Wendy Copley's Blog, page 17

4 Ways to Get Your Lunch-Packing Groove Back

We’ve just come off of a two week break from school and this morning I was shocked and annoyed to realize that I would have to start packing lunches for my kids again.

What?! Yep — it’s a fact. I write a blog that focuses on packing lunches, and I even have a book about about bento lunches coming out in a few months but I still sometimes view lunch-packing as a terrible chore. Over the years I’ve found that after a break like this it’s really hard for me to get back in the groove of making lunches every morning.

But I’ve also posted some good advice about packing lunches over the years (in my not-so-humble-opinion) so this week I’m going to listen to myself and take a few steps to get my lunch-packing groove back. Here’s how:

1. Have a (Loose) Plan

I think we all know that a little advanced planning makes life work more smoothly, but I know I often have a hard time over-coming inertia in this area. While I would love to write up an air-tight menu for a week’s worth of lunches, that will sadly never, ever happen. Instead I like to go with a loose plan. Here’s what I do:

Go through the Lunch Box Idea List and select a few items from each category for the week’s lunches. My copy is hanging on our fridge and even though I’ve read through it hundreds of times, I often get ideas for refreshing the lunch repertoire just by scanning through it.
Next I figure out what we have in the fridge/cupboard that needs to be used up. This week we have a ton of celery and a monster bag of grated cheddar that we haven’t been going through as fast as I thought we would so I’m going to put those in the lunches for sure.
Dedicate a portion of the shopping list to lunch items. When I make a grocery list I tend to have a laser focus on dinner ingredients, but taking a few minutes to write down some specific items for lunch makes it less likely that I’ll forget to get enough veggies or deli meat or anything else I need for filling the lunch boxes.
Ask the kids what they want. They often have good ideas and they’re more likely to eat their lunches when they get to contribute their ideas. This week my boys are all about apples and bananas and my five-year-old surprised me by asking for cantaloup. Good idea, Augie!
I’m flexible when I shop. If I get to the store and the apples are cruddy looking or expensive or whatever I buy a different kind of fruit  instead. Likewise, if I was planning on picking up goldfish crackers, but the Saltines are buy-one-get-one they are the ones going in the cart.

Once I have my lunch pantry stocked, it’s easy to assemble healthy, varied lunches every day. I don’t have to hunt for food to pack and once I pull out an item from each category everything comes together lickety split.

2. Prep in Advance

Once you get all those fresh fruits and veggies home, take a half hour to clean and chop them. I don’t do this every week, but I am so glad when I do! I wrote a whole article about the many ways prepping in advance makes our lives better last year (5 Fantastic Side Effects of Prepping Produce in Advance) but the #1 item on that list is that lunch packing takes about half the time.

If you have the time (and energy) it’s also helpful to make one or two lunchbox-friendly recipes at the beginning of the week. Muffins are easy and homemade granola or cereal bars will save you a ton of money if these are items your kids eat regularly. This week I made a batch of Lemon Parmesan Popcorn from the December Cooking Light and I’m planning to include this healthy, whole grain in the boys’ lunches a few times.

3. Get a Little Inspiration

Sometimes the problem with packing lunches is that we’re tired of putting the same foods in boxes day after day and our kids are tired of eating the same foods day after day. Shake things up with some fresh ideas!

I’ve enjoyed the shot of inspiration I’ve been getting from two books that were released last year, Weelicious Lunches and Beating the Lunch Box Blues. For decorative bento ideas, I also turn to a couple of old favorites, Yum-Yum Bento Box and Hawaii’s Bento Box Cookbook (this book is currently out of print, but easy to find used). And two books I have my eye on but haven’t picked up yet are Best Lunch Box Ever and Easy Lunchboxes – Cooking with Trader Joe’s Cookbook.

Another great place to find inspiration is the Momables lunch menu service. For roughly $5/month (depending on your subscription plan) you receive a weekly menu plan with five healthy, lunch box-friendly recipes, suggestions for sides and a printable shopping list.

You can always click over to the Wendolonia Bento Box Gallery where you can view over 1600 photos of the real-life lunches I feed my kids. Click the tags on the right-hand side to filter the lunches by age, food, theme or a specific type of lunch box.

And finally, our old pal Pinterest is a great place to turn for lunch inspiration! Search for “bento box” or “lunch ideas” or start at the Bento Bloggers and Friends board which is a treasure trove of bento ideas.

4. Refresh Your Gear

Packing lunches is no fun if your gear is worn out or if you’ve realized it doesn’t really work for you or your kids. I finally replace one of our worn-out, ripped-up, duct-taped lunch bags with a fresh, new sporty one and the kids are both excited to take it to school.

If you’re unhappy with the lunch boxes you’re currently using, it might also be worth taking a look at this detailed lunch box comparison chart to see if there might be a better option for your family.

I know I also get more interested in packing lunches when I have some fun new bento tools to play with. Maybe buy a new set of themed cookie cutters or check out some cool and not-too-expensive bento accessories from Japan.

How do you get your lunch-packing groove back? I’d love to hear any tips in the comments!

Wendolonia 2013 Greatest Hits

2013 is gone and 2014 has begun! I’m excited to start a fresh, new year here on Wendolonia with lots of fun projects, informative articles and more lunches than you can shake a stick at!

But before I dive in to the new stuff, I decided to take a look back at the year that has passed on this blog by reviewing the ten most popular posts of 2013. This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve done this and I look forward to it because it gives me great insight into what you, my beloved readers find most useful and interesting.

Here’s what people liked best in 2013:

10. Yumbox Review

Wendolonia readers love a good lunch box review and the new Yumbox proved to be quite popular. With it’s leak-proof design and divided tray this lunchbox was a favorite with my boys too.

9. How to Make Stuffed Sandwiches with a Pie Mold

This detailed tutorial showed how you can use a hand-pie mold to make a fun stuffed sandwich for your child’s bento box.



8. Advent Calendars 2013

I pulled the printable advent activity sheets out of the archives and refreshed them for this Christmas. Print some out now, tuck them away with your Christmas decorations and you’ll be all set to start the year with your own activity advent in 2014.

7. PlanetBox Rover Review

The other lunch box review to crack the top ten was my write-up of the PlanetBox Rover. I waited a bit longer than I usually do to write this review but that meant that I was very familiar with this box by the time I sat down to share the pros and cons.



6. Bento Tip: A Simple Formula for Packing Bento Boxes

If you’re just getting started with bentos, this is a great place to start!

5. 10 Ideas for Halloween Lunches

This post was just what it sounded like: ten ideas to make Halloween lunches more fun.



4. 4 Ways to Decorate a Lunch with Apples

My kids love finding apples in their lunch boxes and I love how versatile they are. Here are four ways to use them to make pretty lunches.

3. Lunch Box Comparison Chart: How 6 Popular Boxes Stack Up

If you are looking to buy a new lunch box, you should absolutely start here! This post compares 18 different aspects of six popular lunch boxes in a handy, dandy chart.



2. How to Make Large Scale Photo Transfer Wall Art

I made these fun, graphic pieces of wall art to hang in our bedroom and you can make something similar by following this tutorial. The best part? The total cost for both was under $20!

1. 10 Ideas for Valentine’s Day Lunches

By far and away, the most popular post of the year was this list of 10 ideas for Valentine’s Day lunches! With Valentine’s day not so far off, this would be a great post to pin and come back to in a few weeks.

Thank you so much for joining me here on Wendolonia this past year! My favorite part of blogging is chatting with the members of the Wendolonia community here in the comments, and on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

I hope you have a stellar 2014 and that you’ll come back regularly and spend some time with me!

The Super Late Week in Bentos: December 16-20, 2013

There was a lot of hustle and bustle the week before Christmas and this post got lost in the shuffle. But I’m determined to squeak the last lunches of 2013 onto the blog just under the wire:

This post contains affiliate links.

Monday

It was snowflake Monday at our house. Wyatt’s lunch was packed in a Laptop Lunches box and it was filled with chilly treats: a banana with a few snowflake sprinkles around it, white cheddar popcorn (with even more sprinkles), grapes on a snowflake pick and salami, cheddar and pesto sandwiches cut into snowflake shapes. I carved a few snowflakes into the skin of the banana with a sharp knife and  I also included two pieces of candy as a little treat.

Augie also had snowflakes in his lunch: salami snowflake sandwiches, clementine wedges with a few sprinkles, white cheddar popcorn (again with the snowflake sprinkles) and grapes on a snowflake pick. This was packed up in an EasyLunchboxes bento box.

Tuesday

Doh! We were in a big rush on Tuesday morning and I didn’t have time to take pictures of the boys lunches. They were pretty boring looking though, so no biggie. They each had leftover black bean and corn chili in a thermos, a cornbread muffin and a clementine.

Wednesday

Wednesday, Wyatt had this Santa-ish Yumbox: carrots, black bean dip, caramel corn with a reindeer decoration, an apple carved to look like a candy cane, holiday Goldfish crackers and salami spirals on Santa and Elf picks.

Santa Claus visited Augie’s lunch too: holiday Goldfish with a Santa ring in a square silicone cup, carrots, caramel corn in a rectangular silicone cup, a snap pea and tomato Christmas tree, clementine wedges, salami spirals and cherry tomatoes. This was packed in the PlanetBox.

Thursday

Thursday, I kept the kids’ lunches super simple. Wyatt had a Laptop Lunches bento: oranges, banana, mini saltines, white cheddar popcorn and salami.

And Augie had a simple PlanetBox lunch: salami in a square silicone cup, clementine wedges, mini saltines, grapes and cucumbers.

Friday

And on the Friday, Augie had his last Christmas lunch of the year. I packed this one in our festive, green Lego bento box: cucumber slices, holiday goldfish in the smaller, white Lego box, clementines in a rectangular silicone cups, dried mango, cherry tomatoes and salami spirals on paper Santa picks that were tucked into a square silicone cup.

Wyatt wanted pizza so he had school lunch!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2014 is the best year ever!

Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!

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Cookie Box 2013

Somehow this year, I’ve managed to get my act together enough to put together cookie boxes. I love to make these as gifts for friends, family and teachers and I also love that it means we have lots of cookies around the house throughout the month. Have I mentioned before that I really like cookies?

Here’s what I put in the boxes this year:

Hazelnut-cherry chocolate bark — this recipe was pulled from a toothpaste ad in a magazine, of all places!
Martha’s oatmeal cranberry cookies — a long time family favorite.
Salted caramel popcorn — (In the red chevron bags.) I had to make a second batch of this because we ate all of the first one before I could pack it into the boxes.

Gingerbread cookies — these were made from a Krusteaz boxed mix and they were shockingly awesome. I cut them with the Santa, elf and Yoda cutters I normally use for bentos.
Almond, pecan and cranberry brittle — I used a Cooking Light recipe for Pistachio and Pine Nut Brittle for this but I swapped in the nuts I had on hand.
Cream cheese spritz — We are on our eighth year making these, so I think they are an Official Copley Christmas Cookie now.

Have you been doing any holiday treat-making? What are your family’s must-have Christmas cookies?

The Week in Bentos: December 9-13, 2013

This week’s lunches started off looking a little boring with leftovers and thermoses and stuff, but as the week went on I ramped up the Christmas lunches. Take a look at what the boys had:

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Monday

We had take-out pizza on Sunday and I pre-packed a slice for Wyatt in an EasyLunchboxes container before I went to bed. He also had a small container of Salted Caramel Popcorn, orange wedges, carrots and black bean dip.

Augie is always a little iffy on pizza — sometimes he likes it and sometimes he doesn’t — so I waited until the morning to ask if he wanted the other slice of leftover pizza in his lunch. He answered with a very excited “Yes!”, but when I went to the fridge to get it out it was gone! Turns out Daddy ate it after we all went to bed. Crap! I thought fast, cut Wyatt’s slice into pieces and slid one of them into Augie’s box. Day saved! He also had caramel corn and oranges and in addition to the carrots he had snap peas, grape tomatoes and a bit of hummus in a Lego container. This was also packed in an EasyLunchboxes bento box.

Tuesday

On Tuesday both kids had leftover “goulash” in a thermos (really just macaroni with hamburger, sauce and a little mozzarella), with a side car holding a Cutie and some veggies. I was in a crazy rush to get Wyatt out of the house, so I only have a picture of Augie’s lunch.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I decided to bring a little Christmas to Augie’s PlanetBox. He has a small green container of hummus, rolled up salami on a Santa pick, grape tomatoes and Persian cucumber slices arranged in alternating red and green stripes, a snap pea Christmas tree with a yellow carrot star (see how this was made over here), orange wedges and breadsticks.

Wyatt had school lunch.

Thursday

On Thursday, Wyatt got this wintery Yumbox lunch: rainbow carrots (I found these at Trader Joes and they’re sooooo pretty), bean dip, spritz cookies, garlic naan cut into snowflakes, apple chunks, and grated mozzarella cheese with a snowman pick.

Augie had stripey apples, rainbow carrots, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were cute and stamped to look like Santa’s sleigh and one of his reindeer, and Triscuits. This lunch was packed in the PlanetBox.

Friday

Today, Wyatt had a Laptop Lunches bento: dried cranberries, a gingerbread reindeer, an orange, a little leftover pork on a Santa pick and Santa and elf raspberry jam sandwiches.

And Augie wrapped up the week with a Snoopy Christmas Yumbox: leftover Israeli couscous with a Woodstock ring, orange slices with a Charlie Brown ring, ham spirals with a Christmas tree pick, dried cranberries, Snoopy jam sandwiches and some Persian cucumbers.

Stumped for ideas for packed-lunches? Check out my lunch box idea list or visit Wendolonia’s Bento Box Gallery for nearly 1500 searchable lunch photos!

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You can also get blog updates from Wendolonia on Twitter or you can follow my personal Twitter account where I am sometimes funny or interesting.

15 Gift Ideas for the Bento Box Lover

Are you really into packing lunches? Still struggling to come up with ideas when your loved ones ask for a few ideas for you for Christmas?

No worries! I’ve combed the web to find some of the coolest, cutest, and most practical bento-packing gear. Whether you’re thinking you’d like to start bento-ing or you’ve got hundreds of lunches under your belt (literally or figuratively!), I’ve got some fun ideas for you!

Stocking Stuffers:

If it will fit in a bento box, it will fit in a stocking, right?

Alphabet Picks – $3.50/pack

Alphabet picks are a fun, versatile, colorful addition to a bento box that work for boys, girls and grown-ups. Spell out a message in a sandwich or poke an initial into some grapes. Each set comes with one of each letter, so be sure to buy at least two sets for maximum spelling flexibility!



CuteZcute Animal Palz Mini Sandwich and Egg Press – $11.99

CuteZCute offers adorable, multi-use bento products and the latest addition to their line-up is pretty awesome. Use this set to cut and stamp sandwiches, mold eggs, or make cookies. Four interchangeable plates let you switch between panda, monkey, sheep and bat characters.



Bento/Sushi Pencil Pouch – $10.00

Express your bento obsession outside the lunch box with this cute little pouch. Use it in your purse or backpack as an organizer, or fill it with a napkin and flatware and tuck it into a lunch bag.



LunchBots Dips Condiment Containers – 3 for $19.99

LunchBots makes my absolute favorite dip containers. They’re large enough for a generous serving of dip or salad dressing, but not so large that they don’t fit inside a bento box. The screw-on lids are easy to open and close and the do not leak! At $19.99 per set, they’re just a little more than I usually spend on bento gear for myself, so they’re a terrific gift.



Casabella Standard Muffin Cups – $7.39/set of 6

Silicone baking cups are a bento-packing staple. They bright colors add visual appeal and they are practical for separating wet foods from dry foods. Round cups are a good all-around shape, but consider buying square, rectangle, triangle or flower shapes as well.



Star and Heart Egg Molds – $3.99

Shaped hard-boiled eggs are a bento box classic and the molds used to make them are a bargain. Add a heart or star to a lunch for a simultaneous hit of protein and cute-osity.



Lunch Box Idea Books:

Because no matter how many great ideas you have, you could always use a few more.

Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go – $9.45 (preorder)

My first book, Everyday Bento, is scheduled to hit store shelves the February! Packed with 50 all new bento lunches, step-by-step instructions and over 600 photos it’s a bento-packing crash course you can hold in your hand. Buy it now to lock in the lowest pre-order price, then give the bento-packer on your list (or yourself) a card to let them know it’s on its way!



Weelicious Lunches – $20.78

I’ve been cooking my way through Weelicious Lunches since I got my copy last September and so far almost everything I’ve made has been a hit with my boys. The recipes are simple and appealing to children and adults and you’re sure to add at least a few of these to your lunch packing repertoire.



Beating the Lunch Box Blues – $11.36

Another lunch box idea book that packed with inspiration! Flip through the zillions of photos in this book and you’re sure to find ideas for your mid-day meal.



Yum-Yum Bento Box - $12.83

This book is a few years old now, but it’s a classic. A lot of the lunches inside are classically Japanese but even if these types of foods aren’t part of your day to day diet, you’ll find lots of cute characters to inspire you.



Splurge Gifts:

These are the things you want, but you just can’t justify buying for yourself.

PlanetBox Launch – $74.95

PlanetBox lunch boxes might just be the most coveted of all the bento boxes. Sturdy, sleek and durable they are a great choice for lunches at work or school.



monbento Sakura Bento Box – $39.99

If I were taking a lunch to work every day, this is the box I would be using. I like packing our monbento box for our kids, but the pretty blue box with the cherry blossom decoration would mark this one as mine, mine, mine! While you’re splurging, throw in monbento’s set of square egg molds and a pack of silicone dividers and baking molds.



Shinzi Katoh Paddington Bear Bento Box – $24.00

Shinzi Katoh is a design icon in Japan and his adorable designs top many bento boxes. This one features Paddington Bear rendered in his signature whimsical style.



Geometric Shape Cutter, Set of 24 – $15.62

Sure, you don’t need rectangle, square and hexagon cutters — a knife can make those cuts no problem — but having them sure makes life easier! A basic set like this can be used in countless ways to create fun food art.



House-shaped Bento Box – $24.99

It’s a bento box! Shaped like a house! How can you NOT want it?!

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Yumbox Holiday Guessing Game

Yumbox is sponsoring a fun Holiday Guessing Game this week. Every day they are posting a photo of a Yumbox lunch with one of the items hidden. Guess the item and be entered for a chance to win 1 of 3 $50 Visa Gift Cards.

I’m excited that today the mystery item is from one of Wyatt’s lunches! Head over to the Yumbox site or their Facebook page to view the lunch and make your guess.

And here’s a little hint: the lunch in the photo was made during Halloween season.

Good luck!

How to Make Matchbox Ornaments

Want to make some quick and ridiculously cute ornaments with your kids? Try making Matchbox Ornaments!

Augie, my five-year-old, and I made eight of these little cuties in a single sitting. They are quick, fun and economical — all the supplies we used were pulled from my crafting stash — and the ornaments themselves delight with the hidden surprise inside.

We started with a brick of matches in individual matchboxes that I bought at the dollar store. We’ve been using these around the house for awhile, so I’m not positive how many were in the package to begin with, but I’m guessing it held a dozen small match boxes. We dumped all the matches out of the boxes and into a mason jar so we had enough empty boxes. At some point I’ll put sandpaper on the jar lid like I keep seeing on Pinterest.

Once you have an empty matchbox, there’s a little preparation to do. First, remove the inner tray and poke a hole in the end for the ribbon that will be used to hang it on the tree. At first I was just poking the hole with a pair of sharp scissors, but then I remembered I have a teeny little hole punch and I switched to that.

Next, measure the height and width of the tray and cut a piece of pretty paper to just slightly smaller than those dimensions. Run a glue stick over the back of the paper and press it into the bottom of the tray.

Now you’ll want to cover the outside of the box. Measure the outside of the box to find the width, height and depth. (The photo above shows me measuring the tray. Oops! You really want to do this on the piece that slides over the tray.)

Now cut a piece of paper that’s as wide as the outer sleeve and as long as two of the wide sides and two of the narrow sides added together, plus a little extra so the paper will overlap itself.

Clear as mud? Let’s try this: the sleeve on my matchbox was 2 1/16 inches wide so that’s how wide I cut my paper. Your matchbox could be different, so be sure you measure. The broad, flat surface was 1 3/8 inches high, and the shorter edge was 1/2 inch deep. I added both of those lengths together, multiplied by 2 (for the other two sides) and added an extra 3/4 inch so I had some wiggle room.

Once you have your paper cut, you need to wrap it around the sleeve. I started with one edge in the middle of one of the broad sides, then I wrapped it around the box. As you go around each corner,  crease the paper a bit, then remove it from the sleeve and press it down with your finger to get an even sharper crease, like this:

This will give you nice sharp edges on the matchbox and will look nicer. Once you have all the creases made, use glue or double-sided  tape to adhere the paper to the outside of the sleeve.

The next preparation step is to add a ribbon for hanging. Cut a piece of ribbon about 4 or 5 inches long, then poke the ends through the hole you made and stick a colorful brad through both layers of the ribbon. This will keep the ribbon from coming out when you hang it on the tree.

Now comes the fun part: decorating the boxes!

Here are a few ideas:

The easiest way to decorate is to pull out some Christmas stickers and go at it. I bought two pads with hundreds of stickers in them for a dollar each at the craft store. Bargain! Augie plastered the outside of the box with stickers and I placed a Santa inside.

Then we got a little fancier and blinged out our plain stickers with gem stickers. I put a Christmas tree sticker inside this ornament and Augie added the jewel stickers for some sparkle. Then he went to town on the outside of the box. I can’t wait to see how this one sparkles from the tree lights!

Gem stickers, pretty paper, Sparkle Mod Podge: I found these snowflake gem stickers in the dollar spot at Target a few weeks ago so they went inside the box. Then I pulled a scrap of pretty snowflake paper from my stash and wrapped that around the sleeve. To make it extra sparklicious I painted the paper with a few coats of Sparkle Mod Podge.

3-D stickers, Sparkle Mod Podge and glitter: For this one, I created a little snowman diorama. I put blue paper down on the bottom of the tray, then painted it with the Sparkle Mod Podge to make it look like it was snowing. After it was dry, I added a dimensional snowman sticker. Then I laid down a squiggly line of Elmer’s glue and dumped some plastic glitter on it. (This one is my favorite. Shhhh! Don’t tell the other ornaments!)

Washi tape and a photo: I wrapped washi tape around the outside of the matchbox, added a Mickey sticker, then cut a photo of my fellas from our trip to Disneyland earlier this year to fit the tray. This would be a great gift for kids to make their grandparents. Have your child paste a photo of himself to the inside and then let them loose to decorate the outside. Super cute and easy to mail if Grandma and Grandpa are far away!

How would you decorate your matchbox ornaments?