Beautiful Bento

I am OBSESSED with bento boxes. I just love them. I have a Pinterest board devoted to them and regularly pin like a crazy lady onto it. I'm totally and utterly fascinated by the creativity of some people and the time they must spend when it comes to preparing these kind of lunch boxes.

For those of you that aren't sure what a bento box is, the easiest way to define it as a Japanese compartmentalised lunch box! Bento is becoming increasingly popular around the world - and the more detailed and artistic the better!

Although I love them, I've never attempted making them myself and I'm not entirely sure why. I know that Daisy would LOVE to open up her lunchbox at nursery to be greeted by edible versions of her favourite characters! I think it is a combination of a lack of time and, until now, a lack of equipment.

However, earlier this week, the lovely people at Laptop Lunches sent Daisy her very own Bento kit (and another for us to giveaway!) so I had no excuse not to give one a go.

Laptop Lunches are American-style bento boxes designed to help families pack nutritious, environment-friendly lunches for school, work, and travel. The company was set up by two mums, Tammy Pelstring and Amy Hemmart, after they were shocked by the poor quality lunches on offer at their children's schools, and the large proportion of it that was thrown away. At the same time, the headlines in America were also focusing on childhood obesity, poor nutrition and the impact of landfill waste so it was the perfect time to launch their product - and they are now a multi award winning brand. Their boxes are safe (they contain no lead, BPA, PVC or phalathes), cost effective, reusable, recycled (and recyclable!) and easy to clean - and they enable parents to create their own healthy lunches and reduce waste in the process.

Daisy was sent the pastel bento kit. This is one of their best sellers and contains a pink bento lunchbox with lavender inner containers and a stainless steel fork and spoon set too. There is ample space within the main bento bag to carry an icepack and a couple of serviettes, and it also has an external compartment to hold a drink. It's perfect for picnics, school lunches and long journeys and will be available to buy in the UK very soon (via Amazon - I'll update this link once they have launched!)

Even if you're not going to create a bento box masterpiece, they are such a good idea for children, and picky eaters in particular. You can fill up the separate pots and compartments with small amounts of things to nibble on so it's a great way to get kids to try new things. If they're aesthetically pleasing to boot then kids are also more likely to eat them. I also find with Daisy that she prefers to eat smaller portions of things. She doesn't eat very well when she is presented with a large meal on a plate, but lay a load of picnic food out and she will demolish it all!

When Daisy goes back to nursery next term she'll be staying for a packed lunch once a week - and it's my plan to be as creative as I can with her bento kit! But in the meantime she wasn't prepared to wait to try it out so today we had a picnic lunch in the garden using her new lunchbox. 

It might not be the most creative of bento boxes but Daisy still ate everything except for a few bits of cucumber so I was impressed!

So YES. The awesome people at Laptop Lunches also gave me a second kit to giveaway - and if you want to be one of the first people in the UK to own this gorgeous Galaxy Bento Kit then it couldn't be easier to enter!

As per my usual giveaway terms and conditions, I'm using the Rafflecopter widget below and everyone has up to eight chances of winning. The competition opens at midnight tonight and closes at midnight on 5th September 2013. The winner will be announced on here, on Facebook and on Twitter by 7th September. This competition is open to UK residents only. Good luck! xo
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway  
Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com