Omie boxes

Here are my initial thoughts on the Omie box.  We are loving our Omie boxes (thanks Sis H for this lovely Christmas gift)!  We ordered 2 boxes from readisetgo.ca.  It's the only Canadian site currently selling this lunch box at the moment.  It retails for $50 USD... and with the current exchange rate and weak dollar, the Canadian price $69.95 is expensive but fair.  We just finished off our first week back to school and the Omie box got used 4 out of 5 days.  The kids like having "hot lunch" and I like not packing extra containers with separate thermo containers.  The compartments are deeper than a Yumbox.  The food isn't hot at lunch time, but does stay warm.  The things I don't like about the Omie boxes are that they are heavy and the divider slides around and doesn't always keep food separated (in the section that uses the divider).  My grade 1 boy doesn't have any issues opening or closing the box and thermos.  My 2 yr old needs help with opening and closing the Omie box.  She can open the thermos if it's not closed tightly.  So in comparison to a Yumbox, this is trickier for a preschooler to use.

The only other big name lunchbox we don't have in our collection but may get one day are stainless steel lunchbox kits: Planetbox (they come in three sizes: launch, rover and shuttle).  I'm not in a rush to pick one up because I don't mind the plastic ones we have.  I've heard that the Planetboxes do leak... so it might not be good for directly packing things like yogurt.  Looks like they are moving in the direction of bento style accessories with silicone food cups... They have recently introduced some silicone "pods" but I don't know if it seals closed in the container when the lid is closed.

I've been sick and haven't had energy to make themed lunches.  I picked up some new supplies over the holidays that I'd love to try out soon.  I hope to recover and get back into making fun snacks and lunches.

Moustache day

It's Moustache day at school.  The boy made a moustache to wear to school today.  I forgot to take a photo of it and I don't think it'll survive the day at school.  :(  Oh well.  For lunch, he's just having left-over pasta with zucchini, ham, meatballs, peppers and peas packed into his LunchBot Thermos.  I added in the snap peas to make a moustache...  The boy sampled the icing eyes and didn't like them and he didn't want the food pick eyes, so I had to switch out the eyes with cheese.  I'll probably stick with the food pick eyes next time because I noticed that the cheese eyeballs ended up sticking to the lid when I closed the container.

Carved carrot fishes

Here's the boy's fish themed lunch today.  Lunch includes: a mini ham & cheese sandwich, raisins and grapes, pork jerky, celery and carrot sticks and dip.  He got some popcorn for his recess snack.  On retrospect, I regret not including actual fish in the meal. I'll have to plan it better next time (if there is a next time). :)  On a whim, I wanted to try to carve mini carrots into fishes last night... I made two fishes and went with that theme for today's lunch.  I was going to make more fishes, but it was getting late and I was pretty slow at it.  

First I tried to make a fish completely with one piece.  I didn't really know how to start, so I carved the head and tried to picture where I wanted the fins and gills.  Then I shaped the tail.  After refining it, I added eyes, scales and some vein details in the tail fin.

On the second fish, I kept the shape simple and added slits where I attached the dorsal and pelvic/anal fins.  After I carved in the gills and eyes.  I know they're missing more fins and other details, but it has enough features that they look like fish. :)

Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall

To celebrate the start of autumn, I made a leaf themed lunch for the boy today.  He's having left-over sushi rice with smoked salmon and masago sprinkled on top, ham and cheese leaf sandwiches, celery sticks and a mini strawberry jam tart.  I cheated using pre-made tart shells and soaked some strawberries in with sugar the night before.  All the leaf shapes were cut and pressed using leaf-shaped pie crust cutters I picked up from Michael's.

Sushi lunch day

We're having sushi for lunch today.  I had a timer set for the rice cooker to finish the sushi rice for 7am this morning.  I mixed in a bit of sushi rice vinegar seasoning, and sprinkled in some salmon rice seasoning.  We buy frozen sliced smoked salmon from Costco and thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Our rice rolls include: smoked salmon, cucumber, fake crab meat, masago and mayo.  I just spread out the rice onto some Saran-wrap over our sushi rolling mat, add on the toppings in the middle, roll into a long log, add on pieces of seaweed, re-roll the seaweed on, then cut the log into pieces with scissors.

Their lunches were packed in cute Kokeshi (Kotobuki) bento box sets.  The girl has the Hanako Girl Bento Box  and the boy has a Ninja Boy Bento Box.

I pack it with an ice pack and include a bit of soy sauce for dipping.  The boy also got a bag of grapes for his recess snack.  The girl ate her lunch after preschool then came home and is currently napping. Now I'm enjoying my lunch (also sushi rolls).  After we go pick up the boy from school and drop him off to an outdoor after school activity.

Pac-Man Bento Lunch

I asked the boy what he wanted for lunch this week and he requested Pac-Man.  He's never played it before and I didn't even know that he was aware of the game, but apparently the boy who sits next to him in class likes Pac-Man and so now he likes it too.

For lunch, he's having: a mini Babybel cheese, sandwich, ham, red pepper, cucumber, Corn pops, and ranch dip.  His lunch is packed in a yumbox today since there's nothing that needs to be kept warm.  His recess snack today is a small bag of grapes.

Into the garden - bento lunch

Today I decided to go with a garden theme.   The boy's lunch includes: fried rice, scrambled eggs, snap/sugar peas, ham, grapes, a cup of milk, and a small dipping container with ketchup.  I used the lunch bot thermal container so hopefully the food with keep warm.  I decorated it with a cute bunny food pick, flower and leaf food picks, a flower silicone cup and a couple of baran (food divider) silicone leaves.

I prepared 2-3 cups of rice the night before (because day-old rice is easier to fry and less mushy).  I also diced the following: 2 stalks of celery, a handful of snap peas (maybe 7-10?), 3 slices of ham, 1-2 chinese sausage,  2 green onion.  I fry the celery and snap peas for a few minutes over medium heat.  I add in the chinese sausage and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.  Then I toss in a handful of frozen peas.  I stir in ham and green onions and fry for another minute.  Next I scramble a couple of eggs and mix it with the rice.  Finally, I add in the rice to the frying pan and mix well.  I cover it and let it heat through (maybe another 5 minutes or so), stirring occasionally.  This is one of those dishes that you can just toss in whatever you have on hand - chicken, bbq pork, beef, shrimp, lettuce, carrots, other vegetables, fish egg roe, etc.

In case anyone is curious lunch and bento supplies.  I picked up the Lunch Bot Thermal container from Steveston Village Maternity.  The bunny food pick, flower food picks and leaf baran are from Daiso.  The Wilton flower cup is from Amazon.  The Colibri snack bag.  We're trying out the myColdCup for the milk today to see if it keeps cool.  The Monbento temple sauce cup and leaf pics are from Bento & co.  I use the Rume bag for cutlery from Fenigo.  The Laptop Lunches cutlery I picked up from a local group buy.  And his rubbermaid container for water was from Superstore.

Minecraft creeper bento lunch

First full day back at school.  This is my attempt at a Minecraft-inspired lunch for the boy (grade 1).  Sandwich creepers, yogurt with frozen strawberries, ham and cucumber skewers, and some ranch dip for the cucumbers.  I cut up some nori for the creeper faces.  His recess snack was a bag of grapes and a couple of home-made strawberry fruit roll ups.  I'm unlikely to do this daily, but just thought I'd try to do something special for today.

I packed the lunch in our panino yumbox.  I used long heart food picks for the ham and cucumber skewers.  Pig and pink dot food picks for the ham and green dot food picks for the cucumbers.  The creepers are on my lettuce-shaped silicone cups.  Eye ball food picks in the yogurt monster.  And I added in some minecraft collectible figures for decoration.

I bought my bento and accessories for this lunch from Daiso, Fenigo, and Bento & co.