Kelly Lester is the creator and CEO of EasyLunchBoxes.com. My sister introduced me to this idea last year when she bought my oldest daughter this lunch box along with a couple of the separated lunch containers for school. I LOVE and still use these containers and her lunchbox for this school year. I'm also using the lunchbox containers for her little sister's lunch too! But..she still needs a lunchbox!!
Her "Bento" containers are BPA free and have easy open lids -perfect for little hands! They are not leak free, she stresses on her website, and fit perfectly in her cooler lunchboxes so they sit up and not sideways in a lunchbox! I have packed the containers every day for the kids. They go through the dishwasher almost daily (I need more of these clearly!) but they are still in great shape! We've packed movie snacks in them for the movie theater, or the park too! They are the only tupperware I use for the kids lunches!
Kelly created a cookbook in conjunction with Trader Joe's. I'm SO bummed we do not have a Trader Joe's in Colorado! I've only heard amazing compliments about the store, and I've heard rumors they might build one next year here? Fingers and toes crossed! But, that being said- just because you don't have a Trader Joe's near you- you can STILL buy the cookbook, and make the recipes!
Cooking with Trader Joe's cookbook is a 272 page cookbook FULL of bright colored pictures and recipes. I don't know about you- but I really will steer clear of recipes without pictures! I'd like to see a picture of what if should look like before I make it! Well, I am happy to share that EVERY recipe has a picture to go with it!- Thanks to Marla Meridith (the book's food sylist and photographer!)
She has categories such as: gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, kid friendly (who doesn't know a kid that's a picky eater?!), work friendly for adults, playful and fun recipes, and even NO cooking recipes. No cooking? Yes, no cooking recipes in a cookbook. You have to check it out!
From what I have been reading about Kelly, she is one of the most honest sales people! She responds to emails herself and is so down to earth! She's a Mom too, and knows that sometimes you don't feel like cooking, and you just want to grab and go! She has some great Trader Joe choices that you can put together to create a fun, healthy, quick meal for yourself, or your kids!
Kelly has also generously shared her space in the cookbook with 32 online friends of hers that she has met through her website. These 32 friends blog about healthy, fun food as well! They each have contributed as well to the cookbook. Kelly is dedicated to sharing her knowledge about eating REAL FOOD. She encourages the three P's of: Passion, Preparation and Portion Control! Perfect! (Have you seen Mr. Popper's Penguins? The assistant Pippi who speaks with "P" words!? She'd love these three P's!)
Kelly has lots of "Did you know" fun facts through out the cookbook, and "Kelly's Tip" to help you along the way as well!
On to the recipes. What's neat about this, is you can tweak the recipes to fit your families' needs! My kids aren't a big fan of cold cheese (like their mother!), or salmon, but you can substitute it to fit exactly what you would need!
Go to Amazon.com and find the cookbook for sale and read more reviews! If you feel like you are in a lunch rut - check out this book and I really think it will help get you out of the same PB&J sandwich dilemma!
Below are some lunches that we've made (NOT from this cookbook yet) but so you could see again, how some lunches are made in these containers!