FRUITS & VEGGIES
My kids love fruit. They’ll eat almost any kind. Our favorites for bento boxes include berries (blueberries, sliced strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, in any combination depending on season and availability); melon chunks, sliced apples (try squeezing a bit of fresh lemon juice on them – it prevents them from turning brown and also adds a little zing that my kids love), peeled and sectioned clementines, and grapes (whole or halved, depending on the age of your kid). One of the nice things about smaller pieces of fruit is that they fit well in silicone cups or the curves and angles of some shaped bento boxes.

As for veggies, my kids are a bit more picky. They love cucumber slices and slices of red, yellow and orange bell peppers, which are fun to make into shapes with food cutters (you’ll have to flatten out the peppers a bit first – which can be a bit time-consuming – but the results are gorgeous). Steamed broccoli florets are yummy “trees,” peas are perfect for little fingers, and matchstick carrots are inherently fun food.

One note on produce: I personally try to go organic for items on the “dirty dozen” list – that is, fruits and veggies with the highest concentrations of pesticides. And I favor things that are in season, especially when they’re plentiful, affordable and gorgeous!

PROTEINS
If last night's dinner was popular, go ahead and pack some of your leftovers; if you’ve had meatballs, say, and your kid couldn’t get enough, slice one and dress it up with a dollop of sauce. In our house (and our bento boxes), cheese is a staple: string cheese, Mini Babybel, slices of cheddar, Manchego, you name it. My kids hardly ever eat meat (they’re just not that interested), so I pack them tofu hotdogs as well as cubes of smoked tofu; sliced cold cuts are also ideally suited to shaping, rolling and otherwise bento’ing.

CARBS
This is one of the easiest elements in my bento box prep, and I usually add it right before packing them up for school. Crackers of all shapes and sizes are a big hit, from toddler puffs to Goldfish or other cheese crackers to Asian rice crackers. Dry cereal like Cheerios can be a nice change-up. Also, if we’ve had pizza the night before and have some left over (and I always make sure we do), I cut it into bite-size strips – just make sure it’s a sturdy pizza like our favorite, from Jordan’s rather than a thin-crust one, which will get soggy by lunchtime. And those old lunchtime staples, sandwiches, get an adorable makeover when they’re cut into shapes with cookie cutters or sandwich cutters.

TREATS
One thing that my kids absolutely love is freeze-dried fruit – I get bags of these at Trader Joe’s (this is one of my exceptions to following the dirty dozen, as these are not organic). They’re tangy, fun to eat and keep well. Another favorite is a fruit wrap -- available in a number of flavors from Trader Joe’s, and these are organic. We also love yogurt melts, which are crunchy, sweet and full of probiotics (I get the organic Happy Baby ones in three yummy flavors). Of course, my kids never turn down a little cookie for dessert, either!

There you have it: some basic ideas of what to put into your bento box. But the sky’s the limit – experiment with things your family likes to eat and see how they fare when packed bento-style for your kids’ lunches.

In the next and final installment of this series, I’ll offer some inspiration for your own future bento adventures.

PHOTO: This bento box for my 3-year-old included ... From left, in police-car box: yellow bell pepper stars, alternating slices of flower-shaped cheese and tofu cold cut, cookie stick, cheese crackers, yogurt melts. In blue smiley-face box: sliced strawberries.