A year ago I thought Bento lunches were not only too trendy for traditional me, I also thought they were a bit of a silly waste of time. I even created a Pinterest board labeled “Bento CraZy“. Well, fast forward to this week a year later which happens to be Missy’s first week of preschool and I have officially jumped on the Bento bandwagon. Perhaps it is because she is the type to appreciate the effort, perhaps it is a way to be creative or perhaps I’m just missing her during the day but I’m kind of loving Bento. I took a trip to the store and picked up a gazzilion cupcake paper cups, sandwich shape cutters and the Bento box. I have watched several YouTube videos of traditional Bento boxed lunches (with sushi, rice and seaweed) and I cannot wait to do more themed Bento boxes. I am hoping to do at least one Bento box for her each week because the possibilities are endless.
For Missy’s first day of preschool I packed this Hello Kitty Bento lunch with things I already had in the fridge. I didn’t make Hello Kitty whiskers because I couldn’t find anything in the kitchen to use this time. Next time I create a Hello Kitty Bento I will be more prepared. I used raisins for her eyes, a halved raspberry for her bow and the bottom of a yellow bell pepper for her nose. I attached her face with a dab of pink cookie icing. I think the next time I create a Hello Kitty Bento box I will use fruit leather strip cutouts for the facial features.
Hello Kitty Bento
Ingredients
Rasins
Raspberry but in half
Yellow bell pepper
Sandwich of your choice
Blueberries
Grapes
Carrots
Materials
Wilton Hello Kitty 2-Piece Cookie Cutter Set
Bento Box
Cupcake Liners (I like paper some people use silicon)
Directions
The plastic lunch box that I am using for my Bento lunches already has two separate compartments, so I placed two cupcake liners in the smaller compartment for the blueberries and grapes. This Hello Kitty sandwich is ham and cheese with a little bit of light mayonnaise. After I made the sandwich I used the Hello Kitty sandwich cutter that I picked up from Walmart for less than $3. I sliced one raspberry in half and placed it as her bow, I sliced the bottom of a yellow bell pepper in an oval shape for her nose and two raisins for her eyes. Attach the facial features with a dab of icing. Lastly, place carrots around the Hello Kitty sandwich so that it doesn’t slide around the box too much. It was seriously very easy and anyone can do it!
Do you do Bento lunches for your kids? If so, where do you find Bento inspiration?
