Grazer's Delight

This Week's Bento Lunch

Calling all grazers! If you're looking for a lunch to enjoy all afternoon, this one's for you. Everything in this lunch can easily stand on its own giving you a series of small meals to get through the day. 

Click here to view this full menu and nutritional information.

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Eating and Reading for National Reading Month

We’re so excited to share some amazing bento lunches and great reviews of books sure to make it to your “must read” list! Be sure to check in here every Wednesday in March as we honor National Reading Month with lots of fun, creativity and inspiration for lunch time and story time.

Get Your Greens!

Getting your greens doesn't have to be a drag! Dress up a salad with fun garnishes and panda picks, make a bear shaped egg, plus a side of delicious dip and you will have the most festive and fun-to-eat salad, ever! 

Find this weeks Full Menu details here. 

Laptop Lunches on Amazon UK {plus MENU}

As many of you may know Laptop Lunches Bento-ware is now available on Amazon UK! In celebration we have created a festive menu, seen in the image above. Many of you have asked for the recipes and packing instructions for this lunch and we are more than happy to oblige! This menu is an American twist on some British classics. Hope you all enjoy! 

Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Sandwich- 
Gluten-Free Chia and Millet Bread
Whipped Cream Cheese
Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon
Fresh Cucumber

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on both slices of your bread.
Lay a few slices of smoked salmon over one slice of your bread.
Cut your cucumber into thin coins and lay them over your smoked salmon.
Stack your sandwich together and cut it at an angle into two triangles.
Place the sandwich in your large unlidded container.

Roasted Finglering Potatoes-
Fingerling "Russian Banana" Potatoes
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204 degree Celsius).
Arrange your potatoes in a small iron skillet or baking pan. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. Allow the potatoes to cool before placing them in the large lidded container.
Include your favorite dip in the small container to place alongside your roasted fingerling potatoes.

Cheddar Hearts and Snap Peas- 

Sharp Irish Cheddar
Fresh Snap Peas

Cut your cheese into 1/4 inch thick slices and cut into bit sized heart-shapes with our fruit and veggie cutters.
Include the snap peas and the cheddar hearts in your medium unlidded container.

Cinnamon Raisin Chia Pudding-
1/4 cup Chia Seeds
2 cups Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
Cinnamon
1 tbsp Light Agave Syrup (optional)
1/4 cup Raisins

Combine in a large jar the almond milk, agave and chia seeds with a dash of cinnamon. Allow these to soak for a few hours or over night so that the chia seeds plump up. The texture is a lot like tapioca pudding. Stir in the raisins and scoop a serving into your medium lidded container. Use one of our ice packs along with an insulated bento bag to keep your lunch at a safe, cool temperature.

We are so excited to finally be more immediately accessible to all of our fans in the UK! Thank you for all of your enthusiasm and support! You can find our products on Amazon UK here. Our US fans can still find us on laptoplunches.com

Quinoa Pilaf Power Lunch

Quinoa is an incredibly nutritious grain that can fill you up while giving you tons of energy. Mix it into a pilaf with a side of summer squash and cherries. Finish off your lunch with a special, healthy sweet treat and you have got a real power lunch! 

Click here to see this weeks Full Menu details. 

Tofu Salad Bento Lunch

You don't have to be vegan to enjoy this lovely, light lunch! The bright crisp flavors of baby greens, ripe cherry tomatoes all paired with tofu salad and crackers is a fulfilling and healthy lunch for anyone. With a fresh peach to finish, this bento is a wonderful celebration of summers bounty soon coming to a close. So, get it while you can! 

Click here to see this weeks Full Menu details. 

Top 8 Weelicious Lunch Tips

1. It’s all about balance! When you’re packing lunch, always make sure to pack fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, and protein in every meal.

2. Fill it Up: Always keep your favorite shelf and refrigerator staples on hand. I keep a list on the fridge to remind me of everyone’s favorites:

    

- Nut butters (almond, peanut and sunflower butter are great choices)

-Cream Cheese

-Cheddar, mozzarella or your favorite cheese (sticks, bricks, shredded or slices)

-Pesto (goes great with pasta, rice, quinoa, as a sandwich spread or to make an Egg Pesto Melt)
-Pasta (a variety of shapes like ziti, macaroni, rotini or more)

-Bananas (to eat on their own, sliced and added with honey and nut butter on a sandwich or added to Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies)

-Baby carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers or any of your child's favorite veggies

-Dehydrated, frozen, or dried fruit

-Plain Yogurt (to mix with honey, maple syrup, mashed bananas or granola)

-Bread (bagels, english muffins, tortillas or your favorite loaf bread)

3.  Re-Use! Bento style containers are a great way for kids to see all of their choices of food without having to open a ton of  plastic bags. Laptop Lunches colorful reusable bento lunchboxes can be stacked and used on their own or in their outer container bento box and placed into a cute, insulated bento bag. We’ve had ours for years and they’re still good as new.

4.  Double and Freeze: When I make a recipe, I try to double it and freeze it, so that I always have it on hand for lunches. I cook all of our favorite foods and treats like cookies, bars, pancakes, doughnuts, waffles and more in freezer safe containers so all I need to do is defrost one or two homemade foods.

5.  Eye Appeal: Cutting foods into fun shapes and sizes can make all the difference in whether your child will eat them. Try using a melon baller for watermelon or cutting cucumbers into sticks or coins with fun shape cutters. 

6.  Leftovers! There’s no reason you can’t turn last night’s dinner into today’s lunch. Turn chicken fajitas into a quesadilla, chicken in a crock pot into slices of chicken with a dipping sauce, or last night’s brown rice into a beans and rice burrito.

7.  Variety is the spice of life: Switching things up day to day in a lunch box can keep kids nutritionally balanced while excited at the same time.

8.  Treat for your sweet: Putting a little something sweet can put a big smile on your little one’s face. Whether it is a cookie or even a little note, that last addition can go a long way.

Catherine McCord is a mother of two, as well as the author and creator of the blog Weelicious, where she  shares her recipes and culinary inspirations for families and wee ones. She recently wrote her second cookbook, "Weelicious Lunches" which is available on the Laptop Lunches website, here. 

Saving Money and The Environment!

Hello All!

It’s nearly the end of August and many of us have already started rushing our kids off to school again! And that means packing lunches. But have no fear! Lunch can be an exciting and creative opportunity to provide our children with healthy, fresh options, while teaching them the value of balanced, waste-free meals. While many of you are just as excited as we are to start filling those bento boxes again, I know that some of you are asking, "Why would I spend $24 on a lunch box?"

Tiffany, a long-time customer, answers this question in as a comment on our Facebook page: 

Customer and fan Raeanna still uses her Original Laptop Lunches
Bento's for her family of five after years of use! 

"It occurred to me today that my daughter will be entering 7th grade in a few weeks and her laptop lunchbox that I bought for kindergarten is still going strong! Little brother's is too. So for those who think the Laptop costs too much, consider how much you can save by buying only one, instead of a new one each year."

And she’s right. We hear from many customers who tell us they bought a Laptop Lunches bento lunch box years ago, and it's still holding up to the wear and tear of a child's daily use. But Tiffany also speaks to the issue of saving money by not having to purchase a new lunch box every year and also eliminating the need for disposable packaging and expensive single-serve lunch foods.

I did the math and this is what I found: 

The average disposable lunch costs:

• per day: $4.02
• per school year: $723.60 
• over a span of seven school years:  $5,065.20

The average reusable lunch costs:

• per day: $2.65 
• per school year: $477.00
• over a span of seven school years: $3,339.00

That means that over seven years you can save... $1,726.20 

Wow! Put that in your child's college fund and save it! And, that is just for one reusable bento user! Imagine if your whole family went reusable! 

A typical example of a 'convenient' pre-packaged lunch.

Packing waste-free lunches also takes a huge weight off of our environment. And, I mean literally. The average student creates 67 pounds of lunch waste per year, which means that over a span of seven years -- from kindergarten to six grade -- you can eliminate 483 pounds of unnecessary lunch waste!

What does all this mean? A Laptop Lunches bento lunch box will pay for itself, both financially and ecologically, in just a few short weeks. Plus, it makes packing a healthy lunch for your child easy and fun!

Thanks, Tiffany, and all of you who have chosen to invest in Laptop Lunches Bento-ware, whether to save money, reduce waste, or simply to have fun while packing delicious, wholesome lunches! If you are looking to join the waste-free revolution, you can find lots of tools and information here. 

We’re really looking forward to this school year and being a part of yours. Stay tuned into our blog for ideas and inspirations for packing lunches, creative recipes and further ways to save you money! 

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

This lunch is a fresh and festive way to brighten up your day. A zesty quinoa salad, with pita and hummus, plus a side of mango is an easy gourmet lunch to pack on the go, whether for work, school or play!

Click here to see this weeks Full Menu details. 

Pasta Salad Picnic Lunch

Need to get out of the house? Pack a bento picnic lunch filled with pasta salad and greens and take yourself on a lunch date! With a side of whole-grain pretzels, sunflower seeds and grapefruit, this lunch will give you a little break from the mundane.

Click here to see this weeks Full Menu details! 

Bento Americana

This Weeks Bento Lunch Menu

This American classic makes a great mid-day meal any time of year. Use lots of seasonal fresh greens topped with your favorite toppings for a salad you're sure to love. Pack it with a side of chili and some fresh cornbread, and you've got a real treat!

Click here to view this weeks full menu. 

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Making Bento Lunches

Ever wondered how our amazing bento lunches come to life?

Be sure to check out our new weekly, "How To" series on the Laptop Lunches YouTube Channel. Here you'll see real life Laptop Lunches users making real life lunches such as in this video featuring co-founder Amy Hemmert:

      

If you make bento lunches at home and want to learn how to become part of our series, email us at: info@obentec.com and we'll be happy to help get you started.

Enjoy!