Papaya Mom

On today’s “Code Orange” air quality day I was not about to take sweet Papaya to the park and let her breathe in the poison air that my SUV created. Instead we enjoyed our time with consumer culture and went Bento hunting at Target.

The Flickr Bento Group I belong to often talks of finding Bento accessories in odd places, one of which being Target. I was not about to utilize the dollar spot to outfit my daughter with her very own Disney Princess Bento set because, well, I’d rather she found her self worth in more than titles. Alas, that is a whole other post.

I was pleasantly surprised that we found two Bento boxes - actually three, but I only bought the two that were our size because a four-level lunch box holds much too much food for me, or even dear husband.

The first is the

Alladin Lunch & Go Mini Lunchbox with divider.
I’m excited that the divider is free standing so that I can remove or move it as I like. It’s microwave and dishwasher safe although from what I’ve learned it’s best not to microwave the tops of these things. It’s Made in China, which I was avoiding in the toy isle (try that for futility next time you need to waste time) but could not manage to find in my Bento travels. Holding just over a liter (36 ounces) it should do just fine on a regular sized lunch.

Opened up it looks like this

Let’s hope the red color is not staining from some awful chemical that will kill me in days, not weeks.

Second was a Circo (Target Brand) Divided Plate that is perfect for a small lunch for the Papaya. Made in Thailand is better than China, I hope. Once again I doubt the top would do well in a dishwasher and the packaging encourages top rack dishwasher use only - I think I’ll handwash this great divided plate. It’s only 18 cm in diameter - so it should not be too much trouble.

Closed:

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Now if only we were not planning to be housebound tomorrow (car is going into the shop, again) I’d pack lunch - maybe I will anyway and we’ll picnic on the living room floor.

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