Bent On Better Lunches' Top 14 of 2014

Wow, another year is behind us, already! It feels like 2014 went by very fast. I sure didn't get very far down my To-Do List, in life or on the blog! Ah well, there's always next year... or rather, this year :) And while I didn't make as many creative lunches this past year as I have in previous years, I did make enough fun ones for a Top 14 of 2014 post. So, according to blog statistics, these were the year's favourites. Is your favourite among them? 

14・ Pirate Treasure Map

This Talk Like A Pirate Day bento was one of my own favourites,  so I'm glad to see it made the Top 14 :)  I did another version of it for a friend's daughter, by request, see it here: Special Delivery Lunches.

13・It's Shark Week!

I had a feeling Shark Week would make the cut ;)

12・Bookish Bento for Dahl Day

These sweet little "bookwiches" went into Bella's Roald Dahl Day bento. Her literary lunch even caught her principal's eye in the lunchroom. If these were real books, they'd have been bestsellers! 

11・Blooming Bento

This Back-To-School post couldn't help but make the hit parade; it was part of the Bento Bloggers & Friends Bento Basics Blog Hop, & it's full of tips for building your bento toolbox from what's already in your kitchen :)

10・Message in a Bento

11 Lunch Note Ideas shares fun ways to leave a message in their lunchbox, including right in the lunch! One of the bentos in this post was featured in the November Laptop Lunches Newsletter :)

9・Poolside Lunch

This summertime post still makes me smile :) Love that pool monster! 

8・Halfway to Homecoming Military Kid Lunch

A "Daddy loves you" themed bento in celebration of passing the deployment halfway mark, featuring a cucumber chain inspired by homecoming countdown chains & the book When Dad's At Sea.

7・DIY Pizzable Lunch

A homemade pizzable lunch is way better than a pizza lunchable!

6・Pinkalicious Story Book Lunch

My girls and I had a pinkerrific good time making their Pinkalicious Story Book Lunches for National Book Month. We even made pinktastic cupcakes decorated like the ones in the book :)

5・Baby, It's Cold Outside

This winter post featuring a CuteZcute kitty cat sandwich for Birdie & Lunch Punch dog for Pickle also has cold weather tips for pets.

4・Autism Puzzle Lunches

This Autism Awareness Month post contains awesome puzzle piece themed lunches & a tip for packing easy to open Go-Gurt tubes. 

3・Heart-y Happy Lunches

These lunches were made cuter by colouring hearts and smiley faces on the pistachio nut shells and cheese wrapper with food-safe markers :)

2・Simple Seuss Sandwich

I was surprised to find Pickle's super simple Cat in the Hat peanut butter sandwich bento in the number 2 spot! It is pretty cute... It just goes to show, it doesn't have to take a lot of work or time to make lunch fun :)

And finally,  the top post of 2014 is...

1・Frozen lunch! Do you want to eat a snowman?

Who else is not at all surprised? :) Anything Frozen for the win!

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Thank you for following Bent On Better Lunches! I've loved reading your comments & answering your questions. Here's to more fun lunches in 2015!

Happy New Year!

Blurry Flurry PlanetBox

If Bella's snowflake bento looks a little dark & blurry, it's because I took the photo out on our front porch before sunrise this morning, by the glow of the Christmas lights :) You can see them reflected here & there in the shiny stainless steel of the PlanetBox:

Mia Bella's blurry flurry of snowflakes PlanetBox Rover contains:

• turkey & asiago cheese roll-ups
• cucumber snowflakes
• white cheddar popcorn
• a frosted gingerbread snowflake
• flaky Ritz crackers
• a foil-wrapped Dove Promises Snowflake chocolate treat
• & a Lunchbox Love note to remind her that she's awesome :)

The cucumbers were cut with a mini snowflake cookie cutter, the roll-ups are secured with a Happy Holidays cupcake pick and red & white snowflake picks made of trimmed drink stirrers, and the gingerbread was a gift from a neighbour (that I frosted with cookie icing to show the detail).

This post is part of the Bento Bloggers & Friends holiday blog hop! 
Click the button to hop over & see What's In Our Lunch Bags? I know, some of you just came from there...  but surprise, there's moooore!

Christmas Everyday Bento Giveaway!

Just in time for Christmas! I'm thrilled to be giving away 2 copies of one of my favourite cookbooks ever, Everyday Bento by Wendy Thorpe Copley. This beautiful book, written by the author of one of my favourite blogs, Wendolonia, would make a wonderful gift for anyone who packs a lunch for their family or even themselves :)

I just LOVE this book! Aside from being gorgeous to look at, everything in it is completely do-able for just about anyone. The lunches are kid-friendly, made with ingredients even my picky sproutlets will eat :) The recipes are more than text directions & a photo of a finished bento; Wendy shows us step by step how to create every detail, with clear, colourful photos. She also explains the basics of bento packing, the techniques, the tools, the gear, & gives ideas for what to put on your grocery list. There's even a list of foods sorted by colour! Everyday Bento is THE book I recommend to anyone interested in packing fun lunches. Whether you're an absolute beginner or a seasoned bento packer, you'll find inspiration in Everyday Bento!

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I was inspired by the festive Christmas Gift Bento Box! My version is slightly modified for my sproutlet's preferences & the bento accessories I have - I realized that I do not own a Santa pick! What?! I must get one :)

I used a Merry Christmas pick instead of a Santa. I did have leftover ham! I cubed it with FunBites cutter. I subbed raspberries & honeydew melon for the pomegranate & kiwi.  Instead of crackers, I cut up a tortilla to stack with the cheese, but kept the red pepper ribbon, which I affixed to the top slice with a bit of cheese spread.

I also added some cucumber slices cut with a holly leaf cookie stamp, & cut some red pepper circles for a holly berry & stacked them together using more cheese spread. I filled the bottom tier of the Fit & Fresh Lunch Pak Carrier with popcorn, a cloth napkin, spork, & a Lunchbox Love for Christmas note. Bella loved it!

This festive bento was so easy to make, & quick! I find what takes up the most time when packing a bento is figuring out what to put in it, where to put it, & how to achieve the look. Everyday Bento does that for me & shows the steps for putting it all together! Love it ♥

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Here's your chance to win a copy for yourself or to give as a gift!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 2 winners will be drawn & announced the morning of December 17th. Check back here, follow me on Facebook, or check your email to see if you've won - the winners will only have 24 hours to claim their prizes so there's (hopefully) enough time to deliver them by Christmas!

Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post. I was offered a complimentary copy of Everday Bento to review but declined it as I already have a copy :) This post does contain affiliate links to products I used. All opinions & images are my own. 

Fit & Fresh & CuteZcute Koala Bento!

The folks at Fit & Fresh recently offered to send me some of their fantastic chilled lunch containers. I've had one small Fit & Fresh chilled container for a few years now - it's one of Beanstalk's favourites (see it in this post), so I'm familiar with Fit & Fresh's overall quality and their ice packs that snap into the lid, and was thrilled to say "yes, please" to getting more :) They sent me the Lunch Pak Carrier, the Dip N' Dunk Snack Container, and the Bento Lunch Kit, in which I packed this koala bento for Bella:

All the Fit & Fresh chilled containers have their own ice packs that snap into the lids. The bento lunch kit has 2! Very handy if you want to keep one side cold but not the other. The bento kit also comes with 2 lidded containers, or "pods", that fit into the small sections - perfect for packing runny foods, or foods you don't want getting condensation from the ice pack. I put a cloth napkin over the koala sandwich on the open side to keep it dry. 

The cloth napkin is from Beneficial-Bento, who, incidentally, happens to be a big fan of Fit & Fresh, and recently created a Pinterest board for meals packed in Fit & Fresh containers. Maybe she'll pin this post :)

To make the koala sandwich I used 2 very versatile CuteZcute tools, the Cuddle Palz Sandwich Cutter & Cookie Stamp Kit for the koala itself, & the new Fun Vegetable Cutter Set, for it's cheese moustache. (It was still "Movember" when I packed this bento - I'm really behind!) The 6 piece set also includes cute flower, butterfly, house, face, & top hat cutters :)

I tucked some pepperoni stick "bamboo" next to Bella's cute koala cheese sandwich. In the side containers I packed carrots & tomatoes, & grapes embellished with koala picks. Beside the koala sandwich I packed a little container of ranch dip for the veggies, & a box of dried cranberries - which inspired my choice of Lunchbox Love note (from our Thanksgiving volume).

The Fit & Fresh Bento Lunch Kit fits perfectly in it's included insulated chiller bag, which comes in a variety of colourful prints. Bella loves our bag's "Woodstock" print - it's cute but not childish, & her favourite colour!

The next day, Bella chose to have pizza at school, but took some veggies & dip as a side dish. The Dip N' Dunk Snack Container was perfect for that.

Like the other Fit & Fresh Chilled Containers,  the Dip N' Dunk has a snap in ice pack, but with a neat-o feature; it surrounds the dip well!

The lidded dip well holds 2 tablespoons in the centre of a tray in the top of the 1 cup capacity cube.  Plenty of room for enough fresh veggies for Bella's side dish. It would also be great for yogurt dip & fruit, or corn chips & salsa or cheese dip! I can think of lots of snack possibilities for the Dip N' Dunk :)

Hopefully I'll share the Christmas bento I packed in the Lunch Pak Carrier within the next couple of days. The 2 tiered box comes with an ice pack that can be snapped into the lid or under the top tier, as shown below.

All the Fit & Fresh containers are microwave, freezer, & top rack dishwasher safe (I recommend no heat dry or sanitize cycle though). They're easy for the littles to open, & \seem to be as durable as the one we've had for years that has been banged around plenty :)

Fit & Fresh containers are Sproutlet approved!

Popcorn Makes It Fun :)

As much as I love this time of year, whoa, is it busy! I'm still making the sproutlets lunches, just feeling too swamped & scattered to put much thought into them :) But the littles haven't seemed to mind.  Here's Sprout's lunch from today, packed in her purple Yumbox. I thought it was rather plain (and a little grain heavy), but when Sprout saw it, she shouted "Yay! Popcorn!"  I guess popcorn makes it fun!