If you have been following me on social media, you know I like to eat healthy and varied and that I find it important that food is fun (and good). In this blog I like to tell you about Bento, I’ll share my favorite lunchbox(es), I’ll give you some tips what you can fill them up with and I share my favorite Bento pages on social media. Oh and last but not least, I’ll share a discount code that you can use at De Leukste Lunch.
Bento?
What is Bento? What does it mean? There are many people who have wrote about it, so I’m quoting from the website eatsamazing.co.uk: “Bento is a Japanese word, meaning ‘convenient’, and it refers to a meal, packed in a box, most commonly for lunch. It’s basically the Japanese equivalent of a packed lunch. What makes bento different from the packed lunches that we are used to here in the UK though is that all of the food is packed tightly into one box and arranged so as to be pleasing to the eye as well as the taste buds.”
Varied and creative
I started following Bento pages before I became a mom. I was so fascinated to see what parents would make (and are making) for their kids. I saw (and see) the most stunning creations and I always thought: I’m going to do that when I have a kid. It seemed so amazing that you would open your lunchbox and that it would contain a piece of art or story that you can eat 🙂 Now that I’m a mom, I noticed that I find it more important what she eats than the way it looks. Of course if I can make it look pretty, I will, but I don’t make any special creations (yet). Although I do really like them, so I might in the future, but for now if I can make a healthy cute lunch with not too many proceedings (so with little time), I choose that. At this time there aren’t any sandwiches in Liv’s box that look like a dog or crocodile haha.
Lunch
Liv has never been a good bread eater. She does eat it, but you don’t make her happy with 3 sandwiches. 1 is enough, she rather has different stuff to go with it. When she was a toddler, I would already leave the house with 5 different containers of food. It’s so convenient that there are lunchboxes now with more compartments that also close leak-free! Now that I have the Yumbox lunchbox, I regret not getting it years ago.
Which lunchbox?
When I finally allowed myself to buy a lunchbox, I contacted Marije from de Leukste Lunch. In the end she gifted me the lunchboxes in exchange for promotion. So officially this is a promoted post. If you have been following me for a longer time, you know I only promote stuff I really like, so I’m not writing this blog because I have to, but I hope it might inspire you. There are many different options, but I knew I wanted a box that would be leak free per compartment (so that it wouldn’t mix) and where you could put yoghurt in.
My first choice was this one from Little Lunchbox. The main reason: because this one can go into the dishwasher and I thought the square compartments looked handy. But because I doubted for so long, they weren’t in stock when Liv started school, so I chose a Yumbox with 6 compartments instead and a Yumbox with 3 compartments.
The Yumbox
Besides the 6 compartments Yumbox you also have one with 4. If your child likes to eat sandwiches, then I would definitely recommend this one. In the Yumbox with 6 compartments you can hardly put 2 sandwiches. I always make 1 sandwich for Liv, so that’s fine, but I you have a bread lover at home you’re better off with the 4 compartment Yumbox. I’m very happy with the 6 compartment version and Liv is too! What I don’t like about the Yumbox is the open tray. The tray is open underneath, so water (or dirt) goes there and you can’t reach it. It takes forever to dry, also when coming from the dishwasher. I can’t understand why they won’t close this off, it has no function. I do think the lunchbox will last longer due to the fact it comes in two parts. The inside can go into the dishwasher and so the rubbers from the outer shell will stay intact.
Because I’ve never had a Little Lunchbox in my hand, I can’t say if I would have liked it as much (or more or less), but I can say I’m very happy with my Yumboxes!
What do you put in the lunchboxes?
At Liv’s school they have fruit days, 3 times a week. You can only take fruit to school for the 10 o’clock snack. I vary with different kinds of fruit and in the small round compartment I put blackberries, blueberries, rasberries or dried fruit. At the weekly market you can buy many different kinds of dried fruit that fit perfectly in this compartment and Liv loves it.
In the big Yumbox I always put one sandwich. I fill up the rest of the compartments with different kinds of food like:
- Bell Pepper
- Carrots
- Cherry tomatos
- Corn
- Edamame beans
- Wrap with cream cheese and lettuce
- Cucumber
- Eneryg balls (Liv’s favorite is walnuts, dates, coconut oil and coconut)
- Fruit
- Small cookies
- Bread sticks
- Peppernuts (How can I not with Denny’s job). They are perfect for the round compartment.
- Something healthy we baked (we try to bake something every sunday)
It’s not very complicated and I prepare most of it the night before. I have a few cute picks to make it look nice and done! Liv’s friend also has a Yumbox and she has picks, so they exhange them in school.
You’ll find photos of Liv’s lunchboxes below.
Bento inspiration pages
These are my favorite on Facebook:
– https://www.facebook.com/groups/Deleukstelunchcommunity/
– https://www.facebook.com/groups/621755928006469/
On Instagram:
– deleukstelunch
– bento.aileen
– lunchindeyumbox
– yumboxlunch
– thelunchpunch
Discount
Are you also excited to order something, then you’ll get a 10% discount with “marry2019” tot till the end of December. Might be a good Christmas present! If you do order one, will you let me know if you like it as much as I do?
I made these lunch boxes for a beach day. Left was one for me: Couscous salad with halloumi, in the middle yoghurt and then left salted almonds that go on top.
And I made these for our trip to Portugal!