Of Bento Lunch Boxes and My Daiso Finds

A new school year is fast approaching and with it comes the usual concerns of a parent, one of which is what to put in the child’s lunchbox.

Caila is such a picky eater. As in! Several times last year, she would return from school with only a small portion of her sandwich nibbled off, or more than half of the contents of a yoghurt cup still remaining, or half a muffin left over...and the rest of her food untouched. Add to that her habit of soaking food in her mouth and keeping it there for several minutes, making her meal times last up to one or two hours. Even though she takes vitamins, her appetite still hasn’t changed. It really is a struggle to feed her.

So while I was browsing the net for suggestions, I came across the idea of bento lunch boxes where foods are carefully prepared and arranged to resemble cartoon characters, animals, plants and all sorts of things, making what is packed look more fun and attractive to eat. Here are just a few of the simple and creative designs I saw:

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Amazing huh? Good thing there are so many sites that I could refer to.

Anyway, since Caila would be spending more time at school this year (ergo, she would be having her snack time and lunch there), I decided that I really needed to glam up the contents of her lunch box. All of the bento sites said the basic tools needed were cookie cutters, a knife, silicone baking cups…and the lunch box, of course. We had the cutters, knife, and lunch box, and although I figured we didn’t really need the silicone baking cups, I wanted an excuse to get out of the apartment and go shopping.

So over the weekend, I dragged Hubby, Caila and Sophie with me to Daiso at Mirdiff City Centre, because where else would be the best place to buy bento box stuff than a Japanese shop right? =)

As expected, I didn’t buy only the baking cups. I also bought 2 packs of food picks and another cookie cutter because they just looked so cute

That’s not all. These also found their way in our shopping trolley

The hand-mixer and small rolling pin are Caila’s because she likes to help me bake, and I bought the other cooking utensils because we either didn’t have them or needed to replace the ones that we had or they just looked so pretty to use in their bright colors.

The last reason is why I shouldn’t be let loose in Daiso…or any thrift shop for that matter because considering that everything in it is affordable, I’ll probably buy anything that looks cute or pretty =)

Anyway, fingers crossed that I'll be able to make Caila's lunch boxes enticing to eat this year, and she'll come home from school with all of her food eaten.