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Do you suffer from brown bag boredom? Are your kids tired of the same lunches day after day? If you’re looking for a fresh approach to packing your kids’ school lunches, you’re going to love our latest giveaway for a Laptop Lunch. “What’s a Laptop Lunch?” you ask. Basically, it’s an American-style bento box designed to help families pack healthy, environmentally-friendly lunches for school, work, or travel.
Earlier this week, Janice packed a Laptop Lunch for daughters Leah and Carolyn. Admittedly, Leah (who’s nine) was more excited than her big sis. No surprise there … after all, cute little containers in a high school cafeteria don’t always cut it. The colorful plastic compartments (all BPA free) are perfect for packing a variety of nutritious lunch items. The girls each got a bunch of nibbles including grapes, Sugar & Spice Pecans, banana bread, and a pasta salad made with whole wheat blend rotini pasta, crumbled feta cheese, diced red bell pepper, and Ken’s Light Caesar (you can add diced leftover chicken too). This particular pasta salad has been Carolyn’s favorite lunch for years, but it was the first time Leah agreed to try it. Though she had always said, “no” when offered, the cute bento box presentation made it downright impossible resist. Now, she says she wants it every day! In other words, if you have a child with a ‘discerning’ palate (AKA a picky eater), the bento box may actually encourage him/her to try new foods.
For our giveaway, one lucky winner will get their choice of a Laptop Lunch System or a Bento Set with Insulated Bento Sleeve – each is about a $40.00 value! To enter, all you have to do is post a comment below about your favorite go-to lunches or snacks that you pack in your kids’ lunch boxes or in yours. We will select our winner using Random.org. The giveaway ends at noon on Wednesday, March 25. We will enter you twice (doubling your odds) if you tweet about the giveaway to your Twitter followers or if you post a review of our Cooking with the Moms podcast to iTunes (send us an email at moms@mealmakeovermoms.com if you do either). Good luck …
158 Responses to “Bento Box Giveaway”
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My 6 yr old son loves his food in fun shapes. I also try to include hidden notes(anything from a quick hi to fun facts that relate to what they are learning in class) or pictures.
To help break the pb&j week, I’ll take soup and put it in a thermos. Especially on those cold days it helps to warm up the tummy.
I have two daughter in school and twins at home who want to BE like big sisters so we make EVERYONES lunch (even the little ones) and cut the sandwiches in shapes and add the fruit (already cut up) and always a special treat (like crackers or FF pudding) along with Cheese Sticks… and once a week they get crackers and lunch meat with star cheese (cut with a cookie cutter) it is like the packaged lunched everyone has but healthier and no candy…
A thermos of hot chocolate made with skim milk is always a great lunchtime surprise on a cold winter day (especially in Chicago!).
My kids love leftover pasta in their lunches and love love love any fresh fruit. Being able to pack it in a Bento Box, would be fabulous (reducing the # of plastic baggies)! Thanks for all that you do!
Cheese sticks are a huge hit here, all flavors!
How timely! I just caught the “bento bug” when I read a great piece about them in Eating Well magazine. I always make my own trail mix with any combo of pretzels, raisins, dried fruit, cereal, animal crackers and sometimes even chocolate!
I swear, I was thinking of bento boxes this morning when I was packing my son’s lunch! What a great giveaway!! I would love to fill those little boxes up with goodies!!
I like to pack simple things like turkey sandwiches or peanut butter jelly (sometimes made like uncrustables), fruit and a yummy snack, perferabe something homemade and a juice box made of 100% juice. I also like to surprise my kids with a little treat, like a homemade cookie or brownie. They have been very happy and satisfied with that.
Simple cheese and refried bean tortilla roll-ups (with a side of dipping salsa) is a hit with my 6 year old son!
Packing for teen girls is tricky but not impossible. Today was fresh pineapple, a quartered bagel (yes, more than one serving but cut in quarters counts as snack and after track), 100% small juice box, and a waxed-paper baggie of cereal & peanuts.
My one in school, full time, wants cream cheese, shredded carrots and shredded cheese. Sometimes, I can sneak in the broccoli slaw mix instead of carrots. She’ll always take yogurt, almonds, and some kind of chip, pretzel, etc. I try to make them as healthy as possible. When her little brother goes to Mom’s Day out, he always wants a hotdog (Hebrew National is all he will eat), nuts and something “crunchy.” He adores bananas and apples too. He’s got this great hamburger “bento” I got on Ebay. One layer for one thing (the burger), one layer for the next (including cute silverware) a super cute lettuce layer, then the bun for the bottom compartment and top. Super stinking cute.
I have seen these before and am in LOVE…almost as much as I am with the Meal Makeover Moms! Can’t freaking wait for the new book!
My 6 year old wants Turkey Sandwiches everyday. And somedays we do soup or spaghettios in a thermos ( I know,not a mom makeover meal). I would like him to have more variety for lunch so the Bento Box would be great!!!
Natural peanut butter with raw honey on whole wheat, plus string cheese, sunflower chips, and a fruitabu apple fruit leather is what our four year old had today in his lunch box. The older son had natural peanut butter with low sugar strawberry ham on whole wheat, with a string cheese, pork rinds and a fruitabu apple fruit leather. Oh, and the four year old had apple “Aquajuice” and the older one had water to drink. That was today, but pretty usual for what my guys like!
…oops…strawberry jam not ham! lol!
My daughter loves leftover dinner. She’ll eat almost anything in her lunch. A fruit or vegetable is a must in every lunch as well. Would love the bento box!
Tomato pops. Amazing how a sweet grape tomato by itself has little interest but on a toothpick is fun to eat!!
When I’m in rush,I put earth balance margarine on ezekiel bread and sprinkle liberally with nutrional yeast (we call it “special cheese” in our house). Luckily, my kids love it.
My daughter takes Yogo Rollers for snack at her school. She never gets to have the whole thing because all of the kids are always wanting her to share with them.
bento boxes are awesome and my girlfirend really wants one for her birthday. its in an hour and a half and i don’t have a present yet. uhoh
I like to pack half an avocado with a spoon – my 4 year old likes to dig out the yummy avocado herself.
My 3 year-old loves anything rolled-up and cut into little “wheels” (cream cheese and jelly on a whole wheat tortilla, deli sliced turkey with lettuce and cream cheese, flatbread with hummus, tomatoes and cucumbers. My 5 year year old on the other hand….
My kids love notes in their lunches.
I have been packing lunches for years, but this Laptop Lunch System looks amazing! For lunch, I usually do school work at my desk and eat at the same time, but this system would make that experience much more pleasant.
Oh let’s see…some days it’s a whole wheat pita with spinach artichoke hummus and low-fat cheddar cheese- toasted so the cheese is nice and melted which pairs perfectly with a low-fat tomato basil soup recipe I make with pureed white beans.
Other times, I take a nice Greek salad with lowfat feta, sliced red bell peppers, red onions, robust tomato chunks, kalamata olives and grilled chicken dressed witha homemade vinaigrette.
This week I am finishing off a navy bean, pork and kale soup with a simple piece of fruit…..
Bento Box would be the PERFECT solution to replace my gorcery bag lunch sack!
Air-popped popcorn is a special treat both of my boys love to find in their lunch boxes! My husband showed them the air popper one Saturday as a “look how we used to make popcorn.” They loved it and asked that we only make air popped popcorn from now on – how can I argue with that?!
Another fun treat is to include pretzel logs, sliced ham and sliced cheese in the lunch. The kids can wrap the cheese and ham around the pretzel and crunch away. It’s a nice alternative to a sandwich. Older kids (and Moms) might wish to add a dab or mustard.
My 5 year old daughter is hard to please when it comes to what to put in her lunch. I have seen the laptop lunchbox before and thought it was a great idea and might just help me encourage my daughter to eat her lunch.
My oldest is messy but his favorite “sandwich” at school is a meatball sub.
My youngest loves anything as this is his first yr being able to pack a lunch both love all fruit especially if its something out of the ordinary.of course cookies are always a hit!
One of my 5 year old daughter’s favorite lunch time treats is a yogurt parfait. I use a tupperware parfait container and layer light low-fat vanilla yogurt with frozen raspberries, blueberries and granola. It’s all in the presentation. I know it makes her feel really special to pull out that parfait container at the table and have her friends ooooh and aaaaaah about what is basically the same yogurt and berries she eats several times a week.
this would be perfect for my son! he loves to take fruit, string cheese, jell-o, veggies as well as a sandwich. the little compartments make it so keeping stuff seperate is a breeze!
My 6 year old is so picky, I try using different cookie cutters on sandwiches, to get him to try something new for lunch.
Oooh, I’ve been dying for a bento box for my oldest daughter.
My girls love “lunch on a straw”–I simply cut bread, cheese, & meat cubes, then put them on a straw along with some grapes. They’re “Kid Kebabs”:)
They also like small pieces of things, so I try to give them a variety of little things to taste.
They also like “fishing”–small pretzels rods, peanut butter, and goldfish crackers. Simply dip the pretzel in pbutter and go ‘fishing’ for a cracker.
My son loves his PB&J for lunch, and coming up with creative ways to make that. I always try to make into some shape. And I love hearing from the kids in his class later on about how they also loved his shaped lunch items. Notes in the bag are a plus also, just I love you is all they need to know you are thinking about them.
I love finding healthy options for lunch, it seems so hard to pack in their bag without the risk of eveything becoming mush by lunchtime.
My son’s favorite lunch box meal is a soybean butter and pumpkin butter sandwich on soft wheat bread (cut into four triangles), apple slices with vanilla yogurt (as a dip), ginger cookies and a sigg bottle full of ice cold water. Simple but delicious!
My kindergarten aged son loves to have chili in his lunch. I’ll put a little bag with cheese to sprinkle on top and some crackers for dipping. He also likes when I send his favorite leftovers from dinner. We even have had recipe requests from one of the teachers aides who helps them with their lunches.
I love the bento box idea…for me, as well as my 3 kids. I love trying all of your lunchtime ideas. Your “kabobs” with fruit and lunch meat cut into cubes was a HUGE hit. Kids in the lunchroom were asking about them, and wondering if they could trade!
I always put in a fruit and vegtable in my kids lunch. Coming up with new ideas does get difficult, especially since the school doesn’t have a microwave that the kids can use to heat up pasta, etc. Tortilla wraps are a big hit in our house. Their “special” snack varies, but can be anything from all fruit “gummies”, dried fruit, a cookie, or a small piece of dove dark chocolate. I would LOVE to start making their lunches in bento boxes. I will have to buy a bunch, as I know once my husband sees them, he will want one too!
My three year old daughter loves to help choose items for her lunchbox. Together, we make her sandwiches, choose which fruits to include and then a tasty homemade and nearly guiltless dessert.
One thing I have found that my girls like for a ’snack’ in their lunch is something they call dominoes. It is natural peanut butter spread on whole wheat graham crackers with either a couple of raisens or chocolate chips strategically placed in the pattern of a domino.
Thanks for all the great lunch ideas!
Seeing as my daughter loves PB and Banana – we made the switch to all natural peanut butter – we find Trader Joes the most yummy. NOw I know I am not filling her with ‘bad’ transfats.
My 13 year old daughter loves for me to make her favorite wrap for lunch. I spread roasted red pepper hommus on a wrap and then add turkey, cheese and mixed salad greens. I roll it all up and it makes a tidy sandwhich for her school lunch. I also always pack some fruit to go along with it.
My kiddos aren’t big on sandwiches so I have to be creative when packing lunches. They’d actually just prefer to have cut up fruit, like applies with some grapes, a cheese stick and whole wheat crackers. My oldest daughter loves to have leftovers, like spaghetti, in her thermos as well. I love the idea of Bento Boxes and will be sure to share on Twitter about this giveaway!
My oldest daughter loves “pinwheels,” or peanut butter, shredded apples, and a drizzle of honey on a tortilla or flatbread. We roll it up and cut it into slices for her lunch. She loves it!
My kids will eat anything if it has some spray butter on it – broccoli and asparagus are 2 of their favorites. I also pack some baby carrots and a small container of ranch dressing. Dipping is always fun!
My daughter loves hummus and red or green peppers. She dips the peppers into the hummus. Sometimes she enjoys putting the peppers on top of a cracker.
My kids love a small contained of unsweetened applesauce (why do stores bother selling the ones that contain sugar, it seems so unnecessary…), cheerios in a bag with a few chocolate chips, or our new favorite snack of 100-calorie packets of Emerald cocoa roast almonds.
My kids love string cheese and apples or bananas in their lunches.
My two daughters love peppers, any color, so I like to use cookie cutters and cut them into fun shapes. They are a hit at school!
Since I am, apparently, the ONLY mom in preschool who doesn’t let her kids eat lunchables, I am continually trying to invent my own version of lunchables. While I don’t have the fancy-shmancy bento box, I have a tri-compartment tupperware toddler plate, and divide up their food in the compartments to give it a creative look. I often do cheese, turkey pepperoni and crackers, or soy pigs-n-blanket, corn, and noodles, etc to keep things interesting.
Livejournal has a wonderful site on bento box suggestions, with gorgeous photos, that I frequent often to get ideas.
My sons favorite is homemade chicken paprikas sent in a thermos. I make a big batch, then divide it in serving sizes and freeze. In the morning just warm it up. Ahh…Yummy comfort food.
My daughter is still quite young, but I am reading up and becoming familiar with the bento / laptop lunch style. The less processed stuff the better. I may have to do some practicing on my husband when he takes a lunch or make them for myself (to make sure I eat lunch!). A favorite lunch staple is grapes – they are so refreshing and hit the spot!
Both my 13-year-old and 15-year-old prefer dinner leftovers packed for the lunches the next day. We lived in Japan for several years, so they love the presentation of colorful food in bento boxes. One of their favorite salads is blanched spinach seasoned with sweetened soy sauce and sesame seeds and chopped scallions. They love brown rice with salmon, topped with dried seaweed.
My children love a variety of things, such as carrots sticks, celery, grapes, tuna and crackers. Sometimes the simple things make it seem more like a snack than a lunch which is always more fun.
I love the idea of these bento boxes! My twin girls are in middle school and got tired of sandwiches years ago. Currently I am packing a large variety of items in their lunch boxes and using at least four plastic bags for each of them every day. With the bento box I can put in a nice sized salad, some rolled up turkey with shredded low-fat cheddar, cut up pineapple/fruit salad and some Mom’s Best Natural cereal for that needed crunch. Wouldn’t it all look appealing in a bento box! Great giveaway Moms!!
We think celery is a pretty fun snack. To make it more exciting, we pair it with Laughing Cow cheese–it spreads easily and tastes great!
My older girls will eat turkey or ham rolled into logs, celery and peanutbutter (better known as ant on a log w/ raisins), Armenian string cheese, baby carrots and red pepper slices and any leftover pasta. Now if only the 5 year old would eat something other than pb&j!
I like to make my daughter little pocket sandwiches. I use a pampered chef press and go. My daughter loves them.
My twins love cubed avocado, cubed white goat milk cheese, a medley of beans (black, garbanzo, navy, etc) with corn and/or peas, some whole wheat crackers, cherry tomatoes, and then grapes and cubed kiwi. I have been eying the Laptop lunch boxes for awhile, but everything x2 gets a bit expensive.
I am scared and excited about making lunches for my son who will be starting school this year. I think this Bento Box/ Laptop Lunch will help me prepare for lunches and make me look like a cool, smart mom. I don’t want my son eating the same thing everyday or eating lunchables for that matter. He loves fruit and having variety so this will help me tremendously.
My kids love hard boiled eggs in their lunch! I peel them while they’re hot adn they are luke warm by the time they eat them.
My 5 year old loves peanut butter dip in her lunch. Combine 1/2 cup of peanut butter with a 6 or 8 ounce vanilla yogurt and blend well. I send a scoop of dip along with baby carrots, grapes, and grahams for dipping in. It’s so yummy our adult friends love it too! Sometimes we substitute almond butter (or soy) for the peanuts and sometimes I add a dash of cinnamon.
Beth
Our kids still enjoy having pretty much the same thing each day. Sandwich, grapes, fruit cup, pretzels, water, and a treat (like a homemade cookie). For environmental reasons we are trying to get away from using a plastic baggie for the sandwich – wonder if this Bento Box would do the trick? My 6.5 yr-old daughter’s favorite sandwich is low-fat cream cheese with raisins on kids’ white/whole wheat bread. My 4.5 yr-old son is a pb&j guy.
My kids love to have their daily pbj cut into shapes, I like to use cookie cutters for the job! Makes it a different “puzzle” everyday.
My daughter will be leaving her day-care where she has been for 4.5 yrs, they have provided her snacks and lunches. In a couple of months she will be entering preschool and we will have to start providing her lunches. It has been tough to get her to try new things for us. She will eat almost anything that her day-care put in front of her, mostly because the other kids were eating it I think. When we try to give her the same things at home, she tells us its not the same food that she gets at day-care. We tell her we get it from the same place day-care does but, she does not believe us! (She has an incredible strong will!)
Its is very hard to get her to eat vegetables and fruits. She gets stuck in a rut with one thing. She will eat it for a very long time and I think only when she finally gets tired of it will she switch to something else. As for what we give her for lunches, she loves yogurt, but not with any fruit or granola. The other thing she really likes and would eat a whole can of if we let her, is Black Olives! Both of which are easy enough to give her regularly. Other foods are Turkey Bologna sandwiches, Turkey or Chicken Hot Dogs, Tacos with ground turkey and cheese and lettuce only, Fish Sticks, and Dino Chicken Nuggets. We do not eat a lot of red meat in our house and as a result she says she doesn’t like it when we do have it, but she won’t try it. Sliced apples, pineapple and String Cheese is also a favorite. The vegetable right now is only green beans. One good thing is that she is still not into sweets. She loves the Skinny Cow Ice cream sandwiches I get, but only in vanilla flavor.
My hope is that starting at a new school and with kids all her own age, she will see the variety of foods they are eating and start to be more adventurous. I like the attractiveness of the lunch box, and that the individual containers all fit in one big box, so its easy to pack. This may help her with the next phase of being with all the big kids and start to eat more variety of foods.
Sincerely,
Ann Irish
When my daughter started school, she noticed many of her classmates had sweets and chips in their lunch bags and she asked if she could have some as well. Since we avoid proccessed foods, I wasn’t comfortable stocking her lunches with Cheetos, and ended up slipping in a square of dark chocolate, and a note with an age-appropriate joke or riddle wrapped around it. Now she looks forward to this everday, and her classmates love to hear her latest joke.
My kids are stuck in a PB&J rut, and I think the bento boxes would give them just the right amount of ‘new and different’ to break out of it. There are lots of great ideas in the comments here, but a lot of them wouldn’t work in the little plastic baggies I’ve always used.
I have a tupperware container for dip – I put in hummus & veggies & pita squares. Then also love chopped veggies (carrots, peppers, cucumbers, celery) mixed in a wrap with hummus & maybe turkey. Good for a dairy free diet.
On rare occasions I will make mini devils food cake cupcakes replacing some of the water with defrosted, chopped, and strained spinach that I’ve run through the food processor. Unfortunately that is the only way to get them to eat spinach. Way too much sugar and who knows what else but a rare treat with spinach.
Salmon salad, crackers, fruit.
KIDS LOVE THE BENTO BOX IDEA!!! I opted to try my hand at the bento box idea by get several square and rectangle shaped boxes for my dd’s lunchbag which is sqaure. She loved them. She really likes the containers that have the flip-lock lids because they are easier for her to open and they don’t leak. Celery sticks, dips, grapes, sandwiches cut in half, hummus, anything fits well into these boxes. The only draw back to making up my own is that I can only get one or two of the store-bought boxes into her lunchbag. It would be nice to have a complete set that fits precisely into the bag it’s made for. I have a preschooler that will be starting all-day kindergarten in July and it would be wonderful to start this for him, as well!
My son takes his box to pre-school. Usually his lunch includes a pasta shaped like wheels and apple slices with a peanut butter dip.
We love to take bean salad with tortilla chips and salsa. Just put in a few cubes of cheese and some cut up melon and YUM!!!!
I always make sure to leave leftovers from dinner the night before for my 18 month old to eat for lunch. That saves me time to prepare her food, excess calories that I don’t need to eat, and helps her to enjoy a variety of healthy home cooked foods. It’s a win-win!
I pack one apple cut in small pieces and a 6 oz. cup of yogurt and sometimes a hard boiled egg.
I pack one apple cut in small pieces and a 6 oz.cup of yogurt and sometimes a hard bold egg.
I have completed the questions you asked.
Sometimes for my daughter’s lunch we pack her a small container of homemade lemon hummus and slice up some carrots, cucumber and red pepper spears for her to dip into it. Our other option with hummus is making her a sandwich on whole wheat bread with hummus and thinly sliced cucumbers. She loves it!
I have been packing my husband’s lunches for over three years now (I view this as prep for packing my daughter lunches someday) and I have found a great response to homemade bean and cheese burritos, plus packing little packages of homemade salsa and a few trans-fat free chips.
[...] a recipe for the salsa I mentioned when commenting on the lunches I frequently pack for Travis at mealmakeovermoms.com blog. Fresh [...]
My son loves hummus sprinkled with pine nuts and pita bread for dipping
Pesto pasta salad with chicken and black olives. It’s always a winner.
I do all the “normal” lunch box meals (turkey/cheese roll-ups, PB&J, yogurt, apples, mandarin oranges, etc.), but if I’m REALLY pressed for time I’ve found the Quaker Oatmeal to Go bars to be fairly healthy and yummy.
My son has autism, so packing a lunch is very challenging. He will only eat a small range of foods. One trick that has worked well for us is to use cookie cutters or sandwich cutters to make his sandwiches into shapes. I buy enriched whole grain bread with omega 3 since he won’t eat many foods, but he will eat peanut butter sandwiches if they are cut into fun shapes. We vary the shape by the season (e.g. pumpkin sandwiches at Halloween, tree sandwiches for Christmas, etc). Another great lunch treat that he will eat is a clemintine orange. Peeling the orange himself is also a great way to improve his fine motor skills.
Seems when I cut my childrens sandwiches in half they always eat more of it! Yougurt is a fav lunch time treat with some grapes on the side!
My kids like their sandwhihes in fun shapes, shredded carrots and cut up fruit to eat with toothpicks. Any toothpick in colorful styles or shapes helps.
I cut up cucumbers and carrots and 1 oz. of 75% f.f. cheddar cheese- makes a nice snack.
I pack an Honest Kids drink box two days a week (I send org. milk the other three), basically it’s water with a little flavor added and no added sugar. My daughter loves it and loves the flavors! I always include in her lunchbox some veggies (red pepper strips, cucumber spears, carrots), a fruit and a crunchy snack. I have a picky eater when it comes to protein so I will roll up sliced turkey and send with a yogurt tube or send a cheese stick with a yogurt tube. Yogurt smoothies are another one she’ll drink. Fruit Leather (Trader Joe’s has one with added fiber-love it), popcorn, homemade cookie or mini cupcake are good treats now and then. I always try to include a note because my daughter says it makes her feel special.
Love this idea! My kindergartener’s favorite lunch is rolled up turkey breast, cheese slices, TLC crackers & either red grapes or strawberries! This type of lunchbox system would be perfect for her for 1st grade next year! Love your web-site!
I look to recipe inspiration from http://lunchinabox.net. They have great ideas and such inspirational pictures of adorable food designs. For my 12 yr old son, it’s mostly a preheated thermos of rice, meat and a veggie mixed up.
Lately I have been making myself a large nutritious smoothie for breakfast…too much for me to drink! So I have been freezing half of the smoothie into portions (ice cube trays or paper cups that peel away easily). The kids love these for a quick grab and go snack.
At 10 years old my daughter needs sophisticated fare such as kebabs on a skewer with mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, and maybe melon balls or kiwi…….boiled eggs with an egg slicer and crackers are a hit. Her favorite is chili (I use meatless) in a thermos, shredded cheddar, lettuce, sliced olives on the side, and tortilla chips that she makes her own little tacos with.
I’ve been using small Rubbermaid containers instead of plastic snack bags, but the lunchbag fills quickly. I love the idea of the bento box being more efficient on space! The insulated part is particularly exciting to me because I am paranoid about sending anything more perishable than cream cheese to the overheated classrooms.
I would love to send this with my 7 year old since latley I have been finding her uneaten lunch in her lunchbag for 2 days now thanks
Wow, what a concept. I hope I win. My kids love fruit, pasta, cheese, cut up meats, popcorn, nuts, stuff that would fit into those containers without me sending them to school with 400 baggies.
For lunch, I really enjoy my “dippy” lunch…..1/4-1/2 cup of hummus with various items to dip into it: baby carrots, red pepper strips, broccoli florets, triscuits, and cheese slices! I also add a fruit (an orange), and some meat (turkey slices). I love that lunch and can’t wait to dig in each day I fix it for myself!
The best snack ever for my little ones is pumpkin seeds. For lunch, add some to chicken salad with grapes and/or raisins for a really fun and healthy treat!
I love baby carrots. Handy and tasty and healthy
Here are a couple of our favorites: 1) Soup in a thermos. 2) (Frozen) gogurt packet (10 g sugar — lower sugar content than many yogurts packaged in containers), 3) edemame in the pod makes it fun to eat, 4) left over dinner (macaroni & cheese, tuna and noodles, taco meat that can be rolled up into a whole-wheat tortilla at lunch time)
My favorite go-to lunch for me and my 8 year old daughter is hummus or one of my homemade bean dips with carrots, broccoli, bell pepper strips, and mini pitas for dippers. I get creative with bean dips – white, black, pintos, or garbanzos go into the blender with a T of olive oil, herbs, garlic, maybe onions and peppers, depending on what I’m in the mood for. Yum!
My favorite go-to lunch that I pack is a lentil salad. I mix lentils with low fat greek dressing (or just make my own dressing with olive oil and herbs), chopped up tomatoes, onions, carrots, green peppers and a little feta cheese. I take a scoop of my lentil mix and put it on a bed of fresh baby spinach. For a snack, I take some fresh fruit like blueberries and a small cup of nonfat yogurt.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
My kids loved pepperoni flavored beef sticks, string cheese (any flavor), apples and Zingers or Twinkies in their lunch boxes.
My 2 yr old DD loves the small boxes of raisins, cheese sticks, and grapes in her lunchbox.
My daughers, ages 5 & 4, love colorful fruit salad made from strawberries, blueberries, grapes, or whatever fruit we have in the house. They are also fond of baby carrots with a small container of buttermilk ranch dressing for dipping. Homemade mini muffins are a hit for snack time. Presentation and novelty is key with the Kindergarten set!
When I go out for the day with my 2 year old daughter I tend to pack my own healthy version of a “lunchable” to bring along and she loves it! She loves whole wheat crackers, cut up chunks of last night’s chicken or some deli ham or turkey, slices of low-fat cheese, some crunchy raw veggies like carrots or cucumber slices, and some fresh fruit like grapes, berries, kiwi, sliced apples (she even likes the skin!), or clementines. She also gets a small drinkable low-fat yogurt and a small bottle of water. She can eat it all with her fingers, it is fun, and almost never messy so it is easy to eat on the run. I’m very lucky that she is such a good eater especially since I was so picky as a kid. In a few weeks we will start feeding my son solid foods and although I’m back to work much sooner after delivering him than I was with my daughter, I’m still hoping to make all of his babyfood at home. They are so much tastier and cheaper than jarred food.
I have three picky eaters. My oldest loves to take rice and chicken to school. The middle one loves it when I add raw cheddar cheese to his lunch box, grapes , peanut butter and jelly sanwich or homemade pizzas (whole wheat muffins with pizza sauce and mozarella cheese). My youngest is fond of cheese quesadillas, mac and cheese, or ham and cheese sandwich with organic ketchup, grapes, pretzels, strawberries, string cheese, cherry tomatoes, or apples.
My kids love fruit salad in their lunch and for a sandwich I always try to create some variety using different things to hold the filling. Instead of always using bread, I also use tortillas, bagels, crackers, pitas, pancakes, and different varieties of bread. And I ALWAYS include a short litte note of some sort to let them know they are loved! Sometimes a horoscope, fortune, words of encouragement, a joke etc and they look forward to finding that in their lunch!
When I am at my wits end and need an easy, pleaser lunch…
Mix together rice and beans from: microwavable brown rice bag from Uncle Ben’s (takes 90 secs) and a can of Vegetarian Beans and Rice (is flavored just right already)
fresh fruit (i.e. strawberries are in season right now)
vegetable (i.e. blanched sugar snap peas)
My favorite things to pack for the kids’ lunches are cheese and crackers or chips and salsa. They also love a handful or cashews or pistacios. We never forget a fruit cup. THANKS!!
When we are out photographing with our 3 year old and 7 month old, we find it easy to take peanutbutter wraps–we really like the multigrain tortillas– and grapes are always a hit (all for the 3 year old, obviously).
my kids do not like to eat sandwiches at school because they always said the bread got too squishy so I started making “turkey cigars”. To make sure they would get veggies I will cut red peppers or eng. cukes that they can put in the center of the “cigar/roll-up” if they want. I like to add some whole wheat crackers and some cheese slices to complete the meal. Being a teacher I see all the uneaten food that gets thrown out. Being a mom i know the bento box would keep the food still looking good making it that much more appealing to eat…come to think of it, I want one!
I love to put a variety of things in my kids lunches! They are almost 6 and 2.5 years old. I like to cut up meat and cheese and crackers, hard boiled eggs, strawberries, kiwi, anything in little bite sized pieces is a hit! A great way to clean out the fridge too!
outside of pretty boring PBJ sandwiches and carrot sticks, for variety I send shredded cabbage and for a treat-dried fruit-individually wrapped prunes, apricots or papaya. hard boiled eggs show up on days when I run out of bread. my youngest loves left over whole grain corn bread. i’d love to have these boxes!
Ever since my kids were little they’ve loved yogurt, but I always hated the mess, so I pop a straw in the top and they drink it like a smoothie. They cost less than the smoothie varieties too!
I have 3 picky eaters and one son with severe reflux that makes food choices difficult. I was really inspired by everyone’s posting and took notes for my grocery list! For my five year old, I fill her thermos with tortellini mixed with olive oil, parmesan, and diced canadian bacon. I would love to try the bento system for kindergarten next year!
My three year-old loves tofu cubes (plain – yuck to me but yummy to her), leftover whole wheat penne with a little pizza sauce to dip, string cheese, mandarin oranges (I usually drain the juice), yogurt, grapes. She can unzip a ziplok bag, but of course she can’t rezip them — sigh!
My boys both love to have toasted pita bread with cheese (and red peppers!) or sometimes cinnamon on top.
I make my kids ” inside out sandwiches” occasionally. You wrap turkey and cheese slices around a big pretzel stick. And a little Ranch dressing to dip it in. They like little grape “popsicles” (frozen grapes). Cottage cheese with a little jello powder sprinkled in.
Whole wheat mini bagels are a nice change from bread. Also pancakes! We love your hearty cornmeal apple pancakes with chocolate chips and they are perfectly delicious at room temperature. No syrup needed.
hi! im not a meal makeover mom im a meal makeover kid! im 11 and i love this website and the podcast! the bento box looks fun! me and my sister love these bento boxes. we sometimes get the bento box special at our local sushi resturant! fun! =D (thats a happy face)
Hope I get the bento box!
Sadie
anything cut into a special shape is a big hit here- sandwiches, fruit, veggies, wraps- you name it.
I am freaked out already about my daughter eating school lunch in the fall when she starts kindergarten. I have decided to send her cold lunch with her (I’ve seen the school lunch and it’s scary). So I’ll be new to this.
I am trying to get my picky eater 4 year old to try new things. I would love a Bento box. I have been inspired by the nutrition principles, proportion and just how artistic some can be. it inspires me to try to give him better lunches and also for my husband’s too.
My girls love yogurt and whatever fruit is on sale that week such as oranges, apples, or grapes. It is very refreshing with our days going into the 70s now.
My kids are stuck on the PB & J sandwiches, so i make them and cut the bread into a heart. have pudding on the side, or sugar free apple sauce, and a sugar free juice pouch. With the PB scare, we have been avoiding PB, so we have used tuna sandwiches, or sometimes spam musubi, with choice of meat.
My kids enjoy Sabra single serve hummus with pretzel chips (sold in 6 packs at Sam’s Club). They also have been on a Greek yogurt with honey binge recently. Unfortunately, about the time I load up on their current favorites, they decide they are tired of them and want something completely different!
My kids aren’t quite old enough for school, but I pack leftovers for my husband’s lunch. Usually he takes whatever we had the night before, plus a piece of fruit and some carrots. He likes it much better than sandwiches.
My daughter loves any kind of roll-up in a whole grain tortilla: refried beans with cheese and guacamole; turkey, cheese and hummus; cream cheese with various diced veggies. Single serve “just tomatoes” packages are also great for lunches!
My daughter loves her little thermos. One of her favorites is whole wheat rotini noodles with a little poppyseed salad dressing, finely diced onion, celery, dried cherries, cubed turkey and almonds.
Bento boxes are genius, since my 6 year old does not like his food to touch (such a ‘kid thing’) I pack lunches for him that have not a main meal, but rather and essemblage of healthy snacks. A baggie of lean ham, a baggie of crackers, a baggie of sliced apples, water and a baggie of my own mix of almonds, raisins, cereal… a bento box would help eliminate the use (and trash of discarded) baggies. Great, great idea!
My daughter loves deviled eggs in her lunch. I would love to have a bento box for her! I’m going to try your kabob idea tomorrow!
i pack two daily – there favorites are when we change it up. School has a no nut rule so we do pasta, quesadillas, tortilla roll ups or even veggie dumplings at least once a week. soup is a hit when it’s cold. and they love homemade snackables – slices of cheese, ham, and crackers. we do daily veggies with a small container of ranch and cut up fruit. sometimes i send yogurt and granola and they love mixing that up.
My 7yo’s favorite lunch is teriyaki chicken and rice. I make a big batch up and put it in individual servings in the freezer. That way I don’t have to worry about it.
My 3.5yr old will not eat a meat and cheese sandwich on refular sandwich bread. However, I’ve found that if I make a sandwich roll-up with a tortilla, he is happy to eat it. All of my kids love seedless red grapes. Grapes are so easy and healthy to pack.
In our house one of the favs is BLT roll ups. All it is, is a few pieces of bacon, diced lettuce and diced tomatoes on tortilla shells. I just roll them up. My 3 year old will eat a whole one himself most of the time, and 1 of them fills me!
My son loves hummus, especially roasted vegetable. I pack hummus, and a variety of crackers or pita chips. He also loves blueberries and watermelon…he loves when I make him a fruit salad. For a sweet snack, I sometimes pack the 100 calorie Hostess cupcakes.
When I was younger, my mom would use cookie cutters to make sandwiches and other cookie-cuttable foods into fun shapes, like stars and hearts. I also loved when my dad turned eggs green with food coloring and put ham in with it, because green eggs and ham was my favorite book. I liked eating sandwiches on matzo, too. Anything out of the ordinary would get me excited.
I love to snack with my girls in the afternoon or just before dance class, with liveactive cheese and pretzels. It is a nice quick and healthy snack for my girls. I have been buying the 2% version of their cheese. My girls are only 4 and will start preschool next year so I don’t have any fun packed lunch ideas, though I am getting a few now.
My son loves beanie weenies! But he also likes deviled eggs … macaroni and cheese ,,, ad home-made lunchables. My new favorite idea is to make cupcakes and put the frosting in the MIDDLE to keep it all from sticking to the container.
We do a bento everyday, they are a great way to use up leftovers and I love the portion control built right in.
I try to stay away from the over sugared yogurts so instead I send thick greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey and colored sprinkles. Now the other kids at school are asking for that too!
I also pack mini silicone cups with a few beans, chick peas or nuts in it.
One fun tip is using small Japanese picks for skewering fruit or cheese.
My daughter likes to take cottage cheese with fruit coctail on top and yogurt for lunch.
We also like to make ranch dip with lowfat cottage cheese instead of sour cream, just process it in your food processor to make it smooth. It’s really yummy and I don’t have to worry about them (or me) eating to much of it with veggies.
Oh the Bento box is sooo cool. My kids love it when I take leftover refrigerated baked skinless chicken breast and cut it into strips and include a bit of low fat ranch salad dressing for dipping. I also get fruit coctail at Sams Club in the huge cans and dish it out into small rubbermaid containers. The kids can just grab a rubbermaid container out of the refrigerator and pop it into their lunch. Along with the ranch dressing, we eat a lot of jicima (sp) That is a really crunchy vegetable that takes the place of chips. It is white so I’m guessing it doesn’t have a lot of nutritional value, but it has to be better than chips.
Love your podcast!!!!
Nancy
Whole wheat bread with organic cream cheese, sliced apples, chopped walnuts and cinnamon! A grain, a dairy, a fruit, a meat/nut! Covers it all.
My 8 yr old daughter and 3 year old son will eat anything with a decorative toothpick…crudites, little finger sandwiches, fruit, etc…
My son wants a turkey sandwich everyday, while my daughter wants boneless chicken breast…they neither one want any sides and always drink H2O.
My children love almonds, raisins, and multi-grain crackers with cheese. They also love dry cereal ~ different types mixed together such as cheerios, Clifford crunch, crispix, and a few of Daddy’s cracklin oat bran.
We love sandwiches but I love to pack an Ian’s PB2GO with some crackers and fruit, maybe some string cheese. Love the Bento box!!!!
On the days I have leftovers I tend to pack steamed rice and some sort of meat (usually chicken!) and fruit in tupperware, along with a bottle of water. When I don’t have leftovers or just plain don’t feel eating them, I make turkey and cheese rolls with tortillas for a quick lunch.
hands down cheese of any sort for my kids. We often take the dregs of the deli meat and cheses (you know the small pieces that no one takes from the bag lol) and add crackers, the leftover meat and a deli cheese and the kids can make mini cracker sandwiches.
My 9 y.o. daughter loves a bit of chicken salad (low-fat, of course) with whole grain crackers or shredded lettuce for snack time at school.
Sandwiches always taste better to my 5 year old son when they are dinosaur shaped! His favorite kinds are Sunbutter and jam or avocado and Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese. (Yep, we’ve got food allergies.)
As a non food treat, I always put a sticker in his lunchbox.
CHEESE is the all around favorite in our house! I usually send my daughter to daycare with cheese, small crackers and some fruit just in case she isn’t a fan of the hot lunch provided.
Wait…who got the bento boxes? or is the winner not chosen yet?
The Bento Box giveaway will be announced on Wednesday, March 25th. It’s not too late to enter … stay tuned for our winner.
I have a 4 year old that will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. I am on the look out for good easy meals to send to school with her. I am glad I found this site!
pickest eater #1 gets essentially the same thing each day… mini bagel w/ light cream cheese, baby carrots, fruit, & some sort of “snacky” thing, plus water.
picky #2 gets the same as above minus the bagel… his “main item” changes from salad to natural pbj cut out like a dinosaur to annies mac & cheese.. to whatever else i can think that he might eat. he also LOVES yogurt “squeezers” as we call them… i freeze them ahead of time, so they stay cold til lunch, he also loves 2% string cheese sticks.
When in a rush I go with individually packaged cheeses, wheat crackers and a piece of fruit. It’s quick to pack up and not messy to eat. Its great combination when you’re craving both something a little sweet and savory.
My daughter loves to take mac-n-cheese in a thermos. She also loves to take crackers and a wedge of the Laughing Cow brand light herb cheese spread. Yummy for mom, too!
Black bean quesadillas are a favorite lunch treat for my husband and daughter. My favorite packed lunch treat is mixed nuts with dried cranberries, and dark chocolate.
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