Lunchbox look - Sept. 8 - 12, 2014 Sans sandwich

Even though I try to explain that the feeling is mutual, my daughter is very envious of other kids' lunches. Specifically, the dreaded Lunchables - even the name sounds amazing! And the cafeteria lunch kids get to have chocolate milk every single day and pizza twice a week! It's all so unfair! The jealousy was running pretty high this week, so I created a week of better-than-Lunchables. No sandwiches, fun presentation and by Friday she was happy to return to sandwiches. Mission accomplished!

Crunchable! That's pretty fun, right? I went for the obvious with this meal and made it as Lunchable-like as possible. The mini muffin cups hold a strawberry, yogurt raisins, grapes, crackers, cheese and ham, plus some celery along the top.

Tic tac toe! I wanted to change up the presentation of cheese and crackers, so I got out my X-acto knife and carved some game boards. Here we have ham, carrots, grapes, Triscuits, cucumber, mini grapes and teensy cheese cubes. I shave a little off the bottom of the cucumber so the lid can close.

Butterfly! This lunch got eaten twice. I left the box unattended for a moment before taking the photo and my toddler devoured half of it. There's a sidecar of watermelon plus carrots, crackers, grapes, mini cheese cubes and teensy meatballs. I thought the butterfly stood out fairly clear, but neither of the kids who ate it noticed. We'll assume they were too busy enjoying it.

Bunnies! This was definitely the cutest of this sandwich-free week. Lettuce dividers make everything prettier (and usually get eaten, too). Wheat Thins, mini meatballs, tiny cheese cubes, a checkered cucumber, grapes and carrots.

Crown! Not the cutest of the bunch but it signaled a return to the wonderful world of sandwiches. Inside the giant crown silicone cup are picks of mini cheese sandwiches. There's also grapes, containers of raisins and Goldfish, plus some delicious fresh pineapple.


Thanks for stopping by!