Tag / packed lunch

by jo

First Proper Packed Lunch

H has a week of holiday club this week while Shaun and I work. She also has several exciting trips planned throughout the week, most of which require us to send our children in with a packed lunch.

Packed lunch isn’t something I opted for at school for her – it’s easier for her to have school dinner, it’s easier for me. Working from 8.30 and picking her up some time between 3.20-4.20 every day means by the time you’re home and you’ve gone through her school work, you kind of run out of time.

That and I’m permanently tired. However, now I’ve had to make one (as my girl isn’t going to starve), it’s actually not so bad. As long as I have fresh bread (we baked some last night) and plenty of fruit and snacky bits, we’re fine.

We also have the Munchkin Bento Box which is ideal for packed lunch that we were sent to review late last year.

Packed Lunch

So I kept things simple. H fancied cheese sandwiches, so I made them up and cut them into heart shapes. My bread was a bit of a disaster so I was only able to get three heart sandwiches from two slices, though they fitted perfectly in her lunchbox.

We had a Barny Bear sponge cake which tucks nicely alongside it, leaving enough space for a banana in the main compartment. I’m already feeling proud of this.

The two smaller sealed compartments have chopped pepper and carrot for her to snack on (and probably share with her friends), and some mixed fruit (cherries and cranberries) in the other.

As she didn’t need the spoon and fork with this food I left them out and tucked in a Bear Nibbles Yo Yo under the lid which fits perfectly.

All my preparation took me approximately five minutes. In fact, it was pretty easy really. I have another packed lunch to prepare later this week so I’m going to see how much more I can fit in…

by jo

Munchkin Bento

We’ve been sent the new Munchkin Bento Box to try – and with school imminent it has come at a good time!

Munchkin Bento Box

Munchkin Bento Boxes are perfect as a starter for your child to make lunchtimes a bit more interesting. It fits into a backpack perfectly, we haven’t tried with a Book Bag yet. I really like the separate compartments – they’re nice and airtight too, we (accidentally) kept some chopped apple in one which didn’t discolour for 48 hours! I tried the apple and it still tasted fine as well.

H will have school dinners to start with, though I haven’t ruled out lunches so we’ll be well prepared, so for now we’re using the Munchkin Bento box for daytrips. Today we headed to Reigate Fort and for a short walk along the South Downs Way, somewhere there’s plenty of seats to sit down and have a snack or two when you need them.

I packed some cucumber and carrot in one section, with blueberries and grapes in the other. In the main section there were a pack of Pom Bear shapes, mainly as I decided if we needed something a little more substantial we’d eat out – this was just for being out and about. Everything fitted fine anyway!

You have one main section which would hold small sandwiches fine, possibly a drink (although at school I’m guessing they’d have water rather than take in their own?), with the small sections fine for fruit and vegetables. The main section has a cover which will stop any food getting caught in the knife and fork in the lid, with the two small sections having airtight lids – they’re firm enough to put on and easy enough for a 4-year-old to remove. My next step is to try some food which might leak to see how we get on – I’ll report back!

The lid has a spoon and fork which clip in safely. There’s more information over here at the Munchkin site. The novelty of having food in sections is something H really isn’t getting tired of, every trip is an adventure wondering what her next snacks could be. It reminds me a bit of the Tupperware containers we had in the eighties, but airtight!

Munchkin Bento Box

All parts of the Munchkin Bento Box are dishwasher-safe, but top shelf only. We’ve washed ours a few times now and have had no problems at all.

Underneath the box is a space to put your child’s name – I’ll be adding H’s with the Stamptastic stamp as that will hold firm, though it would be perfect if you could do this on the fork and spoon too!

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We were sent the Munchkin Bento Box for review, all opinions are our own.