If you remember back to your school days, lunchtime may have filled you with dread! School dinners often came with a sense of trepidation, even after they were served! But times change, and now lunchtime no longer has to mean semi-warm something-or-other. Indeed there is a revolution under way when it comes to lunch time and it comes in the shape (and many colours) of the humble Bento Box.
Originally heralding from Japan, there has been a huge worldwide take up of the tradition of using Bento Boxes for lunch time food. They have become more and more popular, and for good reason. Not only are they colourful, interesting and engaging – remember that people eat with their eyes first, but they are also practical and healthy – something that more and more people are paying attention to, especially when it comes to their children’s lunches.
Their design allows all of the food elements to be kept separate from each other, so there is no pudding in your salad, but also the box keeps the food fresh and can be used again the next day. From an environmental and health point of view, as well as practically speaking, using Benton Boxes for lunch time food sounds ideal. Here we look further into why this is just the case.
Food Is Fun
Food should be fun, that way it will be more enjoyable. Also, if you are able to make lunchtime meals more enjoyable, it may be possible to sneak in some healthier elements too!
Bento boxes tend to have a 5 or 6 compartments of differing sizes, each keeping the food elements away from the others. The larger sections should be used for staples such as pasta, salad or rice, with the smaller compartments holding and treats or deserts. You can make the sections colourful and different, perhaps using one for colourful chopped peppers and carrots, and another for a dip such as hummus. The delightful outer decorations of the boxes can be matched by providing a rainbow of colours from the food too – and we all know that colour variety in food is a good sign of a well-balanced diet.
It’s not only the eating that is part of the fun. Actually creating the box, which of course you can do with your child to add to the experience, can be fulfilling and enjoyable too – it can almost be like painting and creating a colourful masterpiece.
Don’t worry though in case you think you’ll be too busy for all that – you can simply just through in an array of snacks (mostly healthy of course) to be consumed over the course of the day.
Contents
Bento boxes are of course food safe. They can hold all manner of contents, with perhaps the exception of a liquid meal. They do however safely hold dips and sauces, but soup or say olive oil is a step too far. Food is kept hygienic, safe and ready to be enjoyed at some point later in the day. You can also even make the boxes up the night before to save time during the morning rush! Because the boxes can be placed in the dishwasher, there is no packaging wastage which is great for the environment and means that they are wholly reusable.
Bento boxes are already a hit with kids in the know, and as their popularity grows, they are expanding beyond school dinners and making into the office and workplaces of their parents too! You will soon see the benefits that your children enjoy after a short time using the boxes, so much so that you’ll not want to be missing out either. But that’s perfectly okay, as there’s nothing to say that you too can’t have your very own Bento box, yours may just not have a dinosaur on the front (though of course it just might!)
The secret to good eating is keeping things fresh, fun, simple and engaging. If food looks good, tastes good and is presented nicely too, then you are going to struggle a lot less in getting your kids to eat it. So now you know the very reasons why you should be using Bento boxes for lunch time food; from freshness to enjoyment and from variety to exclusivity. There are so many reasons why both you and your kids can benefit, the only questions left therefore surely have to be what to have on the front of your Bento boxes and what delights to serve inside.
Leave a Reply