Bento#110: Caterpillar Bento
I’ve almost forgotten to post about today’s bento. LOL! It’s public holiday today, so we were out and about from morning till night. I prepared the bentos for our outing to a temple about more than an hour from Bangkok city, but the plan was canceled at the very last minute. Nonetheless, the bentos were prepared already, so my kids ate them when we were at FIL’s place. We spent some time there this morning…
It’s a simple and speedy bento with fish balls decorated as a caterpillar, 2 pieces of garlic toasts, some kiwi, carrots and blueberries. Again, my gal didn’t want to eat the carrots!
My boy’s bento had more food which included sweet potatoes and a dwarf apple.
When MIL saw how my kids brought their bentos there in their insulated bags, and the food stayed fresh due to the cooler packs. She asked me to get some for her. Apparently, my 9-year-old niece is packing food for herself to school everyday, and she told MIL that she wanted to pack some fruits like I do. I was so happy to hear that!
She saw me packing bentos for my kids, when we were back in Ipoh a few months ago. My kids wanted bentos as their tea after naps, so I still obliged in fixing bentos, but only simple ones due to lack of tools. She used to pack just junk food or biscuits to school, but MIL said she will fix herself some sandwiches now. She just hope to pack some fruits in, and I think she really needs to have a cooler bag to keep them fresh. Thus, I will get her one, and probably another one for her brother too. Imagine a little 9 year old packing her own food to school, aren’t you happy to hear that? I think I might get her some baran and silicon cups too. That will be easier for her to separate the bread from the fruits.
At the same time, I wonder when will my kids start packing their food? 
The fishball caterpillars are so cute. Gotta go get the Carla spoon/fork puncher – great idea to turn the spoon into antenna and legs.
Yup… agreed….this Caterpillar bentos are so cute… love the way she present it….
I love the little caterpillars.
Very cute, great idea.
Amy, normally you will pack the hot food together with the cold one (e.g. fruits, etc) and how to you keep the food warm / cold at the same time? You mean if you pack sandwich with fruits at the side, you just put the cold pack outsite the lunch box?
Is the cold pack sold seperately or like those inside the bento? where to get it? Thanks
3lilangels, ya, that spoon and fork puncher is very useful. Go grab it.
Ellena and SIG, thanks! *blush*
Caroline, for hot food, I let them cool down to room temperature first. If they are too hot, the cheese will melt in the lunch box and it might spoil the decor, unless you meant to have melt cheese as decor, which can be done as well. Besides that, it’s best to pack the food when it has cooled down to room temperature to avoid germs from growing. The cold fruits will help to bring down the temperature in the lunch box, but most fruits can’t stay fresh for long hours. I put the lunch box in an insulated bag, together with another ice bag. One ice bag will normally stay cold for like 4 – 6 hours, if you put more in, it will stay cold longer. You can see how one of my insulated bag looks like here http://motheringcorner.com/2009/01/12/bento90-making-cute-faces-for-bento/
I have a few smaller ones for my kids, if they want to have individual bags for outings.
Oh thanks for sharing Amy. That day I saw one lunch box comes with an small ice pack ‘placed’ inside the lunch box too. What if we are packing rice and with fruits beside them? Will the rice turn cold while the kid eat them?
Caroline, I know the bentos you meant, which are meant more for fruits as the ice bags are inserted beneath the cover. Am I right? The rice will be cold, definitely. So, if your kid can take sushi, I think it should be OK to them. But for my kids, they still prefer slightly warm rice, that’s why I would pack rice in thermal container, and try to minimize packing rice in normal bentos. If not, I will have to bring along some furikake or soup so that they can have it with the cold rice.
Great idea on using the fork spoon puncher – your caterpillar is sooo cute!