The art of the packed lunch

I've been spending obscene amounts of time over at Lunch in a Box -- a fantastic site by a San Francisco mom. She lived in Japan for several years and has perfected the art of creating bento boxes, which she packs with nutritious, gorgeous foods. She provides lots of tips for advanced food prep, even indicating the amount of time it takes her to prepare a lunch box each day. Wonderful photos (she also has a flickr group page where anyone can submit images of their lunch boxes) and recipe instructions make this a truly inspiring site. While it seems her son has a far more varied diet than my kids, and I probably wouldn't make a lot of stuff she makes, I can use her tips like freezing pasta to pack my daughter's lunch when she starts kindergarten. She gives me hope that I can move beyond peanut butter and jelly.

Any great lunch-packing tips that you can pass along? Or is my daughter going to reject my attempts altogether and insist on cafeteria food? (Oh, please tell me that corn dogs are no longer on the menu.)

(Photo by Lunch in a Box)

Comments

[Dianne]

I see this in my future. Thanks for the link to Lunch in a Box! Lots of benefits here for me, the family and the planet.

[Rebecca]

Cooking Accomplished! has been a great find for myself and several of my friends. The concept is simple; you go online, pick the entrees you want and the date you want to assemble them. The difference between Cooking Accomplished! and several other businesses like this in Portland, is quality! The owner is a trained chef. They have a commercial kitchen where all the ingredients are prepped by Shelley and her staff. Many of my friends, prior to joining me for meal assembly sessions at Cooking Accomplished!, admitted to serving and eating frozen or pre-cooked meals several times a week and to dining out two or three times a week. We decided since we are worried about nutritional value and using quality local ingredients we would research meal assembly as a solution to reducing time spent shopping and preparing dinners with the goal of eating healthier. The only assemble-your-own meal company that we found in Portland, that had great selections, high quality local ingredients and prepped all their food in-house is CookingAccomplished! in Lake Oswego. Since I started preparing meals at CookingAccomplished! I've also signed up for a couple of great cooking classes. My son attended a kids class as well and he can't wait until the next one. Shelley has done a fantastic job of creating a quality experience!