Osborn Fiber Studio

Do you have any hobbies you’ve gotten into purely because you love someone? Well, that’s me and bento box lunches. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought they were cool, but if I had no other motivation I could not be less bothered. But I do love food, and I do love my children – and I have one child who is absolutely obsessed with bento box lunches. (Well, more specifically, with the Family Fudge channel on Youtube, where most of these ideas came from.)

We kinda tried them last year, but this year we came up with a plan that actually works really well. MiniMighty makes a plan every month that has one week of lunches repeating. That way if there’s any baking required I can get it out of the way at the beginning of the month, and there’s less waste because the same items get used week by week.

If you’re wondering – our kids come home for school every day. It’s a Nunavut thing; there are no schools in Nunavut with lunch programs right now. All kids – and parents – go home for lunch every day. There are downsides, to be sure, but for us it’s a little chance to connect with our kids in the middle of a busy day, and for them it’s a little break from stimulation. I really enjoy making up these boxes and setting them up next to their kindles on a clean table, knowing they’ll have a little bit of order and rest.

We did this all fall, and I didn’t really take organized pictures. I have been trying to take more pictures since January, and I think I caught most of them. So, as a record – because this was hard work and I’m proud of both my and MiniMighty’s work on it – here are some of the kids lunches this winter.

January

The theme this month was colours. Each day had a colour, and the challenge was finding things to match!

Monday: Orange! KD (Americans, that’s Kraft Mac n’ Cheese), Mandarin oranges, goldfish, carrots

Wednesday: Green! Spinach mini-frittatas (made in bulk and frozen), green grapes, cucumber/broccoli, green goldfish.

Thursday: Red! Strawberry and cream cheese sandwiches (true confessions: these were not a hit and were swapped for Nutella sandwiches almost immediately), cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and red goldfish. (We just got one of those bags of colourful goldfish and separated them. Yep.)

Friday: All the colours! Ramen, green grapes, blueberries, carrots, rice cakes, and chocolate kisses (from Christmas).

February

I might be misremembering, but I don’t think February really had a theme? I did bake a lot of cookies for it though – the days I missed below I think there were jam thumbprint cookies and peanut butter cookies.

Monday: Double decker PB&J, broccoli/cucumber, pineapple, chocolate crackle cookies.

Tuesday: PB & Nutella sandwiches, baby carrots, mixed berries, and Wagon Wheels.

Thursday: DIY lunchables, mini ritz crackers, baby carrots, mango & blueberry.

March

We’re into March now, and MiniMighty has had a lot of fun theming this month with characters and cartoons. She spent her own money at Walmart getting napkins and matching straws for each theme, which I tried to catch in some of these pictures.

Monday: Pokemon! KD for Pikachu (in the thermoses; that’s ketchup in those lil’ bottles), red grapes (for Bulbasaur maybe?), carrots (for charmander?). That’s ranch in the little containers – easier to not have to wash out every day; these kids love their ranch dressing.

Tuesday: Blue! The theme is just… blue. But ended up being purple. PB&Blueberry jam sandwich, Blueberries, Blueberry jam thumbprints, and purple coleslaw. Yes I positioned these boxes so you can see each lunch has a sort of scream of surprise.

Wednesday: Cinnamoroll! Sanrio napkins not pictured. Quesadilla stars with faces, banana, apple sauce, and granola bar.

Thursday: Minecraft! Salad, ants on a log, grapes, and “grass block oreos.”

Friday: Unicorn! Unicorn pasta salad (this needs some work), broccoli, oranges, and Werthers originals.

There you have it. This does take up a little chunk of my every day, and I do like how those boxes look lined up together, so I’ve been taking pictures. Not every accomplishment looks good in pictures, and they certainly don’t have to – cooking for your family is a constant negotiation and show of love that just never stops churning. But it’s worth stopping to celebrate sometimes, even if it feels a bit silly! Do you have any random accomplishments you’re proud of this week?