Bento: Simple Can Still be Cute

When I was young and my Mom packed my lunches there was a simple formula, sandwich + chips + fruit + dessert = well made lunch. Of course there were variations substituting the sandwich for soup, the chips for crackers, etc. Back then it's how most of the lunchboxes opened to look. You know what, it's still a fine choice. It's simple, easy, you can find lots of healthy variations on even chips these days. So I'll show you how even that can be just a little bit dressed up to be cute. Kind of like this:

Okay I'm sure everything here is recognizable, those are sandwich thin rounds cut in half, made into simple turkey sandwiches and stacked. A cup of blueberries with a strawberry garnish, frozen grapes, and baked Cheetos (yes my kids at Cheetos...). But it looks cute right? The colors are appealing. It doesn't look like your trying to pull one over and add any tricky "new" foods, kids like that. All I did to up the cute factor was use one "Bento Supply" this:

This cute little "cutter" has so many uses, cut lunch meats and cheese. Use it as a stencil to add details with condiments. You can even cut thinly sliced fruits(I've done it with apples that I dip in lemon juice, but that's for another time). The best part, this little guy can be had for under $5. Try Amazon, if your willing to wait for shipping from Japan there's JBox.com, and even Ebay has them.