Love it, OP!

My Japanese father decided to put me in a Japanese Kindergarten in Europe. My European mother would just send me to school with a sandwich, until my father realized that all the other kids were coming with bentos and that it was actually a competition among the Japanese mothers as to who was going to concoct the most recherche bento for her child. So he bought a huge bento how-to book (I still have it), woke up early every morning, and got down to business.

I remember how cute he made my lunches, how opening them was such a joy, and how they tasted so much better than my mother's sandwiches... so I the same for my kids. Not to that website's level of detail, but I try.

Anonymous wrote:Haha, hilarious!!! Anyone who has time to make these cute lunches has too much time on their hands.

I do it for my kid. People act like its a big deal but its really not. It takes me 15 minutes. It's not rocket science. I'm just creative person with an art background and no time or space to create real art. I also WOH in a stressful job. This is my outlet. Everybody has their thing. This is mine. I like creating things/making art.

I also teach my kids not to make fun of others by modeling that behavior myself. It's pretty crummy to make yourself feel good at the expense of others.

Haha, hilarious!!! Anyone who has time to make these cute lunches has too much time on their hands.

I love that!

I have been known, on occasion to use cookie cutters to make stars out of Canadian Bacon to put on pita bread pizzas. While my child eats these, I am eating pita bread pizza with the parts of Canadian Bacon that don't look like stars. That's as far as I go, and the fact that I am using cured meat with nitrates probably puts me out of the running for "mom of the year" as it is.

That was great. I thought that article was going to be all crafty. I loved the slant. Those beautiful bento lunches are so annoying.

I don't even know what some of that stuff is!

OP you win DCUM today! Thanks for the laugh!

I don't do anything so elaborate, but I do make cheese cut outs in shapes. There are leftovers. I eat them, or save them for shaving into shreds. Or melting on grilled cheese sandwiches on the weekend.

The hard boiled egg mold is cool though! No waste there.

I don't put them in cool bento containers either. So mine are fine after making the harrowing 2nd grade boy trek to school and to the cafeteria.

Is this for real?

I'm an admitted non-bento mom. What I've been trying to figure out is what these lunches look like after they've been shoved in a lunch box, transported in backpack, tossed into lunch bin, carried to table, and finally turned right side up and opened. I can't imagine cute little raindrops on Mac n cheese stay glued to the pasta throughout this process.

Anonymous wrote:I love the tone of this photo spread. "You don’t know HOW to do these? Grow a sack, sign into Pinterest, get in the Camry, drive yourself to Michaels and figure it the fuck out." LOL

I started laughing out loud at the line about "teach your children to eat innocence." Snort.

"When I do this" mom - FU too.

I love the tone of this photo spread. "You don’t know HOW to do these? Grow a sack, sign into Pinterest, get in the Camry, drive yourself to Michaels and figure it the fuck out." LOL

Honestly? When I do this, I eat the extra bits. The first time I did anything like this, there was a lot of "waste" but afterward, I learned how to maximize things.

http://reductress.com/post/bento-boxes-that-will-establish-your-dominance-over-other-moms/

When you make lunches like the ones above, don't you wind up with a lot of wasted food when you cut out the shapes? What do you do with all the excess bits of egg, carrot, fruit, sandwich, etc.?