My first post on my new blog

Hello all. My name is Charlene and I am the mom of 2 beautiful girls, Morgan (13) and Bella (3). I started my journey into the world of bentos when my Bella would not eat her lunch. I looked online to find ideas and found bentos. They have been a hit for Bella since I started them. I take pictures of my bentos and post them on facebook but decided to start a blog of bentos and ideas for making kids lunches fun and healthy. I hope you enjoy my blog.....

WHY BENTO?

Bella had become a very picky eater. I was looking online for creative ways to get her to eat. I came across Bentos and haven't looked back since. Bento meals are compartmentalized meals that are cute and fun to look at and eat. Bentos make eating FUN!

ARE BENTOS HARD TO MAKE?

Not at all! The first few are a bit time consuming but once you get the hang of it, it is easy and fun to do.

WHAT DO I NEED TO MAKE BENTOS?

Very simple bentos can be made using cookie cutters and compartmentalized containers. That is how I started. Then I started building my bento supply collection to include lots more, like;

Egg Molds, face cutters, food coloring markers, fancy food picks, a greater variety of bento boxes, and lots more.

WHERE DO I GET BENTO SUPPLIES?

Some Ethnic markets will have supplies, although limited. If you live in California, you are in luck because there are alot of brick and mortar stores that sell authentic bento supplies from Japan.

I order most of my supplies from http://www.allthingsforsale.com/ You can find all sorts of authentic bento supplies from a US company. There are other places, too. But this is my favorite.

WHERE DID THE IDEA OF BENTOS COME FROM?

To read more about the bentos and the history of bentos, visit these sites:

http://www.cookingcute.com/history_of_bento.htm

http://www.everythingmom.com/our-blog/bento-lunch-ideas-for-kids/

Charlene

This is my bento corner of the kitchen. I store all of my Bento supplies on this baker rack. It is quite full...I might need to find more space soon :)

This is one of my latest finds. Of all places, I found this "bento box" at Old Navy for $5.00. Will have to go back to get another. It is great for Bella but also for Morgan's lunch, as it is not cutsie and I can pack a 13 year old a lunch without using baggies!

And yet another Bento find. I bought two of these "Bento Boxes" at Target in their summer clearance. It isn't very deep but could be used for flatter items. Also like it for dinners for Bella, since I have to resort to Bentos for dinner sometimes, too. I think I paid like $2 something for it.

Here are some of my past bentos. I will be posting regular pictures on the blog from now on but wanted to catch you up if you are new to my bentos.