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!!!