There was a time I was lost in the sauce. I believed I couldn’t feed my family unless it was gourmet. But so many humans came before us and fed their families real, nutritious food that didn’t take very long to put together. This last year, I’ve been on a journey to profoundly change some of my most time-consuming habits. One of which was insane scrolling to find the “perfect” recipes for my family. I could be spending time with them, instead.

This research wasn’t just limited to our meals at home. It also crept its sticky little fingers into our days out with the skewered fruit and themed Bento boxes. I even bought mini-kebob skewers and skewered fruit, found out it didn’t fit our Bentos, and haven’t used them since. But I have news for you: you do not need Pinterest or Delish to create an amazing Bento box for your daytrip. The irony of this is that you probably found this article on Pinterest. I get it.

But you know what? The stress of curating every meal is going to kill the benefits of it. After today, you’ll be empowered to whip something together and you really won’t ever feel the need to look at this post again (or shop for mini-kebob skewers – I’m not even going to link them). It’s time to live free.

PB& J

Guys. This is a classic. Add in some sliced apples, celery sticks, and a bit of chocolate or dried cranberries to round it out. Maybe your thing is peanut butter and fluff. Or peanut butter and banana. My kids love the strawberry jelly. This is a Kindergarten staple for a reason, and if it isn’t on your menu all the time, it’ll be an even bigger hit!

Baked Beans & Cornbread

This one requires a thermos and a bento, but it’s a great time. We heat everything before we leave, and the thermos keeps the bean toasty for a very long time. We pour the beans into each box once we’re ready to munch. To make it a complete meal, we add cucumbers and ranch dressing to the Bento box.

Chicken Caesar Wraps (or salad)

This is one of our favorites. My husband and I will often do a chicken Caesar salad and make it into a wrap for the kids. We deconstruct it in our salad Bentos and then put it all together when we’re ready for lunch. It’s one of our absolute favorites.

Turkey Wraps

Turkey, lettuce, tomato and some onion make a great Bento lunch when paired with carrot sticks, ranch and grapes for sides. Feel free to leave out the onion for the kids. It’s supposed to be a fun day out, don’t go to war over onions.

Leftover Pizza

So. Easy. We have a pizza night every Friday, and it never fails we have leftovers. Because we’ve transitioned to a more zero-waste kitchen, we love to get leftovers out as soon as possible. Since our family fun day is on Sunday, it doesn’t have to sit long. Add in a Caesar salad, or celery, carrot sticks and ranch to make it a complete meal.

Deconstructed Nachos

Deconstructed nachos is a family favorite. Separate out everything you’d normally put on a nacho – tortilla chips, shredded cheese, salsa, refried beans, and maybe some smashed avocado. Then let the kids dip or create to their hearts content. It’s both an activity and a meal. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Leftover Soup + Sourdough (or a salad)

This is another one requiring a Bento and a Thermos. And again, it’s totally worth it. This one is probably more convenient for me than most people as we have a dedicated soup night every week (spoiler: it’s Saturday). Because we are trying really hard to minimize waste in our kitchen, making soup on Saturday and reusing it during our Sunday outing is one of my favorite things to do and a great way to warm up on chilly Fall-Winter-Spring outings.

Charcuterie for Kids

Charcuterie is another way for saying “clean out your pantry.” Don’t let those Instagram accounts fool you.

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The favorite “kitchen dump” bento we’ve come up with is so simple. An uncured deli meat of any variety (our kids love uncured pepperoni), plus some cheddar cheese cubes or slices, grapes and whole-grain crackers.

Deconstructed Parfait

Grab your favorite yogurt, and pair it with granola and berries. Or skip the granola and add your favorite muffins.

With that, you probably have an idea or two of a bento you could whip together right now. As you can see, you can really throw together a beautiful Bento box with minimal brain power and standard kitchen ingredients. With all that said: I don’t know everything. I don’t have all the ideas and sharing is caring. Do you have a family favorite bento? We’d love to hear it. Comment below!

Pretzels & Hummus

This one is So. Easy. Grab a bag of pretzels, your kids’ favorite hummus, some red peppers and any other veggie of choice (cucumbers are usually a kid favorite). Your pretzels serve as your quick energy pick-me-up, the hummus is the protein, and the red peppers and any other veggies are filling and delicious.

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Let’s do this.

Now tell me: were any of these particularly difficult? No. None of these ideas will take you more than a few minutes in the kitchen. And more time spent outside the kitchen means more time spent on the road, and/or with the people you love. So grab a cooler (or a thermos), pack a picnic, live free and drive!