Back To School Bento Box
Preparing your child’s school lunch daily can be a daunting task, especially if you have a picky eater on your hands. As a parent, you want to make sure you pack a healthy and nutritious lunch while ensuring they eat what you pack! With my daughter starting preschool last year, I tried to find a way to get her exploring new foods that she would typically turn her nose up at. She isn’t the biggest fan of veggies, and her favorite word to describe them would be “YUCK!” So, I was on the hunt to think of ways to try and make her lunch both fun and nutritious so she wouldn’t even notice she was eating those yucky veggies. I found a huge bento box community online, and the rest was history! Check out why I think Bento Lunches are so great!
“I was on the hunt to think of ways to try and make her lunch both fun and nutritious so she wouldn’t even notice she was eating those yucky veggies” - Elizabeth Vararo
What is a Bento Box?
Firstly, what is a bento lunchbox? It has become wildly popular in the last couple of years, offering a new way to pack a lunch. It consists of a rectangular lunch box with a secure lid that opens to reveal a compartment style interior where different foods can be placed in different sections of the box. The aim is to get as many options into the presentation to offer a variety of nutritious foods to your child. Some of my favorite brands of bento lunch boxes for kids are the Bentgo Kids Box and the YumBox seen below.
Good For the Environment
Bento lunches are not only fun, but they are great for the environment! The bento box sections allow you to include different foods to be placed in one sealed container. This removes the need for plastic wraps or bags to separate foods. They are a great option for a no trash school lunch and can be pretty economical if you buy snacks in bulk. Single-use plastics have become a major concern most recently, and making the change to a bento-style lunch for your kids can significantly reduce the amount of plastic and waste you create!
Encourages Kids to Try a Variety of Foods
Most kids are naturally-born picky eaters, so the presentation is just as important as what you put into their box. Packing your child’s food in a bento box offers them easy access to all of their options at once. When I pack my daughter’s lunch, I always try to include something I know she will eat (a sandwich or wrap) something that she eats most of the time (a fruit) and something that I hope she will try (a veggie). Packing all of these options in one leak-proof container ensures that all of the foods are separate and not touching (which is so important to picky eaters) and allows them to try all of the offerings in one go. Typically, when sending lunches in various containers, your child may not even get to that container of blueberries or the Ziplock bag of carrot sticks. When they see everything in front of them at once, it encourages them to try it all!
Get Creative and Make It Fun!
I find that by making my daughter’s lunches fun, she is more prone to trying the foods she would normally move to the side. I use different picks to create kebabs with cold cut meats and raw veggies and use special cutters to cut fruits and vegetables into cute shapes. She absolutely loves it!! It doesn’t always convince her to try all the “yucky” veggies, but every time her bento box comes home empty, I take it as a Mom Win!!! You can make sandwiches more exciting by cutting them into shapes with cookie cutters you already have at home, or use colorful silicone dividers to hold smaller snack items. I also love to make themed lunches around special holidays and school days. My Halloween and Christmas lunches were super popular last year with not only Zarina but my followers online! Pinterest is your friend and is an excellent source for ideas and inspiration on how you can make your child’s bento lunch more fun by using the tools you already have at home. Getting creative doesn’t have to involve buying a bunch of accessories. It’s all about thinking outside the box!
If you want a bit of inspiration on how you can jazz up your child’s school lunches, follow me on Instagram at @zarinas.lunch.box for all things bento!
Article by: Elizabeth Varao
