Excite your kids with bento box lunches with Fresh Options

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One of the biggest challenges every mom faces once the school year rolls in is figuring out what to pack into the kids’ lunchbox or baon.  Although every mother wants to prepare a healthy and hearty baon, the truth of the matter is, their school-aged children hardly touch their vegetables, fruits or healthy dishes when they're away at school.  Picky eaters, in particular, find ways to eat around their baon by choosing only the tidbits they think are tasty enough for them.

So how can make sure that your kids will eat the nutritious meal you packed for them?  Based on one mom’s experience, the answer to this is to make it kid-friendly.  In other words:  eye-catching, engaging and delicious.  This can be achieved by applying the time-honored food preparation technique of the Japanese – the bento box.

Creating a bento meal for kids is easy as long as you have the right ingredients, like Fresh Options Kiddie Goodie line, and a playful mindset.  Bento meal designs need not be complex as long as they’re interesting enough to entice your child to explore and finish each segment of their meal.

Fresh Options’ Kiddie Goodie food line is a perfect complement to bento baons.  These include varieties of hotdogs, patties and breaded products such as chicken nuggets, drumettes, chicken pops and breaded pork patties.  Kiddie Goodie products are easy to cook, easy to handle (when putting inside the bento) and delicious. Available in all Fresh Options stores in Luzon, they are every mom's go-to solution for kid-approved bento baons. 

Try your hand at preparing a bento baon for your kid with these kiddie-approved recipes created by Noobcookery’s bento aficionado Diane Gabriel, which she served and were enjoyed by her two kids.  Use Fresh Options Kiddie Goodie line to make it easier for you (and yummier for the kids) to prepare each lunchbox.  Fresh Options Kiddie Goodie line is available at all Fresh Options stores in Luzon. 

The Animal Farm with Pork Patty

Ingredients

• Pork Patty
• White rice
• Spinach
• Beans
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Butter

Pork Patty

• Fried pork patty
• White rice
• Sautéed spinach, beans, and carrots

Sautéed Vegetable recipe

• Blanch carrots and beans
• Wash spinach but leave some of the water 
• Sauté chopped garlic in olive oil and butter, add spinach leaves
• Add carrots and beans, season to taste

Nuggets of love with Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients

• Chicken nuggets
• Butter or oil
• Garlic
• Egg
• Leftover white rice
• Peas
• Ham bits
• Salt
• Pepper

Chicken Nuggets

• Fried chicken nuggets w/ ketchup dip
• Fried rice

Fried Rice

• Heat butter or oil in a pan
• Chop up Sliced Ham (off cuts from pizza!)
• Sauté garlic, add an egg and scramble in pan.
• Add leftover white rice, peas, and ham bits. 
• Season to taste.

Sail Away with Cheese hotdog

Ingredients

• Cheese hotdog
• Cheese sticks
• Ketchup

Cheese Hotdog wraps

• Cook hotdogs according to package.
• Use cheese spread or mayonnaise on tortilla (premade or homemade, recipe below) and then wrap around cheese hotdogs
• Secure with toothpicks and slice into 2 or 3 pieces.

Homemade Tortillas Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder

Homemade Tortillas

• Combine with 1 cup warm water and 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• Roll out tortillas
• Cook on high heat in a dry pan (cast iron or steel)
  

Fresh Options : Celebrations made easy

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Celebrations, Parties, Reunions ....Whenever summer rolls in, families and friends always seem to find a reason to get together and rekindle old ties. Whether it’s a simple, impromptu family reunion, a visit to lolo and lola in the province, the town fiesta, a barkada summer outing, the neighborhood basketball league competition or celebrating your daughter’s Reyna Elena rank in the Santa Cruzan, Filipinos just love to gather around and celebrate both big and small milestones. 

Social gatherings or salo-salos are so common that they’re practically a way of life. That doesn’t mean that preparing for salo-salos are a breeze. Planning, organizing and setting up a party can be overwhelming especially if you’re pressed for time. 

Here are some tips on how you can make celebrations easy:

Let everyone in on the fun. 

Organizing a get-together can be quite overwhelming especially if the schedule is a bit tight. Ask your family and friends to help out in the preparations. Get their ideas on the theme, the type of party setting and their preferred entertainment for the big day. Let your loved ones know that you value their help and are counting on them to pitch in to make sure the celebration is a success. 

The more hands the merrier.

Celebrations that would draw a big crowd like family reunions, fiestas or the celebratory require a lot of hands on deck. Ask your loved ones to help out before, during and after the get-together. Group your friends and relatives into teams that will handle specific roles such as food, venue and entertainment. 

Eats matter. 

Of course, the highlight of every salo-salo is the food. Start your menu planning by keeping your family and guests’ food preferences and allergies in mind. To make your event preparations less challenging, choose delicious yet easy-to-prepare meals like Fresh Options’ Crispy Pata, Pork Humba, Beef Kare-Kare or Chicken Galantina De Manille. For outdoor or more casual celebrations, you can also try Fresh Options’ Garlic Chicken, Ilocos Bagnet, Pork Sisig, and Bopis. 

With the special activities that families have this summer, get-togethers can be fun as long as it is planned out step by step. It is made extra special with Fresh Options’ assorted value-added meat. Preparing for the celebration is now made easy! All you have to do is microwave or pan fry the Fresh Options’ value-added meat you want to enjoy. 

Fresh Options value-added product lines are yummy and easy to prepare. They're available at outlets and supermarkets nationwide.

Fresh Options Meat Shop is proudly Filipino owned and operated and is based in Pampanga, taking pride in providing customers with fresh and safe meats. Expert veterinarians and technical personnel develop farm feeds, take care of the animals’ health and nutrition, and is certified “AA” by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS). Fresh Options Meat Shops can be found in Central Luzon and Metro Manila.