards, but our hearts don't know the difference; we miss him just as much whether he's gone 2 weeks or 2 months. I'm happy to have one more lunch to make when he comes home :)

Here are a couple of Sailor Boy's recent work lunches:

Strawberries, pretzels & cheese, teriyaki chicken & garlic rice, broccoli & green peppers. Lots of love in this lunch, there are hearts in every section  ♥ Nobody teases him any more. He says :)

Quesadillas made with chicken & peppers left over from fajitas, plus shredded cheese. Organic blueberries (I splurged, they looked so good - and they were!) and strawberry hearts. Have to have that touch of love  ♥

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

My poor Sailor Boy had no lunches full of love while he was away in Las Vegas. He did have an EasyLunchbox with him though, since I had packed him some airplane food. So he had some fun with it, to make me smile :)

Here is EZ the EasyLunchbox in the hotel, getting ready to hit the Strip.

EZ breaking the rules at the top of the Stratosphere. 

LunchBoxes can't read signs. 

Looking out towards the desert beyond the northern end of the Strip. Sailor Boy was missing me and wishing I was there to see the view with him, so he took pics from every angle (I'll spare you the rest). Poor EZ was feeling pretty empty too, and wishing he had some lunch in him.

Sailor Boy even dragged EZ to Graceland Wedding Chapel where he & I had our wedding ceremony with the "King" :)  EZ was a little embarrassed, people were looking at him funny, so he tried to blend in with the foliage, forcing Sailor Boy to cut off the top of the sign to fit him in the pic.

For more EasyLunchbox fun check out my post from earlier this week: EasyLunchboxes Get Around, and enter my giveaway to win your own set of EasyLunchboxes, plus a cooler bag! 

Every Day is Earth Day :)

My fellow bento bloggers and I have made Earth Day lunches and linked up!

We know, Earth Day is not until Sunday April 22nd, but any day can be Earth Day! And blog hops are fun!

Plus, maybe you can get some ideas for your own family's Earth Day lunches :)

Bella's EasyLunchbox is pretty earthy ;) I'm loving it, especially since it was so last-minute. And it's recycled too, the main course is leftovers from Monday's supper - well, except the Chinese noodles weren't blue then :)

On the side she has a cup of blue gelatin topped with green apple fruit leather pieces (not very accurately) representing the continents. It's also a recycled element - the cup is from an applesauce snack, washed out and saved for many months, despite Sailor Boy's protests, because "you never know when it might come in handy" :)  She also has some red & yellow tomatoes, always a favourite side.  Maybe yellow foliage could represent global warming, heh ;)

Beanstalk has a gelatin Planet Earth as well. His lunch is packed in his PlanetBox - which makes it pretty earth-friendly to begin with :)

He also has apple slices, an Earth peanut butter sandwich, and (I love this) an Earth granola bar. I used honey to "glue" alphabet biscuits to a blueberry granola bar :) I hope he likes it. Ever since he tried (and loved) the dried cherries from NatureBox, I've been including more dried fruit in his lunches; today he has dried cherries and craisins. Aside from apples, he's never been a big whole fruit eater, but isn't dried fruit nearly as good?

Pickle has a peanut butter Lunch Punch Landwich:

I found the perfect Lunchbox Love note to go with Bella's Earth Day lunch!  ♥ 

Bella also has a green spork. We love our reusable Light My Fire sporks, they are better for the planet and much sturdier than flimsy disposable cutlery. Bella calls them "sporkifes" because the fork end has a serrated side for cutting :)

Click on the Earth to see what the always creative and eco friendly Lise of Veggie-Bento has packed in her PlanetBox!

And Happy Earth Day,
Today and every day!

Stuff I used for these lunches:

note: The Australia Landwich Lunch Punch is not available for sale, it was part of a limited edition Australian promotion for Bega cheese & I was lucky to have a friend send me one ♥