Easy Kids Bento Lunch Box Ideas on a Budget

This post is sponsored by Smart & Final, my favorite place to shop for easy bento lunch box ideas. All content is my own!

I’ve been trying out new bento lunch box ideas in preparation for back to school!

My kids are somewhat picky. I like to mix up lunch for them during the school year so they are able to try a wide variety of food.

We homeschool through a charter, so our kids do go to school a few days per week and lots of activities where they need to take a lunch.

I love how bento lunches make lunch a little bit more fun. It’s also easy to have compartments, so things don’t get soggy.

How can I make my kids Bento lunches affordable?

Bento lunches can be made affordable by shopping in a store where you can buy things cheaply in bulk.

We love shopping at Smart & Final where we can get all of our Bento items at a great price.

They have high quality produce that’s cheaper than you would find at other grocery stores.

Are Japanese bento boxes healthy?

I love bento boxes for kids because they make it easy to pack healthy lunch items that are portion controlled.

Some parents like to make it fun by turning the food into shapes, animals, and faces. This is a great way to get picky kids to eat healthy food items.

What do you put inside a kids bento box?

The great thing about kids bento boxes are the wide variety of food you can put in them.

Here are some ideas of food you can put in your bento box:

• Rice
• Fruits & Dried Fruits
• Vegetables
• Sandwiches
• Pretzels
• Frozen Waffles or Pancakes
• Cheese
• Nuts
• Pita Chips
• Crackers
• Yogurt
• Popcorn
• Lunch Meat
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Pita Bread and Hummus
• Pasta
• Tuna

How do you make an easy bento lunch for kids?

It’s pretty easy to put together a simple bento box for kids even if you are on a budget. Here are some tips.

1. Buy a variety of fruits, proteins, grains, and snack items
2. Buy items that will keep for a long time in bulk to last through the school year.
3. Shop for quality fresh produce that will last through the week. (I love how fresh the produce always is at Smart & Final!)
4. Make your bento interesting for your kids by adding some fun foods in with the fruits and veggies.
5. Get creative by cutting your food into shapes or arranging them in patterns.

Bento Box Ideas

We made 2 easy bento boxes last week with this cute bento box, First Street frozen waffles, fresh produce, dried apricots, First Street deli meat and cheese, tortillas, and First Street honey pretzels.

For the first lunch I served them blueberry waffles and a side of fruit. I love to arrange the fruit to make it look more colorful. My kids love putting the strawberries and blueberries on top of their waffle and don’t even ask for syrup.

Our second box had easy turkey sandwich wraps. I just used a whole wheat tortilla for this and cut them up. I served them dried apricots, honey pretzels, and grapes on the side.

You can find all of these things at Smart & Final!

Do you make bento lunches for your kids? What are your favorite bento box items?