Happy Little Shopkins and Happy Little Car Lunches, How to Make Custom Picks, and It's Good to Have Friends (In Low Places?)

This Lunch:

packed in an EasyLunchbox container

pb&j on whole wheat tortilla cut w a cupcake cookie cutter

Wilton XL sprinkles

Wilton candy eyes

strawberries and blueberries with a crafted Shopkins pick

broccoli, pea pods, and carrots

Caesar dressing with Shopkins sticker

My kids love pea pods and my son could eat his weight in broccoli.

  So Stir Fry Mix works well for us.

This cutter is one of my favorites because it's so unique.  I found it at Goodwill!  I don't have quite as much time for thrift hunting anymore (I'm looking at you Bonus Baby) but thrift stores can be a great place to find cookie cutters and kitchen treasures like this!  More on that below.  Candy eyes are a staple of mine.  They can cute up just about anything and NOW is a great time to scope out where to buy them.  Stores like Meijer and Aldi will sometimes carry them in their Halloween baking supplies and they're often some of the items left the day after Halloween at 50% off.  Otherwise I'll include an Amazon link here as well.  The little Shopkins lipstick (um, I mean "Lippy Lips") decoration is from the packaging on some Shopkins my daughter received for her birthday.  It's only just slightly touching is the tortilla so I don't worry about it.  I wouldn't use it near any wet food though.  Sister Bear knows to just leave it in her lunch container and bring it home.  I've included a link to the jumbo sprinkles but Michael's is also a good place to buy these.  I "glue" them onto the bread with a tiny bit of peanut butter.

One tip about the veggies.  These are all from a bag called "Stir Fry Mix".  I like it because it gives a variety of veggies already cut up at a reasonable price.  Located by the bagged salad.

This lunch:

packed in an EasyLunchbox container

toasted turkey and cheese pocket sandwich

cheddar car

strawberries and blueberries with a crafted car pick

stir fry veggies

Thousand Island dressing w emoji sticker

candy treat in a silicone mini-muffin liner

This little pocket sandwich makes me all kinds of happy.  When I posted last time about the Uncrustables a reader linked in a comment to a Pampered Chef tool that I didn't know existed!  It's called the Cut-N-Seal and it's amazing.  What's more amazing is that a friend with MAD thrifting skills had an extra in his family's stash and gave it to yours truly!!!  You know who you are...and I say thank you, thank you!

I'm very impressed with this Cut-N-Seal gadget.  Cuts cleanly with very little effort and is a great size, not too big and not too small.  I will definitely be using this.  Just imagine!  Homemade Uncrustables, mozzarella, pizza sauce and pepperoni, perhaps a breakfast sandwich with eggs and cheese!  Be still my heart.  

I toasted the sandwich in a Toastabag.  That's another little invention that has made my lunchy life easier!  It's a little reusable bag that you put sandwiches in and put the whole bag into your toaster.  Then machine wash on the top rack!  The package contains 2 bags but I've been using the same one over and over for at least a year now and haven't even needed to get the second one out yet.  Grilled cheese is sooooooo much easier in a Toastabag!

The crafted picks are a fun addition.  Picks are fun, useful as a tiny fork, and pack a cuteness punch but sometimes you can't find one in the theme you want.  But if you can find stickers in that theme you can make your own!  Just take an appetizer pick and two stickers that are similar in size!  I like to add a dot of hot glue in between the stickers but you probably don't have to.  My favorite place to buy themed stickers is Party City.  Dollar Tree occasionally has certain characters too.

My favorite place to buy plain appetizer picks is Dollar Tree.  See the picks in the box?  These are from Dollar Tree but my local store actually hasn't had those in a while.  I like the little heart on top.  The two prong ones I've seen at my local store quite often lately back by the kitchen stuff like serving spoons and spatulas.  I've seen sandwich cutters there sometimes too!  You never know!  So I like to swing through the kitchen aisle whenever we go to Dollar Tree.

Bonus Baby's Scrappy Lunch

packed in a two tier hamburger bento box

sandwich scraps

strawberries and blueberries

turkey scraps

cheddar scraps

So...what do you guys think?  Should I keep posting 

Bonus Baby's scrap lunches?  Or just the big kids? 

Thrift stores can be a great place to find kitchen goodies and cookie cutters for cheap.  All of these   great cutters below were purchased at thrift stores!  I'm not sure the red plastic stars are actually for food?  They may be for Play Doh.  IDK?  I use them for cutting dry food so I don't worry too much about it.  The big cutters are so unique!  I couldn't find exactly the same cupcake cutter on Amazon but I linked to one that's very similar.

A word about metal vs plastic.  When I first started Bento lunches I used to think that metal cutters must be superior to plastic.  But now I don't think that's true!  In my opinion plastic cuts just as well, is usually cheaper, and doesn't rust after washing.  Awwww.  Poor plastic cutters.  Misjudged their whole lives.  

Some fun thrift store finds.

Pampered Chef!  From a thrift store!   #madskills 

As a reminder or for new readers, I get a very small percentage of anything purchased through these links and I will donate 100% of this to charities related to foster care.  You can click on the links to purchase those items.  If you click my links here and search around and find other things to buy I (ahem, kiddos in foster care) will receive the percentage on anything you buy that day and not just the items in the link!  So thanks!!!

SaveSave

Happy Little Not-always-cute Lunches and Sometimes I Need to Grocery Shop.

Probably not my best work but this is what happens when I'm out of bread and the kids have activities til late and I'm making lunches at night like a Mombie (Mom + Zombie!)  But at least the photography is terrible!  ;)  Haha, but this gives an idea of what happens for lunch on the crazy days.  We're in the first full week of school now and the lazy days of summer surely made a quick exit!

This lunch:

packed in a 2-tier Bento box from Aldi

sweet peppers

pretzel nuggets

Wow! butter to dip them in

yogurt tube

crusty bread leftover from Panera dinner

This lunch:

packed in a rectangle Lock & Lock

cottage cheese

mandarin oranges

cheese crackers packed in a Lunchskins reusable bag

spork

A word about the Lunchskins reusable baggies.  We love them and use them all the time!  If you've ever been concerned that they'd be hard to keep clean, don't worry.  I just dump out any crumbs when the kids get home and they're ready to go.  I do still buy regular plastic baggies for certain things but I probably only buy a couple boxes per year now.  We have the sandwich size Lunchskins, too, but use the snack size the most.

This fella loves his cottage cheese!  

And I am loving these leakproof lids!

Aaanndddd...I still need to grocery shop!  Ha!  But managed to do these up with what we had on hand.  It's my baby boy's 8th birthday tomorrow!  He loves these little Uncrustable sandwiches and I like to have them on hand occasionally for making my life easier.  These come on wheat bread and are a "less sugar" variety.  Since they come frozen I put a little circle of parchment paper underneath to protect the popcorn from moisture.   My kids always give a little whoop of joy when they learn I'm sending popcorn in their lunch.  Popcorn is fun!  And naked air-popped counts as a healthy whole grain in my book.

These lunches:

packed in a rectangle Lock & Lock

Uncrustables on whole wheat with "less sugar" jam  

air-popped popcorn

watermelon

turkey roll-ups

Bonus Baby's lunch all made up for the next day.  

We're usually at home for her lunch but it's just so easy to grab this.

As a reminder or for new readers, I get a very small percentage of anything purchased through these links and I will donate 100% of this to charities related to foster care.  You can click on the links to purchase those items.  If you click my links here and search around and find other things to buy I (ahem, kiddos in foster care) will receive the percentage on anything you buy that day and not just the items in the link!  So thanks!!!

Happy Little Dino and Happy Little Rainbow Lunch, plus I do feed the other kids--I swear!

This lunch:
packed in an EasyLunchbox container
pb&honey on whole wheat cut with a double dino sandwich cutter
Thousand Island dressing
raw green beans
cantaloupe with a dino pick
yogurt tube

This lunch:

packed in a rectangle Lock & Lock

pb&honey circle pockets made with a mini-pie pop press

raw green beans

Ranch dressing

homemade applesauce

yogurt tube

spork

Well, it looks like I may enjoy using those lids after all.  I did a little water test over my sink and despite vigorous shaking, they didn't appear to leak!  This is huge news!  I thought they were just extra plastic parts but it appears that they will serve a fantastic purpose.  I've been looking for a leakproof container for quite some time now and haven't been thrilled with what I've purchased in the past.  Oh happy day.

You'll see I packed the dips for the green beans in little disposable containers.  We have some cute reusable dip containers but there is just a special kind of yuck involved in cleaning them out.  One day it dawned on me to use disposable and I haven't really looked back.  Our lunches are so green most of the time I allow for this little bit of trash now and then.  A little sticker on top cutes it up a bit.

This lunch:

packed in a rectangle Lock & Lock

tuna salad

tortilla boats

pretzel sticks

apple slices

cantaloupe

spork

Not quite as fun but still worth mentioning are my other two lunch eaters!  We have a precious little toddler with us through foster care and a 7th grade son.  I swear I do feed them ;) but their lunches aren't quite as fun so haven't posted before.  Andrew's cantaloupe is packed in a "leakproof" container that I purchased last year.  I'll put wet-ish things in there but that's about it.  The seal is stronger than a normal food storage container but not to where I'd trust it with anything leaky.  Did you notice the sporks I packed?  Cool, right?!  We've used these for the last several years and they've worked great.  My kids often choose them for eating regular meals at home too.  (And they tell me that other kids at school always comment that their sporks are cool.  Not that I'm trying to be cool but...you know...I'll take the Mom Points where I can get them.)  ;)  

Andrew's lunch is maybe a little bigger today than what I'd normally pack him.  He is an athlete and his appetite lately with fall sports starting is HUGE.  I'd rather fill him up with healthy food while I can or he'll come home from school famished and seek out junk.  My kids are pretty healthy eaters in general but school is my favorite place to get healthy food into them because they're my captive audience there.  There literally is no other food to eat.  There go my Mom Points.  ;)

This lunch:

packed in a Dory container from Dollar Tree

pb&honey scraps cut into toddler size bites

cantaloupe in a silicone flower cupcake liner 

homemade applesauce in a plastic cup

Little Lady was soooo cute eating this lunch.  She's newly turned two.  

She said, "ALLLL-most!  ALL-most ALL gone." 

Just one of the things you can do with the scraps left from cutting sandwiches is to feed them to your toddler.  I got this little Dory container at Dollar Tree!  Isn't it darling?  And the plastic has a nice hard feel.  A dollar well spent.  I just pack a little bento for her after I pack the big kids' lunches.  See the little doggie fork?  That's the type that's included in the giveaway.  If you'd like to have some of your very own be sure to enter before Sunday, Sept. 11!  See below for details.

And now a reminder about my very first GIVEAWAY!!!  Who would like to enter to win a 4 piece set of sandwich/cookie cutters AND an adorable set of animal bento forks???   You know you do!!!  There are two things I am asking from you in order to enter: 

1) Go to the fb page for Happy Little Lunch and make sure you have "liked" my page.

2) Find the post there that links to the Back to School 2.0 lunches blog post and make a comment.  I'll be drawing a name from the comments on that fb post so please make sure to leave a comment on that fb post if you'd like to be entered!  

The drawing will take place on Sunday, Sept. 11.  Thanks for reading and Good Luck!!!  

As a reminder or for new readers, I get a very small percentage of anything purchased through these links and I will donate 100% of this to charities related to foster care.  You can click on the links to purchase those items.  If you click my links here and search around and find other things to buy I (ahem, kiddos in foster care) will receive the percentage on anything you buy that day and not just the items in the link!  So thanks!!!

Happy Little Lunches for Back to School 2.0...and a GIVEAWAY!

This is a lunch that my kiddos took the *second* day of school last week.  Here's that ABC pick and cheese school bus again!  I only get one short week that counts as "Back to School" before things are off and running and the pick and school bus are my faaaavvvooorrite!  So here's a good excuse to use them in a slightly different way and packed in a different container; this time it's a rectangle Lock & Lock style.

This lunch:
packed in a rectangle Lock & Lock container
sandwich on bread or tortilla cut with apple cookie cutter
yogurt covered raisins in a silicone mini muffin liner
cantaloupe and strawberries with ABC pick
pretzels
cheddar cheese cut with school bus stamp

I do love those EasyLunchboxes I wrote about before but this Lock & Lock style is my other favorite.  I like them because they are a different shape and slightly smaller.  Some sandwich cutters are smaller than others and these boxes are a good base for when you're cutting a sandwich with something like this apple cutter, which is actually a larger size cookie cutter.  Small sandwich, large cookie, to-may-to, to-mah-to!  You definitely can use smaller sandwiches in a larger container but I just like the compact look when using a small sandwich.

Many of the "real" Japanese bento lunches are packed in containers called tiffins.  You've probably seen lunches like those around Pinterest.  To me Lock & Locks have similar space to a tiffin but have more of an "I'm a mom in America and my kids eat sandwiches" feel.  The Japanese bentos are soooo cool and healthy looking and I like being inspired by them.  The Lock & Lock style container is really versatile and gives a good size for when you want to make a lunch that's a little more compact.

Our Lock & Locks pictured here came included in an Arctic Zone brand lunch bag set purchased from Costco this year.  Pretty sure "Back to School" stuff at Costco is being replaced with Christmas by now (because it is September 3!  Time to deck the halls!)  But if you see any of these still there they are a good purchase.  You get the lunch bag, food container, and two ice packs for, I think, around $15!  I'll try to remind you guys next summer to start watching for Costco to have these.

The Lock & Lock containers that came with the Arctic Zone lunch bag.  Every year there are some small changes to the container that comes in the set and this is the first year that those little covers have been included.  I'm not sure if I'll end up using them or not, I'll keep you posted.  ;)  The only criticism I have of the Lock & Lock containers (and it's not a valid criticism really) is that I can't abuse them like I abuse our ELB's.  Despite the care instructions that say to wash the ELB's in the top rack, I throw our ELB's anywhere in the dishwasher and they come out fine.  The Lock & Locks will get a teeny slight bit warped and all four locks on the lid don't close well on the ones I've thrown randomly in the dishwasher.  I totally still use our old ones, I just do 3/4 of the locks and hope for the best.  No, really, they are fine to use even with only 3 locks closed but I do make sure to do top rack only on our new ones as the manufacturer suggests.  If they're not that dirty I'll just rinse them out by hand.  

Arctic Zone expandable lunch bags purchased from Costco.  Comes with bag, bento box, and two ice packs.  "ICE WALL" just sounds so impressive.  NO food poisoning for my babies.  I've got the power of the Ice Wall!  But, incidentally, even when they were merely called an ice pack these are the best type of ice pack I've ever tried.  They're still mostly frozen even when the kids come home from school.


Talking about bags brings me to my next point based on a question I received via FB message.  Sorry, hold on...(OMGOSH I RECEIVED A READER QUESTION LIKE A REAL BLOGGER OR SOMETHING!!)  Sorry... a little newbie blogger moment there.  ;)


Hi Liz, love your blog. What I'm wondering: do your kids have to keep the lunch flat? If it gets tipped every which way does the food stay in the section it's supposed to?


The answer is, yes, I buy bags that keep the containers in a flat position.  A little jostling is fine but sitting it sideways is not.  I love the Arctic Zone bags from Costco but before they started selling them I used regular 6-can cooler type bags.  EasyLunchBox sells their own bags which are, basically, 6-can cooler type.  My tip: RIGHT NOW is the best time to buy the 6-can cooler bags!  You can get them very cheap in the end of summer clearance sections AND the back-to-school clearance sections.  It's a clearance section double whammy!  Another tip: Lots of stores have the end of summer and back-to-school clearance going on right now but I've had great luck finding the 6-can coolers at Rite Aid of all places!  Rite Aid usually has a seasonal section towards the front of the store and I've seen the bags there for at least 50% off if not more.  Try different locations, too, as I've found the selection varies widely from one location to another.  If you don't want to go around to different stores I'll include a link to the ELB cooler bags.  They're only $7 so really not that much more than what you'd pay at a clearance sale and you don't have to drive anywhere.  ;)

The handle on top of the lunch bag (and not on the side of the bag) makes sure the lunch stays flat.

6-can cooler bag bought at Rite Aid.  :)

A few of you have made purchases through my affiliate links at the bottom of the page and I thank you for that!!!  As a reminder or for new readers, I get a very small percentage of anything purchased through these links and I will donate all of this to charities related to foster care.  You can click on the links to purchase those items.  If you click my links here and search around and find other things to buy I (ahem, kiddos in foster care) will receive the percentage on anything you buy that day and not just the items in the link!  So thanks!!!

Awww, my friend in Japan sent me forks like these and I loved 

them so much I had to add a set to this prize!  They're super cute!

Now...my very first GIVEAWAY!!!  Who would like to enter to win a 4 piece set of sandwich/cookie cutters AND an adorable set of animal bento forks???   You know you do!!!  There are two things I am asking from you in order to enter: 

1) Go to the fb page for Happy Little Lunch and make sure you have "liked" my page.

2) Find the post there that links to this blog post and make a comment.  I'll be drawing a name from the comments on that fb post so please make sure to leave a comment on the fb post if you'd like to be entered!  

The drawing will take place on Sunday, Sept. 11.  Thanks for reading and Good Luck!!!