School lunch transformed from boring to bento

Kid foodie site Little Nummies points out this awesome compilation of bento lunch ideas posted by Wendy on Wendolonia. She started sharing weeks at a time of bento lunch ideas way back in April of 2008 when she began packing her son's preschool lunch. Almost a year later she's still going strong posting an average of four days worth of bento lunch ideas almost every week.

According to Wendy "The truth is, making a bento box usually doesn’t take much longer than putting a “regular” lunch together. Because Wyatt takes a cold lunch to school, I don’t need to do any cooking, so for me, 90% of what I do to put together a bento revolves around the equipment. Other parents put food into baggies. I put food into boxes and cups. I try to make them attractive as well by varying colors and textures (which I would be doing anyway), adding cute accessories here and there (equipment again), and occasionally cutting food into shapes (the other 10% of the work)."

She's made it easy for us intimidated school lunch makers searching to spice it up a bit by providing a list of lunch box ideas which she's broken down by food groups---Wow! She's even post a few ideas on what supplies you'll need to have on hand for easy construction. The bentos are always well-balanced and super-sweet. However, what I find really encouraging, drooling over all her bentos, is the fact that she's done an amazing job of raising an adventurous eater who ingests everything from steamed broccoli to baked tofu. Already making my list for Mitsuwa Marketplace.