What's in your bento?

“I want to be clear that I am not someone who slaves over her childrens' meals. I am a big fan of doing things as easily and as quickly as possible.” Ilana, aka “Mommyshorts”

We all get stuck in a tried and true (but boring) school lunch rut from time to time. See what happens when Mommyshorts takes a break from the same-o lunch she was sending every day and experiments with a week of packing LunchBots bento-style instead. What she learned is inspiring:

1) I love packing bento boxes. It was fun to figure out simple ways to present new and old items. Plus, knowing I was posting pics on the blog helped me try to make things look different and exciting.

2) Packing bento boxes made me think about color as I tried to do something different in each section. This lent itself easily to variety and a broader range of nutrients than Mazzy would usually get in one day.

3) Packing smaller portions of more things helped me as well. Usually I load up a whole baggie full of one thing, which always leads to a lot more waste. It also opens up opportunities to stick in something new without it throwing off her whole lunch.

4) Packing one bento box instead of packing several plastic bags guarantees that Mazzy opens and sees everything. As opposed to leaving an entire bag of veggies unopened. Now the veggies were the thing she seemed to eat the most, which was not the case before.

5) Using less plastic bags is not only healthier for your child and the environment, it's ultimately a money-saver. I can continue to use my new gear for years to come instead of buying box after box of baggies and disposable containers.

Be sure to check out her full post to see the illuminating before and after images to find out what worked for one picky eater, what didn’t, and why.

Then snap a pic of your child’s bento style lunch and share it with us! Show us what your kid likes to find in his bento, and earn an entry in our latest challenge.