[1]

Contents of Bug’s lunch: Caprese salad (tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil), apricot, cherries, broccoli with Korean barbecue sauce, and spinach and cheese ravioli with a tomato-based pasta sauce. I wound up eating the caprese (with my fingers) and giving Bug some of my orange slices and ravioli.

Morning prep time: 3 minutes, using dinner leftovers packed the night before (ravioli and caprese). This morning I freshened up the ravioli with a little extra pasta sauce, removed the pit from the apricot, and threw in some leftover broccoli.

Packing: I cut the large raviolis into quarters for easy eating, and added some extra sauce in the morning as the pasta had gotten a little dry in the fridge overnight (it would have been challenging for two-year-old Bug to get the raviolis apart on his own without this step). The tiny apricot was too tall to fit into the small tier of this container, so I cut it in half and removed the pit. This also made it easier for a preschooler to eat. If Bug were eating the cherries on his own I would have pitted those as well for easier/cleaner eating — as it was he had fun getting messy nibbling on the whole cherries and I had wipes ready.

[2]

Contents: Same as Bug’s lunch, but with orange slices and leftover broccoli stems with Korean barbecue sauce.

Morning prep time: 3 minutes, as the broccoli was already made and I’d pre-packed the leftover ravioli after dinner (cutting them in half for easier eating — it’s hard to cut things when they’re in little boxes like this). Just needed to slice the orange, pack the divided container, and go!

Packing: I created a little “ditch” full of extra pasta sauce alongside my raviolis so that I could re-sauce them when eating. It that doesn’t work with your container, it might be nice to put some extra sauce in a small sub-container and add it just before eating to freshen things up.

Lunch in a Box is nominated for Best Food Blog in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. If you’d like to cast your vote for speedy lunch packing, click [3] here (you can vote for multiple blogs in the same category).

READ MORE:

• [4] Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
• [5] How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
• [6] Choosing the right size bento box
• [7] Packed lunch food safety
• [8] Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews