Last week I invited my momma friends for a quick catch up session over brunch. In partnership with Cheers, we spent a good 3 hours spilling each other’s snack secrets, doing bento and literally saying cheers with our gin & tonic in hand!
We talked about snacks and how we prepare them for our kids over cronuts & croc madame. We gathered and shared some baon ideas and tips since we all have school-aged kids.
MAKE A WEEKLY MENU
First things first: plan your weekly menu. Even though it’s just snacks, having a list of food weekly is very helpful especially if you’re a working mom. When you have weekly snack menu, preparing it daily for your child is guaranteed to be hassle-free and easy.
GO GROCERY SHOPPING WITH YOUR CHILD
Going grocery shopping with your child and letting him help out and pick out what snack he wants is a good way to involve him in preparing his snack. Bringing him to the grocery is also the perfect opportunity to introduce him to new food he hasn’t tried–segue to suggest healthier snacks too.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SNACK CONTAINER
Another way to make preparing snacks fun and easy is to have the perfect snack container. With tons of different kinds to choose from how would you know which one is best for your child? Well, you can let your child choose or at the very least pick a snack box that would suit your child’s snacking needs. Since my son Juro loves having a variety of snacks, I got him a Yum Box that has five compartments. Also, don’t forget to pack a cutlery and tissue along with the snack box so your child can enjoy his meal even more.
Sobrang intense lang namin as we prepare our snack for our kids. Hahaha.
Here’s a list of the usual snacks we prepare for our kids:
- sandwich (tuna, ham & egg, cheese, banana cookie butter)
- cookies (oatmeal, chocolate chip)
- pastries (cheese roll, ensaymada, empanada)
- mixed nuts
- grapes
- mandarin orange
- apple slices
- banana
- wafer
- biscuits
- cheese sticks/cubes
Quick tip: Use kitchen towel to pack sandwiches so it stays fresh. And when your child has finished his sandwich he can use the tissue to clean up. 
So here’s what our snack boxes look like. Kinda easy to prepare snacks that are readily available. The challenge was really to make sure it’s a good source of energy to help them get through the day.
Hmmmm. These snacks could sure use a makeover.
GO FOR BENTO SNACK
We badly needed help in making our kids’ snack box more appealing and enticing for our kids. So with Kaye’s (of Bento Mommas) help, we made our very own bento snack box!
Challenge to create our own bento box accepted!
My momma friends & I aren’t new to bento making. In fact our very first bento workshop was also facilitated by Kaye. What we love about bento making is we get to unleash our creativity. It’s all the more fun when you’re making bento box with friends. Surprised that we created our bento almost as quickly as we did with our ordinary snack box.
Quick tip: Use kitchen towel as a catch-all tray when you create a bento box. Not only is it hygienic, it also helps you be a little less messy. See how we lined our place mat with Cheers kitchen towel?
MAKE IT A BALANCED MEAL
Just because it’s snack doesn’t mean it can’t be healthy. While it’s super easy to just go for store bought snacks, aim for a balanced snack box for your child. One thing I’ve learned from my momma friends is to include fruits and to try and include healthy snack alternatives.
Quick tip: line your bento box with napkins so it keeps the food in place. Fold a kitchen towel and wrap the sandwich with it. See how my cute lil’ owl sandwich sits nicely on a sheet of Cheers kitchen towel?
Another quick tip: if possible, choose healthier alternatives. If your child loves cookies, go for oatmeal instead of the usual chocolate chip. Spot the oatmeal crisp cookies we included in our bento box.
Tadaaaaah! Here’s our very cute bento box, lovingly handmade for our kids. Heehee.
We had so much fun exchanging baon ideas and bento making with Cheers! Thanks Michelle of My Mom Friday, Chessy of Chessy.ph, Cai of Apples & Dumplings and Kaye of The Bento Mommas for spending an afternoon with me. #CheersToEveryday
Cheers napkins and cutlery are available at all leading supermarkets and groceries nationwide.
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