A PlanetBox Launch, With Love

Sailor Boy has another trip & will be away for Valentine's Day, so I made sure the last lunch I made him before he left was full of love ♥ 

I packed his PlanetBox Launch with:

• fresh strawberries, some notched & sliced to look like hearts
• grape tomatoes on a skewer
• turkey & cheddar wraps secured with forked heart picks
• a bunch of green grapes
• a Babybel cheese with little linked hearts cut out of the wax wrapper with a tiny bento decoration cutter

He had a lunch meeting too,  I hope his lovely lunch made everyone smile :)

All the heart accessories & tools I used came from BentoUSA.

Lunch for the Man: Wrap Up Some Leftovers

Sailor Boy's working extra long days this week so he's getting supper much later than the rest of the family. Yesterday I made spaghetti for the sproutlets' supper, then later used the leftover spaghetti sauce to make Sailor Boy a smallish lasagna in a loaf pan. Since I didn't make a full size pan, I ended up with some chopped spinach & ricotta cheese leftovers, but not enough to make another lasagna, so today I wrapped them up for his lunch:

The wraps are tortillas spread with the leftover ricotta & layered with the spinach, some smoked turkey & sharp cheddar, rolled up. I put a Mackintosh's toffee in the centre section of the PlanetBox Rover & it's red & green wrapper seems to have influenced what I chose to pack for his fruit & veggie sides - he has kiwi chunks & raspberries with a red heart fork pick, & cucumber chunks & grape tomatoes with a red pick that says "bite me" :)

Even the Lunchbox Love note I chose is red on one side & green on the other, heheh. When I noticed how festive his lunch was looking I wrapped his fork in a Star Wars print cloth napkin to make it a little less Christmassy :)

Sailor Boy has never beaten me at Scrabble so I had a giggle over the fun fact on the Lunchbox Love note - maybe it will come in handy some day :

A Winning PlanetBox Lunch for the Man

Here's a recent lunch for the man :) When I pack pistachios, if I have a few spare minutes I love drawing something on them, ever since I first saw the idea on my friend Eclectic Lamb's blog - she also drew hearts on hers ♥ 

In case you're wondering... spaghetti with sauce, in a PlanetBox? Won't that be messy? And will he be eating it cold? ... The PlanetBox Launch Plus & Complete sets include a tempered glass Satellite dish for easy reheating, with a food grade silicone lid that both cushions the glass container & keeps it's contents from spilling. And there's just enough room on either side to pack utensils. So I was able to pack hubby's Lunchbox Love note on top of his saucy entrée without getting it messy :) I also included a Batman cloth napkin - which I'm told was a hit with the guys at work :)  

Besides the leftover pasta, lunch was grapes, apple wedges, pistachios, an itty bitty container of grated parmesan, & a dark chocolate caramel macchiato Balance Bar - his new favourite flavour. Sailor Boy loved this lunch so much he even texted me to say thanks ♥ 

Oh! Funny bit about the pistachios! I delivered Sailor Boy's lunch to him on base after taking the sproutlets to school.  After he went through the security gate & back towards the hangar with it,  it occurred to me that he sometimes like to crack open a tight pistachio with his teeth. So I called out across the tarmac to tell him I'd used food markers, so he could put the nuts in his mouth. There was a lot of jet noise though, so I had to repeat myself, a couple of times, then finally just shouted "You can put the nuts in your mouth!"  Yeah, his shipmates found that hilarious. Silly boys :)

●  ●  ●  ● 

Some stuff I used to pack this lunch:

●  ●  ●  ●

Oh, I almost forgot!

The winner of my Balance Bar giveaway has been drawn & announced on the giveaway widget in the giveaway post :) Somebody will be getting a big box of delicious & nutritious snacks delivered to their door soon!

#GuacItForward for National Guacamole Day!

Happy National Guacamole Day! The folks at Wholly Guacamole are always looking for fun ways to celebrate National Guacamole Day & love the concept of paying it forward, so this year they're giving back to their community & encouraging fans to do the same, with the #GuacitForward campaign! And in partnership with Laptop Lunches, who also like to pay it forward, they're giving away some of the ingredients for a tasty healthy lunch! I'm pleased to be able to offer one of these giveaways to my guacamole loving readers :)

One lucky Wholly Guacamole fan in the United States will win:

• 1 Set of Laptop Lunches Avocado Bento Buddies
• An awesome Wholly Guacamole cooler filled with:
  • 3 Guacamole Trays (various flavors)
  • 2 mini cups (various flavors)
  • 1 Chip Clip
  • 1 Avocado Squeezie

▼ Scroll to the bottom of the post to enter via the Rafflecopter widget

Use the hashtag #GuacItForward on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to share how you are paying it forward!

I packed my hubby a National Guacamole Day bento! Sailor Boy's favourite Dr. Seuss book is Green Eggs & Ham so I thought I'd make him smile with a green eggs & ham salad sandwich in his lunch. Of course I had to tell him that's what it was to get the smile ;)

Guacamole Green Eggs & Ham Salad Sandwich
Ingredients:

• 1 Wholly Guacamole mini (or 2oz Wholly Guacamole) 
• 2 hard-cooked eggs
• 2 slices deli ham
• 2 slices bread

Directions:

1. Peel & chop eggs. 
2. Chop ham. 
3. Combine eggs & ham with guacamole in a bowl & stir/mash until desired consistency. 
4. Spread on a slice of bread, top with another slice, & cut if desired.
5. Pack or enjoy!

I also packed green grapes, a Babybel cheese, & NatureSweet Sunbursts tomatoes in the side containers of his Laptop Lunches bento. I used a bento cutting tool to carve OMG! in the Babybel wax coating, & spelled OMGuac! with alphabet bento picks in his sandwich :)

Last of all, I added a Lunchbox Love note atop his Laptop Lunches Bento Buddies lid to remind hubby to #GuacItForward too :)

Wholly Guacamole Minis come in Classic, Spicy, Ranch, Chunky & Organic varieties! I used Spicy in my egg salad sandwich - Sailor Boy likes it hot!

You can also enter to win a NatureSweet Prize Pack 

from the Wholly Guacamole OMG! Sweepstakes!

▼ Enter the Giveaway!▼

a Rafflecopter giveaway

► Visit Wholly Guacamole for more fabulous & fun ways to OMGuac Your Lunch! There are some delicious lunch ideas for both adults & kids!

Lunchbox Love for my Loved One

My Sailor Boy is home from deployment! ♥  He's on leave for now, so I don't need to pack him a lunch, but after he unpacked his sea bag, I slipped some Lunchbox Love for Loved Ones into the pockets of his uniforms, for him to find when he's back at work... I hope he doesn't read this!

I chose that card for what was on the front, and completely forgot to look at the trivia on the back! Sometimes I choose a card for it's sentiment, sometimes for the fun fact, just like I do with the Lunchbox Love for Kids :) The card above is from Lunchbox Love for Loved Ones, Volume 2. Here are a few more of my favorites from that set:

I'm so happy to have my Sailor Boy home after his long deployment! And while I'm not looking forward to him going back to work, I am looking forward to making him lunch again, and choosing the perfect Lunchbox Love note to tuck in with it :) Here are a few of my favorites that I've made him:

A thankful lunch for Thanksgiving:

Some pies for Pi Day:

A farewell lunch from when he shipped out:

In case he does read this:

Welcome home my love!

●  ●  ●  ●

P.S.  This is not a sponsored post - all gushing about Lunchbox Love is my own because I ♥ them.

Teddy Bear Day

Today is Teddy Bear Day. I packed this teddy bear filled PlanetBox Launch lunch for Sailor Boy before he deployed:

Lunch is mandarin oranges, a bear face hard-cooked egg , salad topped with pepper jack cheese teddy bears, with mandarin vinaigrette in a bear sauce container, and in the Satellite Dish, leftover broccoli, pierogies, & Polish sausage, topped with a cheddar bear.

The PlanetBox Satellite Dish is a tempered glass dish made to fit in the large section of the Launch. It's perfect for foods that need reheating. The Sattelite Dish comes with a silicone lid that cushions it in the PlanetBox.

Oh, the Lunchbox Love note says "I Know You've Been Working Hard" on one side and I don't remember what the trivia on the other side was :)

Stuff used to make this lunch:

Teddy Bear Sauce Bottle
Bento Cutter Set with Teddy Bear Shape
BentoCutter Set with Bear Head Shape
Bear Face Egg Mold
PlanetBox Launch Lunchbox

●  ●  ●  ● 

You might also like:

Teddy Bear Picnic with Daddy

Teddy Bear Day, you say?

Teddy Bear Tray

Shiny! PlanetBox Shuttle Review

Our new PlanetBox Shuttle is ready for launch... er... lunch!  

As soon as my preschooler Birdie saw the new mini PlanetBox, she exclaimed "Is that a PlanetBox for ME?!"  I told her it was for everyone, but that she could have the first special lunch in it - her choice. She asked for a bubblegum cheese sandwich - meaning she wanted it cut with the gumball machine Lunch Punch :) I added some cheddar cheese details and built a theme around it :

The size of the PlanetBox Shuttle is perfect for a smaller appetite. It's 3 cup capacity is divided into 2 compartments. The larger side has just the right dimensions for a full size sandwich, something many of our smaller containers can't accommodate. I love to use sandwich cutters so that's a big plus for me! 

The PlanetBox Shuttle also comes with a lidded Tall Dipper for wet or messy foods, that can be used in either compartment. I filled it with yogurt topped with multicoloured nonpareils - in keeping with the gumball theme - and filled the rest of the smaller side with watermelon, cantaloupe, & honeydew melon balls. I even found a Lunchbox Love note with a bubblegum fact!

●  ●  ●  ● 

The PlanetBox Shuttle is also a great size for portion-control, snacks ...
or breakfast! I sent my Sailor Boy to work with a healthy breakfast to go:  

Hearty granola, fresh blueberries & strawberries, & vanilla yogurt sure beats the fast food drive-thru! This nutritious breakfast packed in the PlanetBox Shuttle is better for his body, & better for the planet, too - no waste!

Just like the PlanetBox Rover & Launch, the Shuttle comes with one set of decorative magnets, with more designs available separately.

The magnets do more than add a splash of colour - they make it easy to identify whose PlanetBox is whose if your family has more than one! We keep our extra PlanetBox magnets on the refrigerator doors :)

The PlanetBox Shuttle Complete Kit adds the insulated carry bag with designs that match the magnets! There's just enough room to add a slim ice pack (such as the PlanetBox ColdKit) and utensils if needed.

The PlanetBox Shuttle is a welcome addition to my family's PlanetBox family. 

I can already tell it's going to get a lot of use. 

• 7th grader Beanstalk likes the stainless steel because it won't hold odors and the metal looks cool. 
• 5th grader Bella likes how grown up it looks, and the pretty bag. 
• 3rd grader Pickle is hard on his lunch gear but I know from our Rover & Launch that the Shuttle can take it :) 
• 1st grader Sprout is a chatterbox and rarely finishes her lunch at school - she  likes that the Shuttle fits on her lap while open so she can snack on the drive home. 
• Preschooler Birdie likes that it's shiny! 
• I like how easy to clean it is, and I love our PlanetBoxes for their quality and how they make it easy to make less waste and waste less money! 

Overall, we love it! And so do some of my lunch blogging friends:

Organized Bites takes the Shuttle to the circus.

Does Becoming a Bentoholic love it, or love it not?

The Roxx Box contrasts & compares PlanetBoxes.

Lunchbox Dad gives an in-depth review.

Bento School Lunches is packed with cuteness :)

Diana Rambles about her new Shuttle.

What's For Lunch At Our House? A PlanetBox Shuttle bento!

Biting The Hand That Feeds You take the Shuttle to the park.

●  ●  ●  ● 

Items used to make the gumball lunch:

 Lunchbox Love note - Lunch Punch sandwich cutter - OXO melon baller

Disclosure: I received a complimentary PlanetBox Shuttle to review. No other compensation was given for this post. All descriptions, photographs & opinions are my own & my family's. This post does contain affiliate links.

Fair Winds & Following Seas...

My Sailor Boy is shipping out again, so this will be his last homemade lunch for a few weeks :( It's only for a few weeks - but he'll miss Father's Day! I stuck in a Dad pick & a Lunchbox Love note, it can be his advance Dad's Day dinner :)

His EasyLunchbox is packed with leftover garlic butter rice & broiled pork chop, with some bite sized sharp cheddar hearts, baby carrots, & kiwi. The sides are in silicone cups so he can take them out to microwave the entrée.

●  ●  ●  ● 

Stuff I used in this lunch: