The Cheap Bento-er

Keli over at  Kidnapped by Suburbia calls herself the "lazy bento'er".  Honestly, I don't think there is anything lazy about the way she makes lunches, but it's a cute title regardless.  

If I gave myself a title it would be the cheap bento-er.  I use "cutesy" techniques in lunch making to either 1.  save money or 2. reduce waste (which, really, is just another way of saying I'm too cheap to waste).  When I bought lunch boxes for this school year I refused to buy any type of lunch box that a 3 compartment Ziplock container wouldn't fit into. I use these nearly every day for lunches and, therefore, almost never buy plastic sandwich bags.  I'd like to say it's all about saving the environment-- it's not, I'm just that cheap!

So, getting back to Keli.  She hosted a great give-away on her blog for $20 worth of merchandise from All Things for Sale.  Seeing the cute products Keli uses for lunches, I decided to enter and... I WON!

Life got in the way for awhile, but I have now ordered my products and have begun to use them.  OH... I'm so in love! 

Here is a sample meal:

I used the puzzle shape cutter for Ruby's sandwich.  The thing I like must about the puzzle cutter is that it uses the entire sandwich (minus the crust that she would pick off anyway).

The leaf picks are adorable.  I caught my two year old putting grapes on the picks himself and then eating them off.  For him, I thought that was a pretty good fine motor activity!  

I also ordered a pack of 4 silicone muffin cups.  Here I used them because I actually had 4 different foods and, of course, the Ziplock container only holds 3 things.  Maybe it's just my Ruby, but I hear things like, "I couldn't eat the cauliflower because it got jelly on it!".  With the muffin cups, problem solved!

If I wasn't so cheap, all this cute bento stuff might have become a minor addiction!