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Monday, August 22, 2011

Fun Lunch Ideas- All About Bento

I did a little display of fun lunch ideas for the ladies in my church group at our back to school night activity.  I wanted to post the handout I made to show you how the basics can be done quite easily and quickly. 

The term bento as I understand it is a Japanese lunch form, where foods are packed snugly and tidily into lunch containers.  Containers often have compartments or use dividers to keep foods separate.  The bonus of the bento idea is that foods are made too look like shapes, characters, etc, to enhance their appeal.  If that doesn't help brown bag lunches to have more success, I don't know what will!

First, check out this video of some of the fun bento style lunches we have made this summer.

Now, check out the info I handed out to explain it all and give ideas.


fun   lunch   tips
Lunch Trick #1         Make it Neat and Tidy
Stack crackers and cheese. Alternate foods in a pattern. Use lunch containers with compartments or make your own compartments with empty baby food cups or silicon cupcake cups. 

Lunch Trick #2         Cut Shapes
Use cookie cutters to shape cheese, sandwiches, breads, baked treats, veggies, and fruit slices. You can even to cut the core out of apple slices with small cutters. Use a melon baller for any soft produce like melon, cucumbers, bananas, or kiwi.
 
Lunch Trick #3         Roll ups & Kabobs
                                       Use toothpicks, cupcake picks, and party picks to create mini kabobs out of lunch elements such as fruit, cheese, meats, cubed anything! One of the most popular at our house is leftover pizza cut into squares and stacked with olives and pineapple.  Picks can also serve as a small utensil in place of plastic forks.
Roll up layers of deli meat and cheese, either in flattened bread, tortillas, or without. Add flavored cream cheese for some zip. with  Try flattened bread spread with pb&j, nutella, pb& honey, or any of your favorite spreads.
Lunch Trick #4         Mix it up
                                       Try swapping out favorite sandwich breads for something new like one slice white and one slice wheat, bagels, flatbread, biscuits, tortillas, etc. Find other ways to introduce small portions of new foods. Remember to serve foods from all food groups for balanced nutrition.

fun   lunch   resources
http://www.easylunchboxes.com/neat_ideas/index.htm    click on “Yummy lunch gallery”

Any internet search for “bento” or  “Muffin Tin Meal” 

menu  ideas
Main Dish Ideas
Sides
Treats
Tortilla roll ups
Cheesy tortilla shapes & salsa
Bagel sandwiches
Flatbread sandwiches
Pita sandwiches
Pita & Veggies with Hummus
Sandwich on a stick
Yogurt w/ sides of fruit and granola
Pizza
Pizza rolls
Two toned sandwiches
Pasta  salad
Boiled egg
Meat, cheese, crackers
Grilled chicken
Quiche
Quesadillas
Hawaiian kebab: ham, cheddar, pineapple
Brunch scones
Croissant sandwiches
Meat & Cheese cubes
PB Rollups
Carrot sticks & dip
Celery sticks & dip
Baby carrots & dip
Cucumber ribbons
Broccoli florets & dip
Grapes
Berries
Craisins
Apple wedges
Orange sections
Mandarin oranges
Melon chunks
Kiwi slices
Canned fruit
Goldfish crackers
Club crackers
Wheat crackers
Mini muffins
Almonds
Applesauce
Breadsticks
Pretzels
Babybel cheese
String cheese
Honey straw
Cookie
Brownie
Marshmallow skewer
Holiday candy
Mints
Mini candy bar
Trail mix
Pudding
Jello cup
Fruit snacks













1 comment:

  1. I LOVE THIS!!!! You are amazing!! Wow, I need to do this. Thank you SOOO much for the inspiration and ideas!
    Cyndy

    ReplyDelete