25+ Lunches In LunchBots & Features That We Like

Hello there, I truly hope all of you are doing well and remain so. For us, it is again back to school with Nikolai already in college. Normally he would be a high school junior this fall, but during the past year he completed his virtual high school classes, and this year expects to complete the requirements to graduate with his Associates degree (he is 16 years old). Of course we are very proud of the way he adapted to all the recent changes with a positive goal and a usable plan. 

Early in the spring each year we begin thinking about summer holiday. Almost always we entertain several ideas regarding geography, cultural and historical attractions and routes. We did so again this year, and again we changed it all by departure time. Some how it all works out so that we return mostly pleased with our excellent adventure. This year we visited twenty five states and we enjoyed the local cuisine along the way.

While it isn't rocket science, there are some tips, techniques, and tools that make providing a good lunch easier than many might think. One item that comes directly to mind is LunchBots  which is quality stainless steel lunchbox that we really love.

We personally own both the LunchBots Duo and Quad which can be found on Amazon. LunchBots are made of stainless steel, come in various sizes and styles and with lids in cheerful colors. Nikolai has always been a small eater, and he prefers a little bit of of this and a little bit of that in his lunchbox. I have a few lunchboxes which I go to whenever I am in a hurry and one of them is our LunchBots! The main reason is that I LOVE their divided compartments! Also, we have had our LunchBots since Nikolai was in Elementary school, and it's still in perfect condition. It's easy to pack, easy to wash, very durable and I'm confident it will last for many years to come!

Features that we like:

- Divided compartments to keep food separate and not touching.
- The lids are easy to remove even for small hands.
- They are easy to clean, will not retain stains, odors or residues since it is stainless steel.
- Will last for a long time with proper care.
- Lead free, plastic free, BPA free, phthalate free, non toxic and waste free.

You can view my gallery of lunches packed in LunchBots by clicking HERE.

Lunchbots also have insulated containers which are great, and we have been using them a lot for packing hot lunches. When you have prepared a great lunch, it is always nice to know that you can keep it at the best temperature.

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How To Pack Hot Leftovers For Lunch & 30 Ideas For Thermos

Happy New Year 2020! It has been a couple of weeks of back to school action since the holidays. We enjoyed them and I hope you did also. Nikolai has requested some warm, comforting lunches especially this time of year, thus, leftovers in a thermos is the ticket.

Here is how I prep in the mornings when I need to send him a hot meal:

• First I fill his thermos with boiling water, close the lid, place it on the counter with the lid on and let it sit for 5 minutes or more while I'm assembling his side dishes such as fruits, veggies and a little snack.
• Heat the hot portion of the meal to piping hot. 
• Then I pour out the hot water and fill the thermos with the hot heated up food. 
• Secure lid tight and it's ready to go. 
• Don't forget to add a fork or spoon into your kids lunchbag.

For non-liquid food such as chicken nuggets or pizza, I add an extra step to my prep. After I dump the boiling water out of the thermos, I lay a piece of folded paper towel in the bottom of the thermos to absorb any moisture while keeping the food hot.
Insulated containers are great for leftovers which are mainly dinner foods! We have also packed breakfast for lunch such as pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausages.

We have several insulated jars which we love, and rotate their use quite often. They are our Lunchbots Thermal, Thermos stainless steel insulated jar and U Konserve insulated food jar. We also still have our Thermos Foogo and Thermos Funtainer which Nikolai used quite often when he was younger, and we still use occasionally.

Here are 30 Hot Lunch Ideas for Thermos:

1. Pasta
2. Mac and Cheese
3. Soup
4. Grilled Cheese
5. Pizza (cut to fit)
6. Chicken Nuggets
7. Bagel Bites
8. Mashed Potatoes 
9. Ravioli
10. Meatballs
11. Chili
12. Gyoza
13. French Toast Sticks
14. Leftovers like Casserole, Steak, Chicken, BBQ Pork, etc
15. Fish Sticks
16. Scrambled Eggs
17. Pancakes
18. Sausages
19. Taco Meat (include tortilla wraps or taco shells on the side)
20. Fried Rice
21. Fried Noodles
22. Pot Roast
23. Quesadilla
24. Spaghetti
25. Jambalaya
26. Red beans or black beans and rice
27. Gumbo
28. Chicken Curry
29. Tortellini 
30. Ramen noodles and more

Here are just a few hot lunches of which I managed to snap pictures. I always include sides with them such as fruits, veggies and snacks in another container (not pictured).

Leftover curry chicken with potatoes, carrots and basmati rice is in the insulated container. I heated the curry and rice in a microwave safe plate and transferred them to his preheated insulated container.

Leftover pasta with ground beef and spinach is in the insulated container. I heated the pasta in a microwave safe bowl and transferred it to his preheated insulated container.

This was packed by dad. Leftover macaroni and cheese is in the insulated container with pieces of baked ham. 

Here is leftover steak and mashed potatoes in the insulated container. I heated the steak and potatoes in a microwave safe plate and then transferred them to his preheated insulated container.

Leftover stir fry vermicelli / mei fun is in the insulated container. I heated it in a microwave safe bowl and transferred it to his preheated insulated container.

Leftover tri-color bow tie pasta with ground beef is in the insulated container. I heated it in a microwave safe plate and transferred it to his preheated insulated container.

There are probably lots of other children that enjoy hot lunches. What hot lunches do you send with your kids?

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How To Prep & Pack Hot Lunches For School or Work

Happy New Year 2018! For us it has been a week of back to school since the holidays.

If the new year for you is starting with requests for hot lunches, this post might stir your imagination.
Nikolai was always a sandwich loving kid and now he tells me that he only wants hot lunches from now on!
His latest favorites are jambalaya, red beans or black beans and rice, gumbo and chicken curry.

Here is how I prep in the mornings when I need to send him a hot meal:

• First I fill his thermos with boiling water, close the lid, place it on the counter with the lid on and let it sit for 5 minutes or more while I'm assembling his side dishes such as fruits, veggies and a little snack. 
• Then I pour out the hot water and fill the thermos with the hot food. 
• Secure lid tight and it's ready to go. 
• Don't forget to add a fork or spoon into your kids lunchbag.

Insulated containers are great for leftovers which are mainly dinner foods! We do soup, tortellini, pasta, gyoza, chicken nuggets, chili, meatballs, fried rice, fried noodles, mac & cheese, pizza (cut to fit), Jambalaya and more. I'll also have to try breakfast for lunch such as pancakes and sausages soon.

We have several insulated jars which we love, and rotate their use quite often. They are our Lunchbots Thermal, Thermos stainless steel insulated jar and U Konserve insulated food jar. We also still have our Thermos Foogo and Thermos Funtainer which Nikolai used quite often when he was younger, and we still used them occasionally. These insulated containers are perfect for such a mission.

Here are just a few hot lunches of which I managed to take pictures. I always include sides which are fruits, veggies and snacks in another container as shown in the first picture. Actually, the foods looked better than in these photos since I had to quickly snap the photos. The whole idea is for the foods to be hot, and every moment I spend taking the photo is a moment the food is cooling.

Leftover jambalaya is in the insulated container. I heated the Jambalaya in a microwave safe plate and transferred it to his preheated insulated container. Sides are cucumber slices, orange slices, strawberries and Annie's organic crackers in our Lunchbots quad.

Chicken nuggets from the freezer, heated them in a microwave safe dish and transferred them to his preheated insulated container for lunch.

Macaroni and cheese are a favorite of many. We sometimes use alternate varieties of cheese such as Gouda or Asiago if we make it from scratch. I made Annie's Mac & Cheese in the morning, chopped up some leftover ham, tossed it in the pot and when it was hot I quickly transferred it to the preheated container.

The evening before I sent this lunch we had some steak and broccoli cheese rice which he liked so much that he requested it for lunch the following day.

These are just a few examples of the possibilities for getting the new year warmed up. I'm sure you all have some tasty ideas for some nice hot lunches for your family. Remember, the same idea can work for your own lunch especially if you don't have convenient access to a microwave at lunchtime.

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12 Of My Favorite Christmas Holiday Lunches

This is, for me, and my family, the most wonderful time of the year! Truly everyday is wonderful for us, but this time of year it is even more special.

I've packed over 50 Christmas themed lunches over they years and I must admit, I LOVE them ALL, even the simplest ones. You know why? It's because each and every one of them were packed with love, and Nikolai appreciated and enjoyed them.

I've decided to feature twelve of my most favorite ones, let me tell you, it's not easy to pick these above the others, but it was great fun looking through all of the lunches which I've posted over the years.

These lunches are not in any particular order. As I mentioned earlier, I love them all!

Joy to the world is one of my favorite Christmas songs. JOY on a bell themed lunch which you can find the details HERE.

I love the strawberry and marshmallow Santa in this lunch and of course the present sandwich. Details can be found HERE.

And the stocking are hung by the chimney with care...details HERE.

We never get snow here in Florida but it's always fun to make a Snowman lunch. Details can be found HERE.

It's always fun to decorate Gingerbread Houses, and here is one made of sandwich. Find the details HERE.

Nikolai loves Winnie The Pooh and we have several Pooh Christmas ornaments. Of course I had to make a Pooh Bear Holiday themed lunch, details HERE.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer is one of my favorite characters and I've made several Rudolph themed lunches over the years. You can find this one HERE.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree roll-ups. This is quite easy to make and you can find it HERE.

I challenged myself to make Santa's belt and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Find the details HERE.

The Polar Express is one of our family traditions. We watch it almost every year and HERE is a themed lunch.

Nikolai was fascinated with Snowmen when he was little. HERE is one wearing ear muffs.

This is one of the easiest Christmas tree lunch I've made. I used a tree cookie cutter as separator for a lunchables style lunch. You can find the details HERE.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and an entire holiday season of good health and good fortune.

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How To Keep Macaroni and Cheese Warm Until Lunchtime

'Tis the season that calls for warm foods. Nikolai loves macaroni and cheese especially when it's paired with chicken nuggets or meatballs. We have several thermos and other food warming jars but those do not work well when having both mac & cheese with nuggets together. You'll end up having the nuggets above the mac & cheese and I'm pretty sure that it would be all soggy by lunch time, and not as he'd hoped it would be. So, I've been using our insulated lunch bags whenever I pack these combo lunches. Of course the Thermos will be used when we pack soup, stew, just macaroni and cheese, or other such foods. It all depends on what you are packing.

In an earlier post I've shared how I packed chicken nuggets and how to keep them warm until lunch time. You can find the post HERE.

All of the macaroni and cheese lunches below are Annie's brand homegrown organic Mac & Cheese and the chicken nuggets are organic and nitrate free. Also, his sides of fruits, veggies, and snacks are not pictured. I find that whenever I pack a hot lunch, I'm always in a hurry to take the pictures so that the lunch is not being exposed to cool air. The other items, which are expected to be cool was sent in a separate container.

Shown in the photos below are some lunches which Nikolai enjoyed during cooler days here in FL. These lunches were packed in our Lunchbots Duo. We've owned this stainless steel lunchbox for perhaps 7 years, and it's still in perfect condition!

Cute cheese cut-outs, or simply adding baran or picks can make your child's lunch extra special.

For this first bento lunch I combined chicken nuggets with mac & cheese to which I added a cute bear face cut from a slice of provolone cheese. I used my CuteZCute bear cutter for that.

For the second lunch I again have macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets but used baran sheets to make it cheerful.

For the third bento lunch I have meatballs with macaroni and cheese to which I have added a couple of eye picks, hand cut a bit of nori and some provolone cheese to create a cute face. I think it looks like a bear face.

Last for this collection are chicken nuggets with some cute picks with macaroni & cheese.

What are your kids favorite hot lunches?

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Chinese New Year Rooster Bento 2017

Chinese New Year is around the corner, Saturday, January 28th. The Chinese zodiac is a cycle of twelve years with each represented by an animal sign, and the sign for the Lunar New Year 2017 is Rooster. Chinese New Year is for many families a joyful time for getting together. I remember and love all of our reunion dinners which fell one day before Chinese New Year and we always gather at grandma's house to celebrate. My mom's side of the family is HUGE and the house would fill with aunties, uncles and cousins. Grandma, my mom and aunts will have been busy in the kitchen cooking for all of us, more than 30 people for sure! So many of us that everyone has to share rooms. Of course we did not sleep much, we play with fire works, watch Chinese drama (the older Jackie Chan movies - it's a tradition), chit chat, play cards, eat lots of cookies, etc.

On Chinese New Year day, we all wake up super early, dress in our new clothing (in my case it's always something in red ), wish the elders "Kung Hei Fat Choy" and those who are not married will get "ang pows" (red packets filled with money), a little later the dragon dance will come to grandma's house and after that we will go visiting more family and friends and fill ourselves with more food at each stop, lol.

The nice thing about Chinese New Year is that it starts with the New moon on the first day of the first lunar month and ends on the Full moon 15 days later. So, I usually have and will wear new clothing for at least 7 days. It's not a tradition but that's how my family rolls. The visiting of family and friends will also run for the 15 days, and that involves a lot of eating!

For this bento to celebrate ´The year of the Rooster´ I have included a three layer sandwich shaped with an oval cutter and decorated with fruit leather, cheddar cheese, and bits or raisin for eyes. Also beneath the rooster is some granola bar. In the other section I have sugar snap peas, some red grapes in my favorite square silicone cup, and a cute sauce container of ranch. This lunch was packed in a Lunch Bots Duo.

Happy Chinese New Year 2017! Wishing all of you who celebrate a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!!

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Christmas Ornament Bento

I hope you all had a nice weekend. We had a very fun weekend with hubby's birthday celebration. It was so nice to have his birthday fall on a Saturday this year, and whenever we have a birthday occur on a Saturday, we continued the celebration till Sunday! As with any other celebration, lots of food was involved and shared with family and close friends.

Anytime, or all the time, between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a good time to be decorating a tree. We do it as something of an ongoing project, adding a few more when the inspiration occurs.

Here is a quick and simple ornaments themed lunch which was created with a circle cookie cutter.

In this bento lunch (packed in a Lunchbots quad): A couple of circle shaped sandwiches with Colby Jack cheese accents and a pick. Seedless grapes with an ornament cupcake ring, organic baby carrots, Babybel cheese decorated with some tiny circles topped with an ornament hook pick and sharing its quadrant with pretzels.

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Brighten Up Your Lunches With Food Picks

Food picks are one of my favorite bento accessories. Many are so cute that I LOVE them myself! In fact, I've just ordered a bunch of new picks, not yet sure if it's for Nikolai's lunches or for my own viewing pleasure, lol. Lately, especially on days when my lunch packing mojo is on holiday, I've been using food picks to brighten up his lunches.

When I first started out bento-ing or packing lunches for Nikolai, one early consideration was his picky eating. Yes, he is a picky eater. I'm not one to be overly critical or assign lables, but initially I had some difficulty packing lunches that he would actually eat. I thought that cute food picks and rings might be great ways to brighten up his lunches. The first bento accessories I purchased were food picks from Bento USA (they have so many choices with reasonable prices so I purchased a huge collection).

Cute food picks and rings really are great ways to brighten up any simple lunch and I noticed that he would eat up most of his lunches when I included those cute picks or rings. We also acquired many more food picks/ rings by saving them after we devoured cupcakes at a party or just by buying them from the store. Enjoy the cupcakes and save the cute picks for later, how convenient is that! :)

I've included food picks or rings in most of Nikolai's past lunches and below are just a few.

Bento lunch 1: A sandwich cut into half which I included a bee cupcake pick. Sides were organic granola bar cut into half, cheddar crackers, string cheese slices, cucumber slices and apple slices with a smaller bee pick. This lunch was packed in a leak-proof Yumbox.

Bento lunch 2: This lunch was sent warm in our Warm and Tote bag. It was all natural chicken nuggets with cute picks and organic popcorn. He also had a side of fruits which are not in picture. This lunch was packed in a Planetbox shuttle.

Bento lunch 3: This lunch was packed towards the end of last school year when I'd lost my lunch packing mojo. String cheese with a soccer ball cupcake ring, yogurt covered stars, a sandwich with a soccer ball cupcake pick, brownie for a treat and green grapes. Packed in a Planetbox rover.

Bento lunch 4: I attempted to free hand cut a sweet shape from smoked Gouda cheese, topped it on a Hawaiian sweet bun. His sides were organic apple sauce with a sweet pick, yogurt covered fruits and organic baby carrots. This lunch was packed in a leak-proof Yumbox.

Bento lunch 5: This simple lunch was packed in a Lunchbots duo and sent warm in our Warm and Tote bag. It contains chicken nuggets, a cereal bar with a star pick and cheddar crackers. Sides are fruits and veggies which are sent cold, not pictured.

Bento lunch 6: A ladybug pick on a sandwich, a couple of flower shaped watermelon slices on green grapes, yogurt covered fruit snacks, a Babybel cheese, cheese crackers and yogurt covered star. This lunch was packed in a Planetbox rover.

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack these lunches.

 

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Valentine's Day I Love You Lunches

Valentine's day is coming soon and already love is in the air. I especially like this time of year! I try to fill Nikolai's lunchbox with heart shaped foods or picks to make them festive.♥

Here are a few "I Love You" themed lunches which are very simple and made with some food that he requested since he wasn't feeling well. I've made around 40 Valentine's Day lunches and you can find them here.

Bento lunch 1: I used the 'I love you' sandwich stamper which I purchased from our local dollar tree store to stamp the sandwich and I've yet to see a similar cutter anywhere else. His sides were organic baby carrots with a heart shaped cupcake pick and an apple half which was cut using a couple of heart shaped cutters.
This lunch was packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Bento lunch 2: This lunch is quite memorable to me. It was made the day that Nikolai started to feel ill but insisted of going to school. He specifically requested chicken nuggets and bread. I sent this lunch warm in his Warmables lunch kit (we love this kit especially when the weather is cooler and warm food is really nice) and it stayed warm till his lunch time. He had whole grain all natural chicken nuggets, pumpernickel bread with a few picks to remind him that I love him. I am sure any person not feeling their best will especially enjoy knowing they're loved.
He also had some fruits and snacks which are not in picture, sent with an ice pack. This lunch was packed in our Lunchbots duo with our Warmables kit.

Bento lunch 3: This was a simple bagel lunch which at the last minute I decided to cut into half and include a babybel cheese with a heart cut-out, a three heart silicone baran, organic baby carrots, pear slices with a heart pick and seedless grapes. This lunch was packed in our Easylunchboxes container.

Here are the supplies that I used to create and pack these lunches.

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