Leftovers revived
Liberty helped me make our own version of swedish/italian meatballs for dinner on Tuesday night. The leftovers were saved to go into lunch boxes especially so we could use our little bone picks from Ichiban Kan. I haven't made meatballs in my lifetime more than a handful of times, but this was a great excuse to try it. And as it turns out, my girls LOVE meatballs!
The soy sauce bottles were a huge hit with my girls and the moms who noticed the bentos. And even Melody was able to open up her own bottle.
And the ketchup containers were a great find! I went to the dollar tree in search of the mythical hello kitty bentos supposedly sold there on occasion, and to look for portable soup containers. Found soup containers which when brought home were found to hold water as well as a sieve. No bentos, and not really any nice snap containers either. But in the Halloween candy section, I found these packs of six eye-ball roll up gum containers. The lids looked like they would stay put, and I wan't concerned about water tightness, just something to keep dressing or syrup or ketchup in one place. These worked great! The girls can open them easily, nothing leaked, and the meatballs fit into the containers as if they were made for that purpose! I just popped a couple of circular stickers over the creepy eyeballs and we were good to go. I figure I am not going to worry too much about the water-fastness (is that a word?) of the stickers themselves as I can change them out easily with any variety of stickers.
Kevin and I had tuna sandwiches with lettuce and dill pickles on Hawaiian Sweet Roll buns. Those buns are divine. I could eat up a package in one sitting, I love Hawaiian bread so so so so much.
We all had rice and peas (which I popped in the bentos frozen and they had thawed nicely from the warm rice by lunchtime. We also had garlic cheese and triscuits. Kevin had wheat thins as he is vehemently opposed to the thought of triscuit. Overall a yummy and filling lunch with very few crumbs left in their boxes!
The soy sauce bottles were a huge hit with my girls and the moms who noticed the bentos. And even Melody was able to open up her own bottle.
And the ketchup containers were a great find! I went to the dollar tree in search of the mythical hello kitty bentos supposedly sold there on occasion, and to look for portable soup containers. Found soup containers which when brought home were found to hold water as well as a sieve. No bentos, and not really any nice snap containers either. But in the Halloween candy section, I found these packs of six eye-ball roll up gum containers. The lids looked like they would stay put, and I wan't concerned about water tightness, just something to keep dressing or syrup or ketchup in one place. These worked great! The girls can open them easily, nothing leaked, and the meatballs fit into the containers as if they were made for that purpose! I just popped a couple of circular stickers over the creepy eyeballs and we were good to go. I figure I am not going to worry too much about the water-fastness (is that a word?) of the stickers themselves as I can change them out easily with any variety of stickers.
Kevin and I had tuna sandwiches with lettuce and dill pickles on Hawaiian Sweet Roll buns. Those buns are divine. I could eat up a package in one sitting, I love Hawaiian bread so so so so much.
We all had rice and peas (which I popped in the bentos frozen and they had thawed nicely from the warm rice by lunchtime. We also had garlic cheese and triscuits. Kevin had wheat thins as he is vehemently opposed to the thought of triscuit. Overall a yummy and filling lunch with very few crumbs left in their boxes!
I am highly intrigued with the "eyeball" cases. I think a Dollar Tree hunt is in order soon. As for the HK bentos there, you may possibly still find them at a few, especially out of the way ones, but they were available in the fall of 2007, right around the time my little girl started kindergarten. I haven't seen them since at the ones we go to, though I found a few in the wintertime at an out of the way location.
I just found your blog and I am SO impressed! Your bentos are beautiful and the pictures are so detailed. Keep up the good work!
I saw the HK boxes at my Dollar Tree once and thought "those are cute - I'll get them next time." Haven't seen them in any Dollar Tree since :-(
I looked for the "eyeball" candy cases, but didn't see any. That's a great thing to keep an eye out for - holiday candy often comes in little containers that could be reused for bento!
Thanks for all the great ideas! I love your website!
Thanks so much!