Bento Lunches With The Yumbox Lunchbox (Review)

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Those who follow my Instagram feed will know what a big fan I am of making creative lunches for The Boy. I have a wide range of lunchboxes, cutters, silicon pots, picks etc. to create fun lunches which engage him and ensure he eats everything up at lunchtime. While this seems to fit in with the Bento lunch philosophy, I tend to give him fairly normal food in comparison to the usual Bento foodstuffs; sandwiches, fruit, savoury snacks and sweet treats that other parents put in lunches. I do believe it's all in the presentation though so make an effort to make it enticing for him.

After all, the top chefs do swirly patterns on plates for a reason, don't they?

Yumbox Lunchbox review [Read more…]

Flatbox Lunchbox (Review & Giveaway)

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Since The Boy started school in September, I've done my utmost to make lunches a fun and enticing thing. Without me there to cajole him into eating everything, I felt it was important to make eating his food an exciting an activity as chatting to his friends around him; it's the main reason that I make him Bento lunchboxes.

He's very fond of having different shaped lunchboxes and lunchbags, and when we were sent the Flatbox lunchbox for him to review, it soon usurped his other lunchbags as his favourite.

children's lunchboxes [Read more…]

Easter Bento Lunchbox

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It never fails to astound me how much The Boy responds to his lunch being presented in a fun way; using a few food picks with cute characters on the top of a bunch of grapes, or a sandwich cutter to transform even the most basic ham sandwich, makes lunch more exciting to a four year old child!

Easter Bento Lunch Box

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Spring Bento Lunchbox

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Spring is such an exciting time of year for nurturing the creative spark and capturing children's imaginations. With Easter approaching, signs of Spring are emerging with in my garden with fuchsia buds and clematis shoots, and we even managed to find a few ladybirds and bumblebees on the weekend! I can't think of a better starting point to make lunchboxes more enticing.

Spring Bento Lunchbox

Spring Bento Lunchbox [Read more…]

Bento Lunchboxes

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Around three weeks into the September term, I lost the will to live with packed lunchboxes. The novelty had well and truly worn off for both of us, and The Boy had ventured into the realms of not wanting to try new things. I managed to have one or two variations of sandwiches throughout the week, but the joy of making his lunches was waning. And I couldn't be faced with finding out that he hadn't eaten his lunch, as a teacher I know the importance of children keeping their metabolism and strength going throughout the day via a quality lunch.

That's when I discovered a few simple tricks of using cutters for his sandwiches, buying some fun food picks to decorate the cake or cheese, putting fruit sections into small lidded pots and I bought a fabulous panda-bear lunchbox online.

Bento lunchbox ideas

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Packed Lunches Made Easy With Jungle Dogs

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Back in August we were lucky enough to be invited to an event in Longleat Safari Pack to launch a brand new, meaty chilled hot dog called 'Jungle Dogs'.

While there are plenty of cured hot dog sausages on the market, Jungle Dogs are significantly better quality as they are made with quality cuts of pork, naturally smoke, and contain no artificial colours or flavours. Significantly it contains no MRM (mechanically recovered meat) which has been used in hot dogs since the 1960s and isn't a very nice thing at all.

At the jungle-themed event, the hotdogs were presented in a number of different ways for the children, designed to tempt and tantalise their tender tastebuds.

Jungle Dogs selection

  • Jungle Skewers: alternate chunks of Jungle Dogs, cucumber, yellow pepper, and cherry tomato onto a mini skewers.
  • Jungle Potato Salad: Mix chopped Jungle Dogs, cooked sliced potato, red onion, crème fraîche and mayonnaise.
  • Wild Lunchbox Wrap: Spread soft cheese or hummous onto a wrap, grate carrot over the top, roll a Jungle Dog up from one end of the wrap.
  • Lion Bites: Mix ketchup and soft cheese and spread over two slices of bread, slice Jungle Dogs over the bread and make a sandwich, use a paw print or lion cutter to make a wild shape.
  • Snake Eyes: As with the wraps, spread slices of salami with soft cheese, place a Jungle Dog at one end and roll up. Secure with a cocktail stick.

I've made the skewers and the snake eyes for The Boy for a tea-time meal or light snack, and they've gone down very well. I've also made him the lunchbox wrap several times and he really enjoys them. I am getting bored of making sandwiches for him, I'm sure he's bored of eating them. A Wild Lunchtime Wrap is a far more exciting thing to see in his lunchbox.

Hot Dog Wraps

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Many thanks to Jungle Dogs for inviting us along to the event, The Boy had a great time tasting the yummy hot dogs which Mr. TBaM said were incredibly firm, moist and tasy (I'm vegetarian so couldn't try them). And with 85% pork in them, I'm reassured that The Boy is eating a quality sausage.

Jungle Dogs

We were invited to, and received free entry into, Longleat for this event, and received several packs of sausages and a goody bag. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Ham & Cheese Muffins

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I'm quite passionate about a balanced and nutritious packed lunch for school children, forget this nonsense that all children must have school dinners to ensure they are eating the right foods; have you seen how unappetising they are?

As The Boy started school recently, I've been keen to make sure he's interested and eager to open his lunchbox each day, but after a few weeks of varying the fillings of sandwiches and wraps, even I was getting bored of them! I decided to make him savoury muffins (with hidden vegetables) in place of sandwiches, and they went down a treat.

Ham & Cheese Muffins

  • Makes 12
  • Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
  • Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 250g/9oz plain flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 50g/4oz grated cheese
  • 50g/4oz ham. chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 300ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 1tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 medium courgette, grated
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1 medium carrot, grated
  • pepper for seasoning
  1. Grate the courgette, place in a sieve over a bowl, sprinkle on 1tsp salt and place a small plate on top. This will press all the excess water out of the courgette, the salt helps the liquid drain. Leave for around 10-15 minutes while preparing and mixing the remaining ingredients.
  2. Whisk the two eggs, sunflower oil and milk together, then sift in the flour and baking powder. Slowly fold the mixture together until thoroughly combined.
  3. Rinse the draining courgette to remove excess salt, press out the remaining liquid in kitchen towel.
  4. Fold into the mixture the grated carrot, ham, cheese and courgette and add a small pinch of pepper for seasoning.
  5. Divide between 12 muffin cases and bake in a preheated oven (190°C/170°C fan) for 20-25 minutes.
  6. Use as an alternative to sandwiches in a lunchbox or serve warm with jacket potato, cheese and beans/vegetables for a light dinner.

Ham & Cheese Muffins

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Back To School: Paul Frank Lunchboxes

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In the search for the perfect lunchbox for The Boy, we've been trying out a funky, green lunchbox and bottle by Paul Frank, available from Room Copenhagen.

Paul Frank lunchboxes

The brightly coloured, BPA-free, plastic lunchbox measures approximately 15cmx13cmx6cm and is the perfect size for an infant child's lunch, with an easily removable lid that fits back on securely. The two tone water bottle has a cup in the bottom which unscrews easily to provide a drinking cup. The screw top lid would be great to use with a carabiner on a school rucksack. Both the box and the drinking bottle are available in bright green, blue or pink, with the cheeky Julius monkey adorning them.

They're a great fun set which help to make lunchtime bright and attractive.

I was sent this product for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.

Days 237-243 of Project 365

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237-243 of 365

237. Fortress (A beautiful Sunday afternoon on August Bank Holiday weekend, saw us pack up our beach stuff and venture to Barry Island for the afternoon. And for once it wasn't crowded! We decided to make the biggest castle ever, and this was our finished product; gargantuan isn't it? This is the castle I've always wanted to make and it was brilliant fun, people along the beach stopped to take photos and comment.)

238. Practise (The biggest concern that I have for The Boy going to school is coping with lunchtimes. He currently has a cooked meal at lunchtimes, but won't be having school dinners as I don't think he'll eat them. I decided it was time to practise eating from a lunchbox, as I know how chaotic it is at lunchtimes in a dinner hall with minimal staff around. We packed up our tea and took it to the nature reserve for a picnic practise. I don't want The Boy to struggle with anything so we've spent this week practising opening and not spilling food, eating things in the right order, and working out what type of yoghurt is the best to send in for him.)

239. Climbing Boy (We headed out for another picnic lunch, this time in the park. And what better way to burn off that energy afterwards that tree climbing?)

240. Squelch (We had a very exciting morning visiting somewhere special in Cardiff, but I can't disclose any information about it until later in the year and it's under embargo until then! We had lunch in Pizza Hut and I spent the whole time staring at The Boy, absorbing ever cell of his face, trying not to cry about missing him in school. Then we went down the beach for some plopping fun, although The Boy has discovered sandballs are far more fun to throw than pebbles, filthy child.)

241. RUN! (My mum was looking after my niece and nephew for the day, so we took all three children to Barry Island, somewhere they don't go very often. Reluctantly at first The Boy's cousins entered the water, then his Boy Cousin came back out to remove his trousers so he could paddle more freely, while Girl Cousin just sat down in the sea fully clothed instead. All three had a whale of a time; all you need is sand and water, and they're happy!)

242. Ritual (Today was the last day of our old routine. Our last day together, just me and him, without being stuck in the rigmorale of bowing down to the constraints of school holidays. Our last day of him being my little shadow and us having the freedom to not rush and just do what we want. Just typing that makes me cry. I know we'll have half-terms and school holidays, but it is not the same. Every day for four years and two months, he has waited on our bed (sometimes with or without Mr. TBaM, depending upon age) while I shower and get dressed. Then Mr. TBaM goes to work and we have cuddles in bed for half an hour. Every week day (that I've not worked) for four years and two months. This was our last day doing this. And I am counting down the days until October half-term until we can do it again.)

243. ARGGGGHHHHH! (We took The Boy to Peppa Pig World for our last Summer treat and had a brilliant time exploring old favourite rides and new treasures. This was an old favourite and I took about fifteen photos of them on this ride, from top to bottom. I can't show later ones as Mr. TBaM would divorce me, but this was right at the top, just as they both realise how steep the drop is!)

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TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

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