Kids love corn on the cob, but a whole ear is simply too big to fit inside of a bento box. One way you can include it in a bento lunch is to simply cut it into manageable segments like I did below, or even split it down the middle of the cob so that the pretty rows of corn kernels are all facing up if you have a shallow box.

My three-year-old is happy to eat corn on the cob as is, but I must confess to a little bit of bento accessory lust over flat corn holders designed especially for bento lunches. Maybe one of these days I’ll splurge out on those, cute football- or animal-shaped corn holders, or other unusual corn holders on Amazon, but not quite yet. I’m a little concerned that Bug would remove them and wind up stabbing someone at preschool, which is why some schools have rules against sending along pointy food picks in the children’s lunches.

Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Spinach & mozzarella ravioli in roasted garlic and tomato sauce, corn on the cob segment, steamed broccoli with vinaigrette, and homemade juice jello jiggler cup (from 100% blueberry and raspberry juice). I made these jello cups with Knox gelatin, but you can make a vegan version that stays solid at room temperature using agar agar seaweed (kanten in Japanese) as a thickener instead.

Morning prep time: 12 minutes, using leftover corn on the cob and a juice jello cup I’d made previously with my three-year-old. In the morning I multi-boiled the frozen ravioli and broccoli together in a very small pot for speed and energy efficiency. I’ve written about reading a study finding that microwave-cooked broccoli loses a lot of its antioxidants, so right or wrong, I felt a little better about boiling the broccoli rather than steaming it in the microwave as usual. (more…)