Using Bento Boxes for lunches.
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First attempt at posting pictures of my lunches. This was the past week (3 days of it anyways, didn't get pics of the other two days) and I finally figured out how to transfer photographs from my phone to my computer. (It won't directly connect.) I've had these containers from Wal-Mart for a couple of years now. Thought I'd put them to use. All these are left overs from the previous nights dinner.
Tuesday:
Spinach, Corn, and Rice in the little containers. Talipia in the big container all by it's lonesome.
Wednesday:
Rice and Tuna in the big container. Corn, Broccoli, and Soy Sauce in the little containers.
Friday:
Battered Cod in the big container, again by it's lonesome. Mac & Cheese and Green beans in the little container. Third little container has Old English Cheese Spread to be eaten as a snack with the bag of crackers.
Note: I don't really cook, except rice. Most of this stuff is from cans or already seasoned and frozen that I cook in the oven. I am hoping to fix that soon as I have started trying out different recipes.0 -
I've been mia from the forums for awhile, so I had about 40 pages to catch up on, and got into the bento-want craze again (let's not talk about what my amazon shopping list looks like right now..). I spent way too many hours running around trying to find stuff, but I did find things! And now I'm passing the savings of ideas on to you people wanting to get started as well, hopefully this will be useful for those of you, if not, skip it, move on. And I promise to try real hard to remember to take pictures of what I've done (kept eating then remembering, seems a common theme).
I found bento boxes (ones labeled as such I should say) at Bed Bath and Beyond, and some on clearance at Walmart as well as some of the everyday plastic sets (the ones with large and small containers) at Ross, Marshalls, World Market, Walmart, Target,etc. IKEA's Pruta set of a billion (alright 17) is also fantastic for mix and matching and is around $5 (I have a set still, love the little squares). I've been using regular square sterlite ones with a divider, and since I already own them I've opted to skip on a new box (ok ok I got a yellow owl one being shipped).
I found circular silicone cups at Target (Wilton), AC Moore (Wilton and Nicole's Kitchen), Walmart was out, but could be ordered. I was able to get square cups at JoAnns (Wilton).
AC Moore had some decent large/regular cookie cutters for $0.69, and all the craft stores had a mixup of different types/sets. Mini cookie cutters in the Wilton section at AC Moore, Jo Anns and Michael.
Sword and regular plastic toothpicks at Party City, cupcake decoration toothpicks can be found at pretty much any craft store like Hobby Lobby, Jo Anns, Michaels, it seems
just too big on the top for my tastes and I wanted something reuseable or tossable, and you can find wooden toothpicks with that little decorative plastic at the top at most grocery stores/Target/Walmart.
I went to the international food market (as we don't have a dedicated Asian market) and was able to find nigiri and onigiri molds (the nigiri I'll use for onigiri as well, just wanted something smaller
) and if you have an Asian market they should have some bento stuff, even if it's just a small box and chopsticks.
I'll likely buy some smaller food cutters, interesting toothpicks, etc online, but things are out there if you're interested in getting going! Remember if you hit a craft store, take your coupons. This is just in my area (Charlotte, NC), so there may be varying options where you're at.
Oh how I wish I lived closer to a bigger town! I have to travel nearly 100 miles to get to the nearest Marshall's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, or IKEA. We do have a Ross's here (25 miles away), but it mainly has clothing and purses, not much else. And we have NO Asian/International food markets of anykind (unless you count the tiny section inside Wal-Mart and Kroger).
I can live without them, but I was going the serious scouring rate, I hadn't been in most of those places in over a year at least. I used to live in Tampa, and we had Asian stores all over the place, so only having one here (I've only been here a year) is weird. Amazon, eBay and BentoUSA have been the places online that I've found some good stuff. Wish as well has some things but shipping is slow.0 -
Note: I don't really cook, except rice. Most of this stuff is from cans or already seasoned and frozen that I cook in the oven. I am hoping to fix that soon as I have started trying out different recipes.
Steam in a bag veggies are my friend. We all gotta start somewhere, and the internet definitely has no lack of recipes.
A like that container, especially if it keeps your sauce from going everywhere.0 -
@mangrothian where did you get your blue three tier box from? I would like a three tier one. 0
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Breakfast and lunch.
A small apple, a babybel, some cranberries and seeds for snacking. And then carrot salad and chicken for lunch. Dressing in the blue container and sesame seeds for sprinkling in the lid. Ca 510kcal.
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This week's lunch....168g curried chicken salad with plain Greek yogurt, apples, clementines, dried cherries, and pecans (10g in the round section), 60g carrots, 66g cucumbers, 114g cottage cheese, and 9 Snack Factory pretzel crisps with sea salt and cracked pepper = 563 calories.0 -
Back to regular bentos rather than leftovers for me this week. Monday's is rice, a small piece marinated pork spare rib (its packed in on its end so all you can see is a brown stripe lol) and raw veg with a sesame dressing to dip in.
I got that box from Daiso. It's tiny though; I think all the tiers together add up to under 500ml. It's not in their online store unfortunately. If you do what a 3 tier one though, there's one called Bento Colors that you can get from Bento&CoLivingdeadgirl44 wrote: »@mangrothian where did you get your blue three tier box from? I would like a three tier one.
There's only one way to learnNote: I don't really cook, except rice. Most of this stuff is from cans or already seasoned and frozen that I cook in the oven. I am hoping to fix that soon as I have started trying out different recipes.
. If you want go the simple and pretty route, I suggest starting by just blanching veg. Set a pot of water to boil, chop up a serving of fresh veg into smallish pieces, cook for 3 minutes(if you cook them more than that, they might be soggy by the time you eat your lunch, then drain (leave them out of the box for at least 5 minutes for the steam to evaporate) and pop in your box. Happy experimenting!
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I made some chicken Biryani last night, tons of it. I'm going to be eating it for days! Served with a boiled egg in the bottom layer. Some veggies to snack on in the top layer and a sashay of miso soup tucked in with the spoon.
Please excuse the dirty counter, I should have waited till after I cleaned up to take the photo >_<
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Oh dear, I probably shouldn't have gone on the Bento&Co website, I feel a spend coming on...0
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Been ill so have not had time to make bentoes as much but today I managed a bakwa sammich with some stewed root vegetables. The sammiches were huge so I ended up only consuming one and the other got stuffed back into Babi Bento for dinner. LOL
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I upgraded my dropbox, so back in business when I have bentos to share. This one was just a couple of days ago. Beet hummus, snap peas, goat brie, potatoes and some pork roast. Also had an onion bread item as well, just not in the picture. It was good with the cheese warmed up. mmm
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My apologies if my definition of "bento-ing" isn't spot-on, but my interpretation is that it's very much about equal portioning of macro nutrients per meal. My favorite bento-like portion is for my breakfast. I make an egg white frittata. I sautee down fresh spinach, garlic, tomatoes, kale, onions, turkey sausage, and [insert extra veggies here]. I then add egg whites (20), plus spices in a large pan on low. After cooking on the lowest setting/moving around ingredients without scrambling or burning, I put it in the oven to cook/crispen up the top at 400°F. Then slice, pre-package, and bring for breakfast! I zap it in the microwave for 30seconds-1minute to reheat! Cheers!0
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In order, steak sandwich with cheese and corn, leftover mashes potatoes carrots and baked chicken strips, fritos with chili cheese, bean cheese chicken quesadilla with carrots, & tomorrows, a ham/turkey cheese sandwich with chips and brownies. Pretty simple, I am going to start adding more balance, and cooking maybe a bit more for him, once I get his input on what he likes and all, more vegetables and balance.
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Traditional bentos are not MFP bento's necessarily.My apologies if my definition of "bento-ing" isn't spot-on, but my interpretation is that it's very much about equal portioning of macro nutrients per meal. Your bento sounds tasty and healthy, and imo on here that's what matters.
@HanamiDango I've seen those sauce containers, how well do they work? I have this fairly large container I use now for salad dressing, it's annoying!0 -
Traditional bentos are not MFP bento's necessarily.My apologies if my definition of "bento-ing" isn't spot-on, but my interpretation is that it's very much about equal portioning of macro nutrients per meal. Your bento sounds tasty and healthy, and imo on here that's what matters.
@HanamiDango I've seen those sauce containers, how well do they work? I have this fairly large container I use now for salad dressing, it's annoying!
They work great, never had hubby said they spill or open. And every time I have use them, they work well, they are small, a tablespoon, max. I personally love them. I am sure others will weigh in who own them too!0 -
Tomorrow's lunch, I made Origini for the first time! Stuffed with minced beef. Served with boiled veg half of which I threw on the floor. A couple of mini meatballs, some raw cucumber and sugar snap peas and some pickled sweet corn and red pepper relish. Debating an egg to compensate for missing veg.
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Another couple "bentos" to add. 1st is hubby's leftover Chicken Fajita Pasta and the second is lunch for today which is mixed veggies, leftover miso salmon, baked sweet potato, and mayo/peanut dressing in the containers (563 cals). The other box was last night's snack which was cameo apple with cinnamon along with dark chocolate peanut butter/pumpkin peanut butter and some deli ham/chicken(244 cals).
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Feeling silly for another post but here is today's bento that hubby forgot, so now my lunch ^_^ The style is the Soboro Don but the chicken is cook in a "Korean" style. I need to get some mirin/sake in my pantry to try a the recipe for soboro don. It is 344 as shown, but I am adding some extra chicken in, got to meet my protein goals, so for me is it 415 calories with 60 grams frozen chicken.
I did want to add one thing, that may or may not be helpful to anyone here. If you are using a food scale and weight your food, I have found that you can make recipes a huge number of serving via the app at least, website does not work >.> Like I weight my rice dry, know how much my rice bowl weights, and after it is cooked, I weight the rice in the bowl, minus the bowl and add like 750 grams for the serving of rice or say 400 depending on how much I made. You do more math and do it by 10 grams per serving type stuff, but I just like having it down to the gram, however, nothing is perfect either since water evaporators and all, making it less, so I think I might start taking grams off. I have a listing of pots/pans/bowls weights to help. I try to keep it as close as possible. Sorry for the ramble!0 -
Today's bento (in my new bento box!):
Layer one: jasmine rice with Thai spicy peanut veggies
Layer two: kiwi, Thai veggie goyza, and teriyaki pork loin
Nomnom!0 -
Today's bento (in my new bento box!)
That box is just adorable! Very pretty and feminine.
I don't have anything to post here, but just wanted to say thanks for this thread and I'm keeping an eye on it for ideas! When I find a new job, I should be able to pack healthy lunches for myself using some of these tips, so thank you all for sharing!
(It's nice to see so many variations on boxes, too, and know that one doesn't need to spend a fortune to get a suitable box!)
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