Contest Entry #12

Bam Bam Bento

My name is Gretchen, and I just started making bento lunches for my 3 girls when we started a co-op in September. I was appalled by the amount of waste created by just a small group of families and wanted to do my part to reduce that waste. I had admired the bento lunches of some of my flickr contacts and thought I could do the same. I created my blog to track my progress, http://weeklybento.blogspot.com/ So far, I have really enjoyed making the girls' lunches, and they have really enjoyed eating them. The side benefit has been that other moms have been admiring my lunches and have decided to try their hands at bento-ing as well!

Name Your Bento: Bam Bam Lunch (so called because the bone-picks always remind me of the bones in Bam-Bam's hair, from the Flinstones)

Add a small description of your bento to your submission: This lunch was quick and easy, and my girls ate it all! The night before, we had homemade baked meatballs, so I saved enough for each girl to have some in their lunches the next day. I made rice in the morning, and the warm rice warmed up the meatballs and the frozen peas. The only thing I should have done differently is pack the crackers in a separate snack container, as they tended to get a touch soggy from the warm food. No one complained, but it would bug me! The little round container is a repurposed gum container from the dollar store that I added a new sticker to and used for ketchup, but I have also used them for peanut butter and syrup. They are great, and I haven't had one pop open yet! I also added garlic cheese triangles and triscuits. The girls had raisins and assorted dried fruit for snack. I felt like the meal was well balanced, and was more protein than they normally get because they had so many meatballs. But my girls don't normally eat a lot of meat, so I was thrilled that they liked the meatballs so much! I feel like each week I am getting better at creating nutritious and visually appealing meals for my girls, and I am having fun doing it! I am definitely hooked on bentos! :)

~Gretchen