Lunch in a Box

I have to be honest and have to say I am in a lunch rut with my kiddos and lunches for school.  I know we are at the end of the school year but they still have to eat over the summer and we will be packing lunches for zoo outings, VBS, and of course the neighborhood pool.  So I decided to do a little research and come up with some fun and different lunch ideas.  I came across the idea of "lunch in a box"-a bento lunchbox that is.  If you have ever been to a Japanese restaurant they serve bento box meals and they are really neat...everything has it's own little place.  Here are some recipes and tips for filling up your bento boxes for your kiddos.  I also picked up a book at Kohls last week for that is filled with new and fresh ideas for kids lunches.

Photo courtesy of www.laptoplunches.com

Lunch in a Box-Top Tips

Lunch in a Box-Recipes

Creative and Healthy Lunch Ideas

Just Bento

Parenting.com Bento Lunch Box Ideas

Where to buy bento lunch boxes:

Laptop Lunches

Linking to:

Switching Lunch & Dinner

Sometimes it's a struggle finding time to work, shop, cook, clean, and still make it to the gym and have some time to relax. Planning meals and cooking when I get home has been especially hard; usually I'm starving and tired by the time I make it home and just want dinner to be ready.

So lately I'm trying something new: swapping out lunch and dinner. Instead of the usual big salad, I've been making a pot of soup and cooked veggies on Sundays and packing them for lunch. When I get home I fix my big daily salad for dinner.

So far this new routine is working splendidly! My lunch is warm and filling, which means less temptation to eat all the free goodies in the office kitchen, and my salad doesn't need a lot of prep work when I get home, so it's ready fast.

Today I packed an old favorite, Dr. Fuhrman's Creamy Asparagus Soup, half a baked carnival squash, and a pretty pear. (Look, it still has a leaf on it!)