Saturday, January 19, 2013

Back to School Copycat Bento

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I was checking out the Top 12 of 2012 post at BentOnBetterLunches and happened to be tootling past #11, a fun back-to-school bento, when a certain little someone came by and looked over my shoulder. "Oooo! I want one JUST LIKE THAT, Mama!" Darnit. And I even KNOW better than to look at other people's bentos when she's awake! (She's like a ninja. I can never hear her coming until it's too late, and I'm stuck trying to duplicate something she saw!)
c. BentOnBetterLunches
She will "never, never eat a tomato," and I don't have dye-free alphabet sprinkles (in fact, I think those are ones I had sent to Candy Girl when I cleared out my sprinkles stash!) Plus I didn't have any of the other stuff used. Except I could duplicate the sandwiches, and fake the rest. So I did. In an EasyLunchbox. Because they're easier to clean! Hahah!
Back-to-School Copycat Bento
PB-Chocolate-Almond-Butter sandwiches, dye-free gummy worm, carrots and broccoli,
Trader Joe's cinnamon alphabet cookies, Greek honey yogurt, apples, pomegranate arils
ABZs: Since I didn't have any alphabet sprinkles, I decided to toss in some pomegranate arils. As they landed, they kind of formed a Z, so I helped them along and added a few more. 
In case you were wondering how the yogurt fares, since the EasyLunchboxes aren't leak-proof, I use Greek yogurt, which is much thicker. And I drain excess liquid when I open the tub each time, so there's less risk of liquid separating in her lunch overnight. As long as I don't lay the box on its side for a long time, the yogurt stays in, no problem.

Apple Of My Eye: I used a small circle cutter to make the bread rounds, then a straw to poke the "worm holes" through the top slices only. 
Surf Sweets and Yummy Earth make dye-free gummy worms, gummy bears, and lollies. But I happened to have a Surf Sweets Gummy Worm on hand. 
Some leaf picks completed the apple look!


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5 comments:

  1. Cute lunch, love those apples and worms!

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  2. These look fun, healthy & simple. How well do the glad/ziploc plastic containers keep items like yogurt and dips in their place? I bought some for lunches (new k-garten mom) but concerned they will ooze into other areas or even leak if the lunch bag stands on end or gets flip. Just wanted to hear another moms thoughts.

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    Replies
    1. The Glad/Ziploc ones are water-tight, just like if you were using their other food-storage ones. But they are much flimsier and tend to warp/melt/crack faster. I use EasyLunchboxes, which are thicker and more durable. They are NOT water-tight, however, which makes them easy for my little ones to open (versus Ziploc, which even *I* have trouble with sometimes!)

      Greek yogurt is much thicker than regular, so doesn't really ooze out, unless a certain little someone doesn't eat it all at lunch and then doesn't put the lid on all the way and dumps her cooler bag in her backpack sideways... The EasyLunchboxes are designed to be carried flat, so I make sure to only use bags that will do that, which also prevents leaks. For dips, I use the EasyLunchboxes Mini Dippers now, but you don't really need them for thick stuff like hummus or guacamole.

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  3. These look fun, healthy & simple. How well do the glad/ziploc plastic containers keep items like yogurt and dips in their place? I bought some for lunches (new k-garten mom) but concerned they will ooze into other areas or even leak if the lunch bag stands on end or gets flip. Just wanted to hear another moms thoughts.

    ReplyDelete

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