Aaaaand I'm back!
You probably don't remember me but I started making bento in March to take to work, and then right after Bento #9 I was laid off. Well I'm going back to work tomorrow (finally! actually back to the same company -lol) so I'm back to making bento. In the meantime I've gotten married and our honeymoon was in Japan and I picked up this bento box there :)

You'll also hopefully forgive the haphazardness of this bento as I completely forgot to go shopping so I pulled this together with what I could find in the kitchen and I'm out of practice!

Left: breakfast, granola bar
Middle: Corned beef on rye (leftover)
Right: Celery, raisins, pretzels

( the outside of the box - Animal Crossing! )

top: granny smith apple slices, Snyder's pretzels, Frigo light string cheese hidden underneath
bottom: "bumps on a log", lean ham, WW lemon cake

I had a really busy day (had my first wedding dress fitting!), so this was a really quick bento.

Top layer: Zatarain's Dirty Rice
Middle: celery, granny smith apple slices, Frigo light string cheese
Bottom: milk chocolate Pocky

top left: WW lemon cake, granny smith apple slices
top right: celery (I have peanut butter at work for dipping)
bottom: granny smith slices, red seedless grapes, lean ham, Frigo light string cheese

We went to Big Bowl for my birthday dinner, so the rice and veggies are my leftovers from my stir fry there.

Top: jasmine rice, chinese ginger & garlic sauce, broccoli, peapods, and water chestnuts
Middle: golden delicious apple slices
Bottom: Girl Scout thin mint cookies

Triscuits with colby jack cheese animals
Red seedless grapes
Butterscotch pudding (I was getting desperate, the fridge was getting pretty bare)
Granny smith apple slices

So thus completes my first week of bento lunches....

Things I have learned:
- foods with malleable shapes are great to fill in the shape of the box
- buy more types of food in smaller portions
- I want more boxes!

Top: leftover Orange Chicken from the Cheesecake Factory
Middle: short grain rice and snow peas (I think?) from the same leftovers
Bottom: Chicago Flats "Everything" flat bread crackers (they were all cracked *woe*)

Left: Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate hearts, peanut butter
Top: leftover cheese pizza (it had to be eaten!)
Bottom: granny smith apple slices and celery (which is what the peanut butter is for)

I reaaaaaaaally need to get shopping! I'm not very happy with this, but it'll keep me fed.

I have to contain myself from buying more boxes! I'm really enjoying this, even if it's a bit of a challenge! The thing I'm having the hardest time with is finding foods that are dense and nutritious enough to fill me up.. but I'm learning from reading this community.

Super fast bento today since I didn't plan ahead enough for it - *lol*
Definitely something I gotta learn! :D

Left to Right:
Celery with a cupcake paper filled with peanut butter (improvised!).
Triscuits with Colby Jack cheese animals
Jaffa Orange slices
Red seedless grapes

Top layer is my leftover pastrami sandwich from The Yard House on Saturday, and two Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate hearts from the box my fiance gave me for Valentine's Day.

Bottom layer is "bumps on a log" (celery, peanut butter, and raisins) under wax paper with Granny Smith apple animals (which were made with cookie cutters given to me as a birthday gift from a friend!) on top.

my first ever - be kind ;)