New Obsession Saves Money: Bento
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
Just a few days before school started, I stumbled upon the art of bento. While I insisted that I did not need a new obsession, I couldn’t help falling into this one - making lunches look cute. The daughter also loved the idea and jumped right in with wanting to take bento lunches and sat and drooled with me over pretty bento boxes.
We went to a local asian market to see if they had any boxes that the daughter liked. Since it was only a few days before school was to start, it was easy to justify it as a back-to-school expense. Her lunchbox hadn’t survived the previous year and getting her motivated about food is always a plus. However, we didn’t have much luck and just went home with a plain set I bought mostly for storage, rice molds, and chopsticks.
Since school started, the daughter has been excited about making and taking her lunches. This isn’t really saving us money as she always took her lunch last year. However, I’ve gotten into the lunch making action and now make lunches for the partner to take. By making lunches every morning, we’re saving about $100 a month on lunches that the partner normally buys. Also, since it means getting up early enough to make them, he is actually getting out the door early enough to come home in time for home-cooked dinner.
I did buy some bento stuff on ebay and will give them to the daughter as a birthday gift later this month. I’m happy she’s excited about food and that we’re saving money on eating out.