Stacking Bento One of the biggest dilemmas I face on a nearly daily basis, outside of the dreaded question whats for dinner, is what do I pack for lunch? And Ill be the first to admit that Ive more than once fallen into the rut of pb&js with the occasional Lunchable tossed in. But so often, they bring half of the lunch back uneaten. As I stare at the leftovers, I have to admit that I wouldnt want to eat them either; a flattened pb&j and some brown apple slices. Yuck. If your kids are anything like mine, youll have noticed that they like cute things. Regular square graham crackers are ok, but they cant get enough of teddy bear shaped graham crackers from the SAME company! They prefer string cheese as opposed to regular cubes of mozzarella or cheddar. And who doesnt like an elegantly plated colorful meal versus a mess of gray or brown on a plate? It is said that we first eat with our eyes. Somehow surely, I could make their lunch as pleasing to the eye as it is to the stomach. Then one day, I discovered the world of bentos. Now these arent necessarily the bentos you find at a Japanese restaurant. And although they can be very elaborate, its more of a way of packing meals attractively. Theres a huge online community devoted to making bento type lunches for kids as well as adults. Go Google it now. Just type in bento for kids or sandwich bento and click images. Its OK. Ill wait. . . . See? Amazing right? And now you can also make bento lunches with our new stacking bentos. It all just takes a few extra minutes of your time and your kids can have a nutritious meal thats pleasing to the eye. And it doesnt have to be rice based. You can fill your bento with whatever you have in your house be it sandwiches or even leftovers from the previous nights dinner. There are little molds you can buy to form rice or last nights mashed potatoes into cute animal shapes as well as press cutters to make little cocktail weenies into octopuses. Cookie cutters can also cut sandwiches into various shapes. You can make fruit kebabs on reusable plastic toothpicks decorated with a little animal faces. It may take a little extra effort but you can be sure that your kid will have a lunch that is the envy of the lunchroom as well as healthy!