This fall my daughter begins preschool and I’m in search of a bento box for her lunches. I’m half Japanese and I’ve grown up with bento boxes my entire life. I’m looking forward to preparing meals that will make her smile and hopefully consume. Luckily it will only be twice a week! There are a plethora of bento blogs devoted to bento box preparation and many options to buy bento lunch boxes online. I’m looking for a bento that is colorful, cute and can be easily opened with a toddler’s small hands. The larger orange and pink Vivo is adorable, but with the metal handle is better suited towards older kids.

In addition to the actual bento lunch boxes there are recipe books and a dizzying array of accessories for the preparation of bento. I’ve been already using some of them to make mealtimes more fun for my finicky eater. Luckily she loves rice, organic nori and edamame which I’ll be adding to the bento and are quick and easy to prepare.

Bento products featured above:

Vivo Kids Bento Box, Orange and Pink, $22 at Amazon.com
Yokom Kids Bear Bento Box, $17.99 at Sugarcharms.com
Hawaii’s Bento Box Cookbook: Fun Lunches for Kids, $14.95 at nativebookshawaii.com
Niko Niko Punch 3 – Face Bento Decoration, $19.50 at jbox.com

From our friends at TheFind.com