Life in the Bento: Week One | 3-4 Sept 2015

Hulloooooo cupcakes!
My kiddos first week of school (if you can call it a "week"..... they only had school 2 days this week!) is officially over & I wanted to start a series on my blog called Life in the Bento which will showcase all the yummy goodness of lunch that my littles consume for school. I figured this is a great way to help those mommies & daddies who are having trouble with ideas for school lunches - because lets be real no one wants to eat sandwiches every day. & so, I bring you.....

LIFE IN THE BENTO.

week one. 3-4 Sept. 2015

Thursday, 3 Sept 2015: Lunch for the kiddos was fairly similar to each other. They had homemade chicken nuggets, "penguins" (which are Save-a-lot's version of Goldfish), Motts All Natural Fruit Gummies, & J chose cherry tomatoes while H chose carrots. (*H also chose to have ketchup with his nuggets)

Prepping the nuggets was easy. I sliced up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you can also use tenders or thighs) & rolled them in italian breadcrumbs (you could also use panko which would make the "breading" thicker, but my parents didn't have any panko in the house & I didn't feel like making another grocery store run). Bake them at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes (depending on the size & thickness of your nuggets); let them cool & put them in a ziplock baggy with the date you made them so you can use them for meals later in the week.

I actually ended up snacking on them while prepping their lunch. They're really delicious!

Friday, 4 Sept. 2015: Their final day of their first week & each boy wanted something different in their bellies! The yummy deliciousness shown up above is J's lunch! He was having a "yellow" theme for some reason. In his little bento, he decided he wanted:
. half a banana
. 7 Ritz crackers
. Vanilla Yogurt
. "Kitty Sandwich"

To make the Kitty Sandwich, it was fairly simple. First: make any type of sandwich your monster is craving that day (J wanted black forest ham & cheese on whole wheat bread). Then take a cookie cutter or a sandwich cutter & smoosh it into the sandwich to create your shape. We ended up using a halloween cookie cutter for this but it was the perfect size. The "scraps" (aka the bits of bread on the OUTSIDE of the cutter) ended up in J's belly while I packed his brothers lunch. Get your little to help smoosh the cutter into the sandwich so they feel like they're having a big part in their lunch making.

Now onto H.....

For H's lunch he wanted homemade pizza! What kid doesn't love pizza?! But those lunchable pizza's that you can find at the grocery store are so full of sodium & processed junk..... + it's always more fun to figure out what you have on hand to make a delicious, kid friendly pizza. He also, sorta, stuck to the yellow theme too..... ish.

In H's bento:
. "Penguins" (read above if you are wondering about them)
. Corn
. Half a banana
. some hand shredded cheddar cheese

. 10 slices of turkey pepperoni

. 1 whole wheat "sandwich thin" (which I opened up to look like pizza crusts)

Now, you may be wondering where is the pizza sauce?! You are more than welcome to send your kiddos to school with pizza sauce in a little tupperware container, but I could just see H trying to open the container & it going everywhere..... or him trying to pour a little onto his crust & it end of in a soggy heap. Yeah, no thanks.

& that was pretty much their lunch for their "week" at school. I am honestly excited for next week when I can bring you a FULL weeks worth of meals for your littles! As for the bento boxes, I actually picked up these 3 compartment lunch containers in the Target Dollar Spot for, yep, $1! While they're not traditional Japanese Bento boxes, I think they work wonderfully with the boys & if they break them or lose them (& I'm sure they will), they were only $1. To separate the snacks & crackers a little more, I'm using cupcake liners to make extra "compartments" - I will be switching to silicone cupcake liners for reusability within the next week or so. 

If you guys do any of the aft formention bento ideas, tag me on Instagram using the hashtag #NavyLifeinBento. I can't wait to see all your wonderful creations. I may even feature you in a future blog post!