Sumo Nigiri Bento and more

I was taking pics of the bentos and Arick requested I take his picture. Such a cutie patootie!

Arick's bento:
Sumo (kind of looks like a Sumo wrestler) Nigiri Rice
Sliced carrots
Black olives (Arick wants this is every bento from now on)
Homemade fruit salad with peaches, pineapple, cherries and bananas
Boiled egg
Soy sauce in a fish bottle

Brianna's Bento:
Flower shaped carrot slices
Black olives
Nigiri rice with teriyaki sauce in a bottle
Same homemade fruit salad
Imitation crab meat with a mini ice pack to keep it cool

I took pictures of the bentos today the way they looked just before I put them in the lunchboxes. I used saran wrap on the fruit salad so it wouldn't leak and I put saran wrap on the crab so as not to affect the flavors of the other food. The fact that the inner containers are not watertight is the one thing that I don't love about my 'bento' boxes. The box itself is watertight. The mini blue ice comes from an ice blanket from Target that cost $2.xx. You can cut the rectangles of ice off individually which works great for the bento system. Although I didn't picture it, I did put one next to Arick's egg. I learned this trick from http://www.lunchinabox.net/. It has tons of great tips.

I also wanted to mention a tip on how to pack bentos. You should have 4-5 (5 is optimal) colors in your bento. This makes it look pretty (which is key to getting picky eaters to eat) but also it usually means that it is healthy as well. Of course I am not perfect at this, so if I can't get all the foods to be different colors I try to add color with the picks and other bento decorations. Here are some suggestions to help:

Reds: strawberries, red grapes, cherry tomatoes, sliced red peppers, watermelon, cherries (pitted for little ones), red tortillas, salsa
Orange: carrots, dried apricots, sweet potato, cantaloupe, peaches, mandarin orange segments, yellow cheeses.
Green: peas, cucumber, green grapes, broccoli, spinach, green peppers, edamame beans and asparagus, spinach tortillas.
White: rice, Asian dumplings, pasta, bread, potatoes, flour tortillas, boiled egg
Black, dark purple or brown is the fifth color group considered in Bento lunch making. Here are some suggestions for this: Black olives, black sesame seads, seaweeds, eggplant