I’ve been packing Carrie’s lunch every day, for a few reasons. First, she’s a pretty slow eater, and would likely not have enough time to eat if she had to spend half her lunch period waiting in line. Second, she’s a somewhat picky eater – in that she doesn’t eat “normal” kid foods like pizza and fish sticks – so the “kid-friendly” lunch menu really only has PB&J as an option she’d regularly eat. Third, I’m not convinced that the school lunches are really all that healthy, or appetizing.
At one point I stumbled on a huge community of parents who post pictures of their kids’ bento lunches on flickr. At first I thought it was a very odd thing, putting food pictures on the internet. And then I became a bit intrigued, because they looked pretty tasty and fun. Plus I really liked the fact that using bento boxes avoids plastic baggies altogether – the only disposable thing I send in with Carrie is a single napkin a day.
So I’m trying to make bento lunches…though mine aren’t nearly as complex as a lot of the pictures I’ve seen. We have a few kid-friendly bento containers, and I’m learning how best to pack them so that they’re healthy, attractive and fun. So far they’ve gone over pretty well:
I have more pictures of pretty pink bento lunches on flickr… Yes, indeed, I’m now posting food pictures to the internet. Then again, I’ve always been a bit odd!
