Mamma's little bento!

Wanna know a secret...? I hate Ziploc bags! Yep I can't stand them, I mean I keep a few in my house because some things are just zip necessary, but overall any single use packaging really angers me. Wanna know something else, I also dislike paper towels! I refuse to but them and my husband loves them so he makes special trips to the store just to buy paper towels, it's pretty comical really.That's why when I was planning our upcoming school year I decided that all school lunches coming from this house would be waste free. Last year I made a few attempts to keep Orion's lunches waste free but the tupperware I was sending with him never seemed to make it back home in his lunchbox.

After a lot of  internet researching I decided that the best bento lunch system for us would be Laptop lunches. The box was a good size and seemed to be well made, plus the individual sealing containers meant that I could send messy stuff along too.  The thing I didn't like about laptop lunches was the price tag $40 plus dollars for plastic, Yikes! Luckily for me I was able to find a brand spankin' new one on ebay for half the price. The system even comes with the cutest little fork and spoon and a "users guide" which is mostly about living a waste free and organic lifestyle. Maybe the best part of the whole thing is that Orion loves it and feels really special as he is the kid at school who has the coolest lunch, maybe that's why he is eating all of it, I dunno. Either way I am getting to express my love and creativity by packing an ecologically sensible lunch which is also super healthy, Jackpot!
We are just wrapping up our first week of bento lunches and I couldn't be more excited to tell you that the boy who hardly ever ate his lunch last year has brought home an empty lunch box every day! (well, except for the 1 bite of something he saves for his little brother, seriously, how sweet is that?)While it does take a bit longer to pack his lunch I am finding that I really enjoy trying to make each lunch special. There are so many great resources for bento ideas but I have found that the laptop lunches Menu library page  offers all sort of great seasonal ideas. 
Here's what was on the menu this week:

Monday

Star quesadillas, Black bean salsa, tortilla chips, mixed fruit & banana chips

Tuesday

Peanut butter banana wraps, grapes, cottage cheese w/ strawberries, cheese pac-man w/ cucumber ghosties & pretzels

Wednesday

pb&j, egg man, strangely long tomatoes, an aussie apple* and a V-8 (the boy loves V-8!)

Someone may have forgotten to put the lid back onto his cottage cheese after eating so his regular bento box was in the wash but no worries glad ware works fine for bento-ing too!

Thursday

Mini salami & cheese sandwiches, cherry tomatoes, grapes, banana, pretzels & black berry yogurt with a few frozen blackberries thrown in to keep it cold

Friday

The other half of that cheese and salami sandwich from thursday, dried cranberries, asain rice cracker mix, tomato and cucumber salad w/ black sesame seeds, a banana and 2 frosted molasses cookies

* The aussie apple is a super cool way of sending a cut up apple to school with no baggie. Simply cut the apple into 4 pieces, put them back onto the core and place a clean rubber band around the belly of the apple. The apple stays fresh and crunchy until it's time to eat.

I hope this inspires a few of you to try out a less waste lifestyle for your little ones lunches. Next friday I'll show a few of the everyday items I use as tools for crafting a fun lunch!

is a  cheesy pac-man!