Gifts for the Lunch Packer: 2014 Edition

If you've been a reader for a while, you have probably seen my previous posts with Gift ideas for the lunch packer.  I thought that I'd post a quick update with some new toys and tools for the lunch packer.

First things first, I want to disclose that I am an Amazon and BentoUSA Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.  All opinions of products are my own. 

 If you are looking to help someone get started with packing lunches, or if you just want to give someone a gift that keeps giving (with every lunch they pack), I can't think of anything better than my favorite boxes, Easylunchboxes.

They are currently available in both classic and bright colors. 

A great accessory for Easylunchboxes is a set of mini dippers.  They are very leak resistant, and are great for packing sauces, yogurt, applesauce, and the like.

 

If cute lunches are a goal, there are some amazing cutters available from Cute-Z-Cute.  The Cuddle Palz and Animal Friends cutters are even interchangeable, so there are a ton of ways to combine them to make great lunches.

The Animal Palz mini sandwich cutters are another great option from Cute-Z-Cute. 

If you are looking to gift some lunchbox inspiration, there are some wonderful books available.

Image courtesy Amazon.com

First and foremost, how about the one that I am featured in?  Cooking with Trader Joe's: Easylunchboxes features a lot of my bento blogger friends, with easy and doable lunches packed with our favorite products from Trader Joe's and beyond, all in Easylunchboxes.

Everyday Bento is another great book that I have found inspiration from, by my friend Wendy from Wendolonia.

I hope that this update to my Gifts for the Lunch Packer series has brought you some ideas, and I hope that you check out my earlier posts for more detailed gift ideas.

Gifts for the Lunch Packer: Back to School Edition - Fun Extras PLUS Lunchbox Love Giveaway!

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog!

First things first, I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.  All opinions of products are my own.  I have not been compensated by Lunchbox Love in any way.
Some of this post is a re-post of one I did at Christmas, but I have many new readers since then (hello, and Welcome), so a recap is a good thing.

Sometimes, a lunch needs a little extra something to make it really special.  For fun, I like to use cookie cutters - I don't tend to go crazy with the cuteness, but I like a little something.

I have a wall of cookie cutters in my house.  Seriously.  A giant peg board,  covered in cookie cutters.  I need better hooks, so they are always falling off, and are not always prettily put away, but some day I'll get them up there and take a picture for you.  It's impressive.  I've been collecting for a long time.

Cookie cutters are wonderful for lunches.  They can make boring things interesting.  Nothing like a carrot flower to perk up a carrot!

I love this little butterfly set, but then again, I have a true butterfly lover!

These are from a larger butterfly set, but I used a mini one on the babybell

I don't own this fairy tale set (yet) but it looks lovely!

Like to spell messages in lunches?  Here's one big alphabet set from Wilton, and another one, too.  I have a large alphabet set and a mini one, and both have their uses.

These mini animal cracker cookie cutters would be perfect for lunches, don't you think?

Whatever you get, cookie cutters are good fun, for way more than just cookies!

*****

Image courtesy Say Please, Inc.

Another way to make lunches extra special is to put a note in them.  I particularly enjoy Lunchbox Love notes from Say Please, Inc.  Each note contains a "Did You Know" trivia fact on one side, and a sweet note on the other.  (Two notes per pack of 12 cards are blank on the note side, for special personalized notes)

Image courtesy Say Please, Inc

Image courtesy Say Please, Inc

Image courtesy Say Please, Inc

They have special sets for holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), which are really fun.

Image courtesy Say Please, Inc

They also have 32 different volumes of Lunchbox Love Notes for kids - volumes 17-32 are all new for this school year), as well as special volumes for Birthday Boys, Birthday Girls, and Tweens & Teens.  In addition, they have a few volumes for grown ups in your life.  Want to give a special note to someone you work with?  They've got it covered.

Now for the fun part - Say Please is offering Volumes 17 & 18 to one lucky reader, as well as a 10% off coupon code for everyone!  To enter - please visit Say Please and then come back here and tell me your favorite thing about them.  If you like, you can leave a trivia tidbit in your comment.

As always, I need a way to contact you.  Anonymous commenters, with no contact information, cannot win.  If I can't contact you, I can't get your information to Say Please and you can't get your prize.  Simple as that.  US entries only, please.

One comment per person, please.

I will choose a winner, using Random.org, on Wednesday, August 10 at 6 PMish, EST.

Gifts for the Lunch Packer: Back to School Edition - Boxes, Bags & Containers PLUS an EasyLunchBox Giveaway!

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog!

First things first, I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.  All opinions of products are my own.

Much of this post is a bit of a re-post of one I did around Christmas time, but I have a lot of new readers since then (hello, and thank you!).


What does the lunch packer need most?  Well, containers, of course!

My favorite containers are obviously Easy Lunchboxes.

I love Easy Lunchboxes because they are sturdy, stackable, easy, and dishwasher safe.  I have three sets, I think, so there are always clean ones ready for our family lunch packing.  They are a good size for kids or grown ups.  I have had mine for over a year, and have never had one break, warp, or discolor.  

A fantastic piece of news is that Easy Lunchboxes are now available through Amazon, and are eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping with orders over $25, and they also qualify for Prime shipping, if you have that.  Since they have been available through Amazon, they have quickly become the best selling item in the lunch box category.

Easy Lunchboxes also have a cooler available, which holds up to three of their boxes.  Perfect for outings!

If you would prefer something other than Easy Lunchboxes, there are of course other boxes available.  

The first boxes I got were these Emsa divided boxes.  They are also sturdy and dishwasher safe, with removable trays.  These Lock & Lock container sets are also wonderful - the smaller containers are perfect for yogurt, applesauce, or fruit cups (and they fit inside the Easy LunchBox containers).  I love using the Lock & Locks for snacks.

For other options, Emsa also has a smaller divided container.  Also popular are Laptop Lunch Boxes.  You can also buy their Bento Buddies container sets separately, which I happen to have.

If you are looking for a really adorable lunchbox and container set, the yubo box is so cute... I got one hoping that the EasyLunchBox containers would fit in them... alas, they do not, and so I returned the box, but they are a great option.  The interchangeable face plates are so so cute.  The whole box is dishwasher safe, except for the paper face plates.  The containers are also all dishwasher safe.

Another great online shop, which I have not ordered from, but I know other lunch bloggers have, is Allthingsforsale.  They have some great items.

Inner containers and accessories are also important. 

Allthingsforsale has a good selection of them.  I like them for things like ranch dressing or nutella or the like.

There are several other options for boxes to pack your lunches in, and a couple that do fit the EasyLunchbox containers are the adorable Stephen Joseph lunch boxes (many of which also have matching water bottles available!) and the more streamlined koko freshpacket.  Just be aware that EasyLunchbox containers are a little more likely to leak if put on their side. 

********GIVEAWAY CLOSED**************

Now for the really cool part:  EasyLunchboxes is offering a container set and a cooler bag of your color choice (Retail value of $21.90).  All you have to do is head on over to EasyLunchboxes and come back here and leave a comment about something you like about EasyLunchboxes!

This giveaway is offered to US residents only. Please do not enter this giveaway if you have won or received free product from EasyLunchboxes within the past 3 months. 

As always, I need a way to contact you.  Anonymous commenters, with no contact information, cannot win.  If I can't contact you, I can't get your information to EasyLuncboxes and you can't get your prize.  Simple as that.  US entries only, please.

One comment per person, please.

I will choose a winner, using Random.org, on Thursday, August 4 at 6 PMish, EST.

Gifts for the Lunch Packer: Back to School Edition - Bento Gadgets

Don't miss your chance to enter my King Arthur Flour Giveaway here!

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer/things you might need for Back to School.

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and some of the links I post are my affiliate links.

I don't do a lot of the super cute bentos that many people do, but I have a few toys that I just adore using in my lunches.  This post is a bit of a repost of one I did around Christmas time, but I have a lot of new readers since then (hello, and thank you!).

One of the most fun tools is hard boiled egg molds.

In the realm of traditional Japanese bento hard boiled egg molds, you can get a car & a fish, a bunny & a bear, a star & a heart, or for even more fun, Hello Kitty (I don't have her yet - but I want her!).

You can also shape hard boiled eggs with Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich molds.  I have the farm animals, but they also have a set with a star, a heart, and a cylinder, or the Oh-My-Goodness-I-Want-Them-Before-Winter set of a Gingerbread Man, a Snowman, and a Snowflake.

Another staple of fun lunch is bento picks.  How about these adorable animal ones?  Or these swirly Wilton "Message" ones?  (I have never tucked a note of any kind into them, but you could).  Allthingsforsale also has a HUGE array of picks that I am dreaming of.  I love the panda bears, the letters, and the music notes!

Silicone cups also make great dividers in lunches.  These square cups are perfect, or you could go the cute route and get some animal shaped ones, or these flower shaped ones.

You could go all out and get super cute.  You could stay more utilitarian.  But, any way you shape it (hardy har har), adding a couple of these things to your lunch packing arsenal could help start the school year off right.

Gifts for the Lunch Packer: Back to School Edition - Bread Baking (and KAF Giveaway!)

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer/things you might need for Back to School.

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and some of the links I post are my affiliate links.

I love making fresh bread for lunches. If you have the right tools, it isn't that hard, and doesn't take much time. There's something wonderful about making your own bread, knowing what goes into it, and being able to customize it accordingly.

By far my favorite bread for lunches is pain de mie.  I use this wonderful covered loaf pan from King Arthur Flour, and it really makes the texture something to talk about.  The lid compresses the bread as it bakes, making for a denser crumb, and when the bread comes out of the oven, I quickly rub the crust with a little butter, wrap the whole loaf in a kitchen towel and then in a plastic bag.  When it cools in this way, the crust is delightfully soft, and little people who might complain about crusts never complain about this bread.  There's a smaller loaf pan available too, if you want (my recipes are all for the larger pan)

Of course, in order to make bread baking really simple, I like to use a bread machine to get my dough ready.  You can throw all the ingredients in when you go to work, set the timer, and come home to dough ready to be baked.  You can, of course, bake in the bread machine, too, but I much prefer baking in the oven.  The cream of the crop Wish-it-was-in-my-kitchen bread machine is the Zojirushi (or this smaller Zojirushi model).  I have one similar to this Breadman, and it makes my dough just fine and dandy.  Still wish I had the Zo, though!

I also love to use my food scale to measure ingredients.  It really makes everything fool proof.  I love this Escali scale.  It can measure in grams, ounces, or pounds (up to 11 lbs), and you can put a bowl or other container on it to zero out for measuring.    Plus, it comes in a variety of colors.

If you want to get really fancy (as I often do), you can try your hand at my Rainbow Pain de Mie, which is always a hit.  For that, you will need food colorings and a rolling pin.  And you have to not mind getting your hands a little colorful.

King Arthur Flour has so many wonderful ingredients to use in bread (and other baking)... you can add some fiber with their new Hi-Maize natural fiber (seriously, never notice it's there, and it adds a fiber punch!), or top your bread with Artisan topping (though this would not work so well with pain de mie...)

Now here's the fun part - the kind people over at King Arthur Flour are offering a $20 e-gift card to one of my readers!

They have a great online store, which I urge you to check out.

I love their flours, of course, and their specialty ingredients - the Vermont Cheese Powder!  The Maple and Cinnamon Flav-r-Bites!

And don't get me started on their gadgets and bakeware...

On top of it all, they have incredible resources on their website which really set them apart from other companies.  Need help with something?  Try the Baker's Hotline!  Want to peruse some truly awesome recipes?  They have them in spades.

All you have to do is go to their website and tell me what you would get with your gift card, should you win.  One lucky reader, chosen at random, will win a $20 e-gift card to the King Arthur Flour Baker's Store.  That's it.

As always, I need a way to contact you.  Anonymous commenters, with no contact information, cannot win.  If I can't contact you, I can't get your information to King Arthur Flour, and you can't get your prize.  Simple as that.  US entries only, please.

One comment per person, please.

I will choose a winner, using Random.org, on Wednesday, July 27th, at 6 PM ish, EST.

Disclaimer:  I have been in no way compensated for this giveaway or by talking about King Arthur Flour.  All opinions are my own.  The prize is donated by King Arthur Flour.

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Kid's Cooking

This is  a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog.

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.

I know I'm always looking for things to get my kids for Christmas, and in my mind, there is little better gift for  kids than teaching them how to cook and bake at a young age.

There are some really cool tools available that make cooking fun for kids.  Some of these are going to be under our own tree!

For baking, this Sassafrass kit is really neat - it includes measuring cups & spoons. wooden spoon. rolling pin, spatula, melon baller, pastry scraper, and an... herb pot?  Ok, so that's a little weird, but it could be used as a mixing bowl.

This Playful Chef set is also a baking set, and it includes an apron, measuring cups and spoons, some cookie cutters, and some other great tools.

If your child wants to bake, don't bother with the Easy Bake. Get them slightly smaller sizes of high quality, Nordic Ware bakeware.

For a child who is a little more advanced, this Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen Set is really fantastic.  They are a good company that makes good products.  You can get the components of this set separately, too.  They are adorable.  The starter knife is dog shaped, with or without teeth.  I have held this knife, and I bet you could cut yourself if you really were determined to, it would take some doing.  (But it would still cut ingredients... granted, not as well as a real chef knife, but I wouldn't hand The Girl my beloved Wusthof Santoku and tell her to have at it).

Another couple tools in the set are mouse measuring cup set and Goldfish measuring spoons.  Be still my heart.  So sweet!  Kuhn Rikon also makes some kid-friendly tongs - Crocodile jaws!  They would also work as toaster tongs, which The Girl likes to use.

For whisking fun (oh, how The Girl love whisking!), this rainbow whisk is a winner.  It's coated in silicone, so you can use it with nonstick pans, too.

Happy Holidays!

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Pressure Cooker

This is  a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog.

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.


A great way to spend less time in the kitchen, and still end up with "You must have slaved over this all day" flavor, is a pressure cooker.


My mother-in-law got me this fantastic Cuisinart Pressure Cooker for Christmas last year, and I couldn't be happier with it.  I was always scared of pressure cookers before.  I'd heard horror stories about pressure cookers back in the day blowing up and injuring people.

This one won't do that - it's electric and has all sorts of safeguards.  If the pressure valve isn't right, it will simply turn itself off.

You can make soup in it in minutes.  You can cook beans from dry to soft and delicious quickly.  It also has a browning function, a simmer function, a saute function.. it's really versatile.

Not sure what to do with the pressure cooker?  There are a lot of books available.  This one looks particularly nice.


Happy Holidays!

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Pasta Making

This is  a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog. 

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.

I've had a great time with my Atlas Pasta maker.  It's perfect for making pasta, of course, but also good for rolling out naan or tortillas, other dough.

If you have a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, they also have a pasta roller plate set that gets very good reviews.

Once you have your pasta made, you will need a drying rack, like this one.  Or, you could use a clothes drying rack like I do!

For cutting the pasta, I like the Pasta Bike, which you can adjust to different sizes for cutting.

And, if you want to make ravioli, try using this crimper for hand cut shapes - don't bother with the ravioli attachment for the Atlas.  I got it and returned it because it was a total waste of money.  The raviolis were tiny and ridiculous and the filling squished all over the place.  If you don't want to cut them by hand, try something like this or this, or if you want to go extra adorable and spend a little extra, this one makes stars!
Want to try a simpler pasta?  Spaetzle is the easiest!

Homemade pasta is fun!  You can put whatever you want into it, and even sneak in some healthy things, like beets..

Happy Holidays!

Gift Idea for the Lunch Packer: Cookie Cutters!

This is a series of posts I'm going to do about good gift ideas for the lunch packer - or for the follower of my blog!

I want to disclose that I am an Amazon Affliliate, and the links I post are my affiliate links.

I have a wall of cookie cutters in my house.  Seriously.  A giant peg board,  covered in cookie cutters.  I need better hooks, so they are always falling off, and are not always prettily put away, but some day I'll get them up there and take a picture for you.  It's impressive.  I've been collecting for a long time.

Cookie cutters are wonderful for lunches.  They can make boring things interesting.  Nothing like a carrot flower to perk up a carrot!

I love this little butterfly set, but then again, I have a true butterfly lover!

These are from a larger butterfly set, but I used a mini one on the babybell

I don't own this fairy tale set (yet) but it looks lovely!

Like to spell messages in lunches?  Here's one big alphabet set from Wilton, and another one, too.  I have a large alphabet set and a mini one, and both have their uses.

These mini animal cracker cookie cutters would be perfect for lunches, don't you think?

Whatever you get, cookie cutters are good fun, for way more than just cookies!

Happy Holidays!