California Innovations Lunchbox Bucket

I have always been proactive hunting for kid-friendly lunchbox goodies.  And when I found one, I brag about its awesomeness. Simply because it's a great find, and it makes us happy and satisfied.  As all of you know, I am a proud owner of several things that I make use of regularly on my blog.  Each year I try new products and review them (for free) if it practically suits our family needs. And this year, I discovered the California Innovations Lunchbox Bucket.

I originally discovered this lunchbox bucket through a good friend and a fellow bento blogger, Keitha of Keitha's Chaos.  She has been using this exact lunch bucket for years for her adorable son, Boogs.  And for some great reasons, when she ordered it online, color was not an option, but a lottery. Short story, she got a hot pink for her little boy.  But customer service took care of it and refunded her right away with an option to give out the bag to a friend instead of shipping it back.  Wow. What a treat! And this was the exact lunchbag that was passed on to me. Specifically the hot pink on left of image above. So thank you coz I'm making good use of it.  My girl loves it, and the hunt started for a royal blue, but you beat me!

She found it at Office Depot, in colors hot pink and royal blue, priced at $9.99 + tax.  I know other locations carry different colors and you must inquire with your local store's color inventory first before even coming in, and have them placed on hold, which both Keitha and I did.

Things that I love about this lunch bucket:

• It is made with Microban: an antimicrobial product protection! It protects the interior lining from bacteria that causes odors and stains. It has a guarantee that built-in protection will not wash off or wear away for the life of the product
• It's PVC-Free and Worry-Free (lead-safe and phthalate safe)
• It has high density thermal insulation keeping foods chilled as long as you want.
• Lining is so easy to clean. No staining! Just hand wash with soap and water.
• It has 2 compartments! And are leak-proof. (The best feature I like the most)
• And the handle is padded.  Just the exact right length for kids and adult alike.

Top and Bottom, which makes it easier to separate lunch from snacks when your kids are asked to bring both and put them in a separate bin at school.  No need to label which one is for snack and lunch.

Photo courtesy by California Innovations

Or, if you're using them for a single purpose only, you have room to carry fruits on the topmost, and your main entree at the bottom.  This actually gives room for your water bottle in the lunch bucket too, without the fear of messing it due to spills from your lunch container.

Best of all, it fits my favorite lunch containers, the EasyLunchboxes and still has more room to carry a funtainer for soup, and an icepack to keep foods chilled, or another Easylunchboxes!  Now we can carry our Easylunchboxes in different lunchbags as we see fit for the occasion. It is one of the criterias that I look for when searching for lunchbags.  We love our foods upright while in tow.  That gives us the peace of mind that foods are safe, and not wasted.

Things that I don't like:

• It's not widely available in the local market, which makes it harder to hunt it down.  While online, you can't pick the colors you like and you spend so much for shipping.  More than the price of one bucket.

My appeal:  Please make them widely available locally for families who wanted your bucket so much.  It's the best one to carry food containers in an upright position to avoid leaks and mess.  It is also a safest place to store water bottle for little kids without the fear of losing them, messing them out of food spillage, or drowning the food out of water bottle spillage. Most families that I know of shop at Target, Walmart, Toys R Us  for school and lunch gears.  Or Amazon might work for people who wants to shop at the comfort of their home, but please make the colors an option to choose.

Disclaimer:  I was not compensated by any means of California Innovations to execute my full and honest review of the said product.  As stated, one has been given as a gift, and another purchased  for personal use of my children. Some photos were given credit to the original owner.

If you love Healthy Eating Starts at Home, you may subscribe via email to get all my posts straight to your inbox. No spam mails, just healthy food ideas for your lunchboxes.

All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,

the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!

Let's Rock the Lunchbox!

Summer break is over and hope everyone had a wonderful one.

Thank you to all those who entered my Back to School giveaway. 

It was a blast! 

Congratulations to Shannon F. and Andrea A. I hope your children are enjoying the bento goodies.

Continue to be inspired and welcome to the Bento World!

To all others, Welcome to the School Year 2013-14 of lunch packing madness.

My posts will be different this year.  It will be a round up of a week of lunches instead of daily posts.  You might also encounter individual lunch posts on special occasions, or 2 parts of a week long lunches weekly, depending on how my schedule goes.  As most of you now know, I went back working already effective May of this year.  So I won't be able to commit myself blogging on a F/T basis, while the kids are in school. As always, lunches are prepared and packed daily in the morning, and some others that can be pre-cut the night before, are done as usual.  I will be indicating, though, which were pre-cooked, pre-cut, or pre-packed.  That way, you will have an idea how to budget your time wisely when packing foods for your loved ones.  Any ideas or suggestions are always welcome on the comment section.  But they are moderated to get rid of spam, so it takes time for them to show up.

We have gone back to school officially on August 19th.  And our schedule was on a minimum day for the entire week.  The kids still get a recess in the morning, and a lunch before dismissal.  So technically, the schedule didn't help at all with my lunch-packing madness.

Honestly, I wasn't even much prepared when the kids went back to school. I have the week's menu, the gadget, but the pantry supply.  My newly married sister and her hubby were in town.  We were busy showing them around and restaurant hopping.  We forgot about the stuffs that should go inside the lunchbox. Oh no!!!



But thanks to Honest Tea, Stonyfield, Annie's Homegrown, and Organic Valley, who have teamed up with bloggers to come up with creative and healthy lunchbox ideas for their back to school project called,
"Rock the Lunchbox".

My supplies came in late in the mail, since my first shipment got lost.  But it wasn't a problem to them at all. They replaced and sent me another, as soon as their stocks came in.

The kids were pretty much amazed to see new product lines in their boxes this school year. And it wasn't just any other product, they're by Honest Kids, Annie's Homegrown, and YoKids Yogurts by Stonyfield.  Healthy lunchboxes items that my kiddos are familiar with. So the introduction was much more of a pleasure.

If I were to pack this again, I would probably pre-cut all fruits as this adds up to the time spent in packing in the morning.  You'd be lucky if you get kids up early and eat breakfast quick without being told to.  Then packing everything up in the morning wouldn't be a problem at all, and still make it out in time for a drive to school.

If you're unsure of what to pack on a daily basis, please push the Rock the Lunchbox button on topmost of my post, or here for instant inspiration.

Do you want another giveaway?
I will be hosting another one by Rock The Lunchbox sponsors.
Here's a teaser to see what's in store for you.



If you love Healthy Eating Starts at Home, you may subscribe via email to get all my posts straight to your inbox. No spam mails, just healthy food ideas for your lunchboxes.

All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,

the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!

TWO - Complete Lunch Gear Giveaway

A Back to School Event & 2nd Year Bloggiversary

It's August....and it's Back to School!
I hope everyone had a wonderful summer break.

	/

We did! As a matter of fact, we also had a break bento-ing and packing lunches till the last week of July, when I had to tow the kids with me to work, coz Dad visited my brother in Chicago.  I work early in the day on a daily basis. So I had to pack breakfast for the kids, and we ate out at noon on our way to their summer swim classes. 

School resumes in August, so do Gavin and my birthday. Not only that, but it's the 2nd year of my blog as well.  So there's a lot to celebrate at this time of the year.  I thought of throwing a huge giveaway for everyone to enjoy, with the help of my thoughtful and generous sponsors, who have helped me all throughout my lunch packing years.

I know that we are all very busy preparing & shopping for school uniforms/clothes, shoes, supplies and the likes.  We're not even done yet.  So I'd like to give you a break by taking good care of the lunch gears. I am hosting 2 giveaways in one. All packed with everything you might need for school to pack meals in a stress-free way.

Don't they look so lovely with a little help from our sponsors? Even the pickiest kid will eat whatever food is served.

Are you ready? I am giving away 2 winners of:

• EasyLunchboxes:  your choice of Classic or Brights, and a cooler bag.  The #1 best selling lunchboxes on Amazon.com. The only lunchbox I trust that is dishwasher and microwave safe.  
• Momables: 3 Months Free Subscription that will help you with healthy packed lunches each time. It includes weekly menus of 5 recipes, with shopping lists, packing tips, pictures.  Great for any type of diets especially for family with food allergies.
• Lunchbox Notes: The credit card sized love notes I send to show my love when packing lunches for my family.  The only notes that were written with positive words, filled with encouragement which helps boost self-confidence and self-esteem.
• FunBites Cutters: The cutters I use to cut foods in bite-size pieces in a snap.  Even kids can do it. It's safe, no metal blades attached.  Your choice of Squares, Hearts or Triangles. Just let me know.
• $15 Bento USA giftcards: to buy your choice {not mine} of bento accessories.  It is where I get most of my picks, silicone cups, vegetable cutters etc. Indulge yourself.

Yes! You read that right.  2 random winners for each prizes mentioned. 2 for my 2 year Blog anniversary.
2 for a Back To School Event & A Bloggiversary.
And that's even more reasons to celebrate & get treated well!

I will only be asking you of 2 things:

• Please enter thru my Rafflecopter and do all the mandatory entries as a way of thanking my sponsors.  You miss one, all your entries will forfeit.
• And please help promote. Tweet daily. Each tweet adds up as one entry. Sharing in Facebook on a daily basis helps in your chances of winning.  Promoting is not mandatory, but it will not open till you're done with other mandatory entries.  Come back daily to tweet for another entry.

The following giveaway is open only to US residents.  

No international entry please.  

Giveaways will ship separately. 

They will come directly from the retailers.

Winners will be notified via email.  You are given 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen.  If you have any question, feel free to email me and I will get back to you shortly.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If for any reason, my rafflecopter widget wouldn't work, 
please leave a comment so I could fix it right away.
Comments are moderated so they wouldn't show up till approved.

Check out other Back To School Events happening right now at Bento Bloggers and Friends website. You might not want to miss them too. The more entries, the more chances of winning.

Goodluck to Everyone!  May the most entries win :)

All bento accessories are available through Bento USA,

the cheapest and most complete online bento products in the USA.

Other bento gears are also available thru My Amazon Affiliate Link.
Thank you for your support!