I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Miniature fruit & sandwich bento lunches
When I’m grocery shopping I like to keep my eyes peeled for miniature fruit that can be packed whole inside of a bento lunch, like Manzano or red bananas, Lady apples, or tiny tangerines. Although I can always cut up full-size versions and dip them in citrus juice to keep the fruit from browning, packing whole fruit is safer from a food safety standpoint, especially during warm weather. Japanese-language bento books tout packing whole fruit and vegetables during the summer for this reason, thus we see such accessories as the Banana Guard or the Banana Bunker that protect the delicate fruit from bruising in transit. I like to think that a miniature apple can rival cut fruit like apple rabbits and banana wedges in cuteness, but I may be deluding myself.
Sandwiches don’t have to go into a plastic baggie and get smushed in your bag before lunch. Roll or wrap sandwiches lend themselves nicely to a sushi-style presentation in a bento box, while bulkier sliced sandwiches can fit pretty much intact inside the larger collapsible sandwich cases that I like to take along for airplane meals. These are a couple of quickie sandwich lunches from last week (yes, I’m backlogged).
Contents of preschooler lunch: Turkey and Swiss cheese rolls, tangerine and a tiny Lady apple. Bug adores these darned rolls from Costco, although I find them to be a little bland and in need of mustard. They’re easy finger food, though, and they make my son unbelievably happy, so I humor him.
Morning prep time: 3 minutes, using store-bought wrap sandwiches. In the morning I just peeled the tangerine and scraped the white pith off with my fingernail. (Click to read the full post with packing notes and an additional preschooler lunch…)
Packing: This was an exercise in creating visual interest from simple elements. I’d packed these rolls in a lunch before, but found the arrangement of two rolls next to each other to be a little unbalanced. In this lunch I put a roll on either side of a color anchor of fruit on red-leaf lettuce for better composition. I got a new insulated Lock & Lock lunch set with larger 470ml containers than my normal 300ml version (large version sold here in blue and here in maroon from an store in Australia that ships internationally). Fully packed, a 940ml meal is too big for me according to the bento box size guidelines (and my stomach!). But remove one container from the set and I’ve got a nice size meal and drink for my three-year-old, with room in the insulated bag for an oshibori damp hand towel and utensils.
Verdict: Is there any question? Bug was so excited about this lunch that he ran up to one of his preschool teachers first thing in the morning and told him that he had “rolls” in his bento. Everything went down the hatch at preschool except the little apple and a couple of tangerine segments, which he ate in the car afterwards.
* * * * *
Contents of preschooler lunch: Sandwich of cream cheese and basil paste on whole wheat bread, roasted asparagus, rambutan fruit, and a tangerine. I would have used pesto sauce in place of the basil & olive oil paste, but my son’s school’s lunchroom allergy restrictions ruled out the pine nuts in pesto.
Morning prep time: 12 minutes. In the morning I roasted the asparagus in my convection toaster oven while I made the sandwich and prepped the fruit. To make the asparagus, I tossed two stalks with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and broiled them for about 7 minutes on a foil-lined baking pan for easy clean-up, turning partway through.
Packing: The asparagus and peeled tangerine went into Cars-themed disposable paper baking cups to keep everything separate, and I cut around the middle of the rambutan and removed the fruit once before replacing it for easy preschooler eating. I lined the child-sized collapsible Snoopy sandwich case with optional red plastic wrap that I found over the holidays, to keep everything moist and contain crumbs in transit. The sandwich case base can go in the dishwasher, but I hand wash the lid to preserve the picture (as per my post on how to care for your bento gear).
Verdict: So-so. Three-year-old Bug ate the sandwich at preschool but left everything else until after I picked him up (sigh). On his second attack, he ate everything else (asparagus first!). Big thumbs up on the basil paste in the sandwich.
FURTHER READING:
- Avoid airplane food, pack your own bento lunch
- Collapsible sandwich case review
- Top tips & reviews from Lunch in a Box
February 8th, 2008 | Categories: bento, for kids, poultry, sandwich case, sandwich or wrap, vegetarian | 
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February 8th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Those banana guards are great. I gave a couple out for Christmas to banana lovers (banana in the stocking is met with question, until voila! banana guard under the tree). However, they ARE a bit bulky, which is why I laughed when I saw this.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:43 am
The mini fruits look so tasty. My son isn’t a fruit or veggie eater, he is super picky. If I can find the mini fruits locally, he might just give them a try.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Any way I could e-mail you with a question?
Thanks,
Wendy
February 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
@1 from Jessica: OMG, that Instructable link on making a Banana Guard holster is great! Can you imagine walking around with that on your belt? (I fixed the link, BTW — it was being weird because of the punctuation.) Thanks for sharing that!
February 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
@2 from Nicole: I take Bug produce shopping with me, and set him loose there, telling him he can choose whatever fruits and vegetables he wants. I find he gets more excited about them if he has a hand in the shopping & choosing (selecting & putting them in bags, then in the cart, etc.).
February 8th, 2008 at 10:44 am
@3 from Wendy: Absolutely. You can reach me at lunchinabox (AT) gmail (DOT) com or at askbiggie (AT) gmail (DOT) com. Look forward to hearing from you!
February 8th, 2008 at 11:12 am
awesome little things! i can only find little apples like those during christmasish time here in hawaii, and even then there is only a short supply at the market.
they are so cute though! baby bananas we grow year round so i always have those around. they have a different taste to them, very delicous! bug’s lunch is beautiful, as always!
February 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hahahaha I’m sorry. I know this is a family site but I’ve never seen Banana Bunkers and when I clicked on the link, I had people around my desk asking me what the heck I was looking at. *hangs head in shame*
Awesome post though, I got really excited and - I’m bad at thinking outside the box, obviously, but it never occurred to me to use only one tier of the set on the Lock & Lock! Duh! Also, I saw mini apples the other day and really wanted to buy some for bento, but I knew I wouldn’t eat them so it would have defeated the purpose and just looked cute…
As for my contest - http://feistybento.blogspot.com/2007/10/does-this-make-my-lunch-look-phat.html Original post
http://feistybento.blogspot.com/2007/12/does-this-make-my-lunch-look-phat.html Extension post
Thanks!! I would love for you to post about it!!!
February 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Your website is amazing! I just love it! Thank you!
February 9th, 2008 at 3:01 am
@7 from vampyra1: I don’t usually see the Lady apples in regular stores, but my favorite produce-only stores tend to have a box of them (for San Francisco locals: I got these at 22nd & Irving where I find a lot of interesting fruits).
February 9th, 2008 at 3:30 am
@8 from Yvo: Golly, maybe I should put a work warning on the banana case links!
With that Lock & Lock lunch set, you could always leave one container out but substitute a small side dish container (like 150ml?) to make a normal-sized 620ml lunch. I don’t know that I would have thought of leaving out one of the containers either if it weren’t for packing Bug’s lunches.
Thanks for answering my other question of where to find info about your bento event, Yvo! I appreciate it. I’ll wrap it into a post next week; hopefully you’ll see more entrants.
February 9th, 2008 at 3:34 am
@9 from Tina: Hey, thank you! My pleasure.
February 9th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I had to let you know that after ’stalking’ your site for the last several months, I went out and bought two bento boxes. I am so happy that I did!!! I have loved planning and packing them and then of course eating them. I’ll finally be able to put all your great tips to use!
February 9th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
My daughter LOVES the little apples, we pick them up at Vons. She thinks they made them for her.
I took your advice (more of an encouragement, actually :D) and found an oshibori case she could open and sent her to school with one…Voila! Clean kid!
Also, I don’t know if you meant it as “advice”, but letting her finish her lunch in the car has really helped. She’s a slow eater, and tends not to get enough to eat because of it.
February 10th, 2008 at 7:54 am
@13 from Jody: Ah, then welcome to the bento club, Jody! Glad to have you.
February 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am
@14 from Monica: My son’s a bit of a neatnik, and really likes the oshibori too (even asks for one instead of a napkin after eating sticky foods like oranges). Glad you were able to find an oshibori case she could open on her own — it really is key to practice with kids and make sure they can handle whatever gear we’re sending with them. It’s easy to forget they might not have the hand strength or coordination to open all of the same things we do.
February 10th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Tiny fruit! Makes so much sense. *Smacks head* I will keep my eyes on the lookout for them now.
February 11th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
@17 from Fourleafclover: Good luck with the tiny fruit, let us know if you find something fabulous!
May 24th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Hey Biggie!
Yes, I know this a late comment (this is a one-month old post!) but I was browsing the archives…
When I saw these wraps, I thought “Strange, those look like the wraps that I sometimes buy from Costco!” Scroll down…ha ha. I’ve finally perfected a recipe for these wraps…
~Lavash bread (Trader Joe’s has this)
~Cream cheese mixed with dried cranberriesOR
~Strawberry, blueberry, or cranberry-flavored cream cheese (Not quite sure, but I think Noah’s Bagels sells these as “whipped cream cheese” or “cream cheese shmear”–try to skip the artificial-fruit flavored ones that you may find at groceries.)
~Normal flavored ham (I noticed that Costco DIDN’T use smoked or honey ham, so I call it ‘normal’ ham)
~White cheese (I can’t quite recall the name, but this is the cheese that comes in squares in a big pack, and are individually wrapped in plastic)
~Tomato
~Green leaf lettuce (there really is a special type of lettuce called “green-leaf”!)
The fruit flavor in the cream cheese is what really makes these wraps pop.
PS: I just remembered, no need to go all the way to Noah’s Bagels to get cream cheese, I think Philadelphia makes a non-artificial-flavor strawberry cream cheese at your local grocery. Philadelphia as in the mass-producer of cream cheese, silver packaging…I hope you get what I’m saying…
May 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
@19 from Kou: That does sound like a close approximation of the Costco wrap sandwiches — thanks for this! I use the promise of those wraps as a way to get Bug excited about coming to Costco with me (yes, I’m not above that).
August 19th, 2008 at 12:38 am
those miny bananas taste REAL good in a banana smoothie
April 1st, 2009 at 1:52 am
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