Every mom wishes to be able to pack a nice lunchbox for their kids, especially the ones with fancy decorations and looks so yummy too. Seriously, I would not mind having this for myself:
|
A giraffe sandwich prepared by Yan Diana |
But I tell you, I am not one of the lucky ones.
My girl is one picky eater, and I honestly have run out of ideas on what to pack for her lunchbox (and it is only the 3rd week of her in Year 1..gahh!)
Anyway, last few weeks I was honoured to be invited by MILO UHT Pack in the Energy for Champions campaign to attend a bento making workshop with one of the talented and inspiring mommy, Yan Diana from Kelab Bekal/Bento Malaysia Facebook Page. I tell you, she makes some kick-ass bento boxes, and she made it looks so easy! T_T
|
Yan and her creation |
|
Another creation of Yan's. How adorable. |
In the event, Yan taught us some handy tips on making bento and not to mention, she actually did a great job at motivating us mommies who just can't seem to get it moving in the bento department. I had loads of fun preparing my own bento box at the workshop too, eventhough it turned out so funny looking and embarassingly creepy. Hahah.
|
What I made. Seriously I don't even know what this is -___-" |
Besides Yan, Nestle's Senior Nutritionist, Iliani Ahmad also shared with us a lot of nutritional and eating tips that I find very useful especially when it comes to the children and their eating habits. One of it is to BE CONSISTENT when trying to get the kids to eat fruits and veges, which means that I should not give up when they refuse them the first few times.
|
Creation by other parents. They were quite nailing it already! |
So in case you too need some morale boosters or some tips on bento-making, here are some that I managed to recall from the workshop:
1) Prepare the ingredients as early as you can (e.g the night before or the weekend) and store it properly in a clean container
2) Get the children involved when planning the menu for bento - ask them what they want in their bentos to get an idea on what food they like and dislike
3) Get the right bento box for the kind of food (e.g a small container for condiments, a divided sections for rice and protein)
4) Make use of kitchen tools when designing the decoration : toothpicks, cookie cutters, etc.
5) Ask the children to not throw away what they do not like in the bento and bring it home instead. This way you'll know what they do not like or refuse to eat so you can form a strategy on how to finally get them to eat it! (this is brilliant haha)
|
Bella also tried making her own decoration :) |
Thank you very much MILO for this fun and informative event! I promise I'll keep on trying to prepare healthy and yummy bentos for my kids. Teheeehe..
Comments