Fast and Fun School Lunches {I Heart Lunch Guest Post}

Next up  in this month’s special edition of I Heart Lunch is Deb, author of the blog, iPackLunch.  A Mom to four children ages 2 to 15, Deb works full-time and knows the meaning of busy and chaos!  She is going to share her journey into the bento world and how it really is easy to make time for healthy food!.

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Awhile back I realized that the convenience food I was feeding my children for lunch was not very nutritious. In fact some of it was hardly food at all if I was truly to be honest with myself. I blamed busy. Busy was easy to blame! I thought I just didn’t have time to be otherwise!

One day while browsing online I stumbled upon a movement of people packing fun and healthy lunches in a style called Bento. I was impressed. Then and there, I decided to slowly make a change! I wanted to feed my family less artificial food and more real food. The Bento method to me was the perfect way to pack healthy lunches for my family. To keep it real though, I want to admit right upfront that I’m still busy. I’m not perfect! We do still eat some convenience food BUT now it is just sometimes and not everyday!

I often have heard the argument that it takes too much time to pack bento lunches. Believe me it rings familiar to me, I thought it once myself! Now I know it only has to take as much time as I am willing to give it. If it took me 10 minutes to pack lunch before and now takes me 15-20, then the additional few minutes a day is totally worth it to me. When I am pinched for time I make something that is easy. Not every lunch has to be complex BUT when I do have time I’ll make something a little more creative. It is as simple as that!

The 2 lunch photos featured on this post are good examples of this:

Back to Basic Lunch – this lunch took me 5 minutes or less to make. I made 6 peanut butter cracker sandwiches and then added fresh green grapes and fresh strawberries. As a fast and fun detail I added cheese stars cut with a mini cookie cutter. You could easily substitute a cheese stick or a yogurt in place of the stars!

(Note that I am feeding young children who also have a snack provided by their preschool so do feel free to add additional items to your lunchbox if you need to!)

I Love You Bear-y Much – this lunch took me 10-15 minutes to make. I first used a cutter on one slice of bread that removed the crust and cut my bread into 4 equal squares. Since it really only removes the crust there is very little waste. A stamp was pressed into 2 of the small squares to make the bear face impression. I then assembled two peanut butter and banana mini sandwiches. The sandwiches were laid on top of some pretzels. I inserted 2 silicone cups into my lunch box. I filled one with cucumber slices cut into heart shapes with a cookie cutter. I added some grapes topped with kiwi slices cut with the same heart cookie cutter in the other cup. A little bear food pick was also added for fun. I’d recommend not using food picks with kiddos under age 3 but it is up to you! You could also skip cutting the fruits and veggies with cookie cutters to save time.

Both lunches are fun and healthy! One certainly took more time than the other so it is up to you to decide how much time you have to give!  Lean on blogs like Rachel’s, Pinterest and other recipe sites for inspiration and ideas! You could also come join me on MY blog, iPackLunch, to see what I am up to. MOST of my lunches are all-natural BUT all of them are fun! I promise! Every Friday is Gluten-Free in honor of my youngest son.

Sincerely, Deb

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{I Heart Lunch}

Time to share your lunch! What fun lunch boxes have you been packing for your family?

You can link to any kid-lunch/bento or family-friendly recipe on a blog post or via flickr photos — this linky is for any kind of healthy school lunch and kid-food, regardless if it is Bento-style or not. I want to celebrate our efforts to provide good and enjoyable school lunches for our families!

My only request is that you either add a link back to this post or include the Lunch Graphic (which links back) to your post so others can get here to view the linked lunches too!

Link up your school lunches and bentos!  Please use a permalink for your post rather than linking your general blog/flickr account URL — this will help people go directly to your fabulous lunch!

 

Now — link ’em up!

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