Bento Ahoy!

Autumn is rolling up fast here! The mornings are dark and cool longer, and racoons have begun theiving in my henhouse. Locking it up tight to keep those pests out!

Beaker and Bean are starting to count down the days until Halloween, and I'm eyeballing my favorite spooky bento gear already. September is barely half over, but I'm so ready for October! In the meantime, we're making do with more pirate lunches for Beaker.

I love these little bento dishes from BentoUSA. They're small and compact, great for little tummies or packing into smaller lunch tins.

In this lunch:

Van's gluten-free cheese crackers

Babybel mini cheese wheel

gluten free carrot mini cupcake

carrots

ham

grapes

apple pieces

frozen yogurt

frozen blueberries

gluten free granola

Tiny pirate in his little boat, surrounded by golden crunchy 'coins'.

A pirate raft, with carrot planks and ham rolls.

Tasty pirate parfait. The fruit and yogurt thawed while in his snack tin, so when snack time rolled around it was still frozen just enough to taste like a dessert, but thawed enough to be easy to eat with a spoon. I froze Greek yogurt in a shaped silicone ice cube tray to get the fun skull-and-crossbones shape with a good kick of protein to keep my little guy going through the long day.

The small dishes pack up perfectly inside this cute Jake and the Neverland Pirates lunchbox and matching snack tin!

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Top Five Back to School Essentials

(*Note: This post contains affiliate links.)

I cannot believe it's that time again already! It seems like summer just started, but already it's just about time to pull out the school supply lists and peruse back-to-school ads. Getting five kids ready to return to school is a pretty massive undertaking, and I really have to be organized in order to pull it all off successfully. Having a list ready in advanced, or at least a pretty good idea of what I'm looking for, is crucial!

To help get you started, or maybe just give you some good ideas, here are five things which I find to be essential for making going back to school as smooth as possible!

#1: A great lunch dish.

As a bento-packer, having a great box to pack lunches in is definitely my number one essential school supply! A good bento box can make lunch packing both easy and fun. Some of my favorite bento boxes are pictured below:

Clockwise from the upper left: Laptop Lunches, Lunchbots Trio, Easy Lunchboxes, and the Planet Box Rover

#2: A few fun tools.

A good sharp knife is the best bento tool, but there are a few other common kitchen items that can make lunch packing vastly more pleasant! Colorful silicone baking cups, a few sturdy shaped cutters, and a variety of fun cupcake picks are great ways to brighten up any lunch.

Clockwise from upper left: Wilton's Silicone Baking Squares, Crayon cupcake picks, leaf cupcake picks, CuteZCute Cuddle Palz sandwich cutter and stamper.

#3: A sturdy backpack.

The higher kids climb in grades, the heavier their backpacks seem to get. I remember lugging around a bag that seemed to be filled with bricks when I was in school, and they haven't gotten much lighter since! A strong backpack with sturdy straps is worth the extra cost over those made with flimsier materials. I am still hunting for a great backpack brand that can stand up to the beating my kids put them through.

#4: A good water bottle.

Yes, for us this is a school must! Water fountains and breaks to visit them can seem few and far between, so to keep hydrated we take reusable bottles filled with cool water with us everywhere. They are easy to wash with hot water and a good bottle brush, and by using reusable bottles instead of buying bottled water we are reducing both our spending and our impact on the environment. My favorites for the kids are the Reduce Water Week bottles.

#5: Your own style.

This one is the most fun! Whether you're reinventing yourself with a whole new style, or just adding a few new pieces to spruce up an outgrown wardrobe, back to school clothing and accessories shopping can be a blast! It can also get crazy expensive. Try going in with a list of specific items to avoid impulsive over-shopping, and watch for sales! A lot of retailers offer good clothing deals right before the new school year starts. Our favorite accessories this year are brightly colored shoes, backpacks with patches, and super fun Jamberry Nail Shields!

The special letter for the Bento Bloggers & Friends Back to School Basics Hop & Giveaway code is...

Keep going through the whole hop for a chance to win! Collect all of the letters for the code, unscramble the secret message, and follow the instructions to enter to win an amazing prize. Click the pic below to continue through to the next post in the hop:

Thanks for playing with us, and good luck!

My First Giveaway!

CuteZCute from AllThingsForSale is my favorite sandwich cutter. So adorable! Easy to use, and reasonably priced, too. Often they are one of the first bento tools I reach for when making lunches, for Beaker and Princess especially. I have also used the cutter for cookies and they made excellent toppers for individual pies.

The CuteZCute Sandwich Cutter and Pastry Stamp Kit is a fantastic all-in-one tool. It can be used to cut sandwiches, deli meat and cheese, cookies, pie crust, and so much more! It can also be used as a rice mold, or to cut thin sliced veggies and fruit into cute shapes. The set comes with six pieces ~ the outside shape cutter, 4 sweet animal faces (bear, pig, cat, and frog) with a cutter on one side and a stamper on the other, and a special tool for popping bits out of the cutter.

I frequently use our set for making sandwiches, like this cute piggy made with multiseed gluten-free bread. I have also used it for ice cream-cookie sandwiches, and it was so easy to use! 

Another fantastic and fun bento tool is this cheeseburger bento box, also from ATFS. Beaker loves this box. It comes with two layers, and the clipping lid is simple enough for even his little hands to get it open. It is small, but still holds plenty of food for younger kids or smaller appetites.

This is a full lunch packed for Beaker to take to preschool, all tucked into the cheeseburger bento box. He has a gluten, nut, and soy free sandwich, some snap peas, a sliced up cheese stick, cantaloupe balls, Wylde GF pretzel rings by Ener-G, and a little mayo cup full of sunflower seeds and Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips. 

A complete and balanced meal, perfect for Beaker, all tucked into this compact, space saving box!

This one is a froggy organic turkey sandwich on Udi's bread (gluten, soy, and nut free, and Beaker's favorite) with a sliced cheese stick, watermelon and mango pieces, celery with cream cheese, and carrot sticks.

In between the two tiers of the box is a flexible lid, which holds a small fork, just the right size for little hands. Tucking it away in between the layers of the bento box saves space in lunch bags and keeps the fork clean and ready.

Now... do you want a chance to win both of these awesome products?

Of course you do!

The amazing BentoUSA/ATFS has offered to send a full CuteZCute Sandwich Cutter and Pastry Stamp set AND a Cheeseburger 2 Tier Bento Lunch Box to one lucky winner! Enter to win below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(Drawing open only to citizens of the Earth.)

Good luck!

Edit: CONGRATULATIONS!!! to our winner, Heidi B! I hope you love the set as much as I do!

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Random Vacation Lunches

During Winter Break we mostly cooked hot lunches at home, but there were a few days when lunches were packed.

This was a lunch for Princess... Cucumber slices, radish pieces, grape tomatoes, and broccoli florets; peeled clementine, dried kiwi and salted fudge; ranch for dipping (under the grape tomato pseudo-face), mini Club crackers, and half a sun-dried tomato turkey sandwich on multigrain bread with grape tomatoes on top.

Princess loves grape tomatoes. Especially when they look pretty!

Lunch for Bean: cucumber slices, radish pieces, broccoli, peeled clementine, dried kiwi, salted fudge, ranch, mini Club crackers, and half of a turkey sandwich with snowflake picks to hold it together.

Our picky eater - a lunch for G-man: Ham and cheese sandwich with half a banana, a peeled clementine and dried kiwi with salted fudge, mini Club crackers and Craisins.

Random lunch for the Dude to take to work: The small container holds salsa for the black bean and chicken quesadillas (great use of leftovers from chicken tacos!), with shredded cabbage and olives to scoop on top. He also has some Wheat Thins and a piece of salted fudge.

Another random lunch for... the Dude. No reason a grown up can't enjoy a smiling sandwich! The sandwiches are made with leftover pancakes, fried duck eggs, spicy pepperjack cheese, and breakfast sausage. I also tucked in a peeled clementine in that section of the Sistema Cube.

In the other half of the box, he has cucumber slices, marinated mushrooms, Wheat Thins, and Triple Decker Oreos.

Is it me, or is Pancake Man a little... sinister-looking?

Another lunch for the Dude, packed into a Sistema Cube. This one has a peeled clementine, tiny piece of salted fudge, grape tomatoes, and mini Club crackers in one section, with Caesar dressing, cucumber slices, radishes, and broccoli in the other.

The whole lunch included a roast beef and provolone sandwich, tucked neatly into the biggest section of the box.

A rare lunch for me! Sun-dried tomato turkey on multigrain bread with a peeled clementine, salted fudge, mini Club crackers, ranch dressing, cucumber slices, and broccoli. More like a lunch plus two snacks. Delicious! I like the Sistema Cube, but it holds a LOT of food. Too much even for an adult, a lot of the time. 

This was a lunch for Brick. Peeled clementine, salted fudge, and dried kiwi in the smallest section of the Easy Lunchbox. Sliced cucumber, cut radish, and broccoli in the second, and a roast beef on sourdough sandwich with ranch for the veggies and mini Club crackers in the biggest section.

Lunch for the little Beaker is half a turkey sandwich on multigrain bread, with two dinosaur picks guarding from above. He also has mini Club crackers and ranch for dipping his broccoli, radishes, and cucumbers. In the small section, he has dried kiwi, salted fudge, and a peeled clementine.

Bean's favorite picks right now are the blue snowflakes. I bought them from BentoUSA for a great low price. Perfect for the recent frosty weather!