Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

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  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    SueSueDio wrote: »
    Your Bentos are always so beautifully presented!
    mangrothian wrote: »
    Afternoon tea, 323 Cal
    - 110g chocolate lamination

    But I have to ask... why did you laminate your chocolate? Wasn't it hard to eat through the plastic? ;)

    (Seriously though, what is it? Searching the interwebz isn't helping me at the moment! :) )

    bahahaha, damn kitten autocorrect on my phone. It's a chocolate lamington lol

    For the uninitiated : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    I'd also like to add that something in my brain is very proud that the lamington fit perfectly into my snack container. It was satisfying to drop it in and close the lid ^_^
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
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    mangrothian wrote: »
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    Your Bentos are always so beautifully presented!
    mangrothian wrote: »
    Afternoon tea, 323 Cal
    - 110g chocolate lamination

    But I have to ask... why did you laminate your chocolate? Wasn't it hard to eat through the plastic? ;)

    (Seriously though, what is it? Searching the interwebz isn't helping me at the moment! :) )

    bahahaha, damn kitten autocorrect on my phone. It's a chocolate lamington lol

    For the uninitiated : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington

    Ooh, that sounds delicious - a lot of calories, but delicious! I think I need one of these! :) Did yours have a filling? And can you recommend a good recipe so I can try it? :)
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    edited September 2016
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    My parents picked them up from a bakery on their way down for a visit. I mean, it's cake, so it's not exactly going to be low in calories. Mine was unfilled, but if it's filled with jam, its generally only a really small amount. It may be a northern Aussie thing to fill them with cream, because I've never seen that where I live.

    Recipe: http://www.foodtolove.com.au/recipes/classic-lamingtons-14699 This a recipe from the Australian Womens Weekly original cookbook, which is about as Australian as a cookbook can get.

    ETA: for size reference, my snack container is 8cm square, and 4cm high, so it's not a big serve
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
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    mangrothian wrote: »
    Recipe: http://www.foodtolove.com.au/recipes/classic-lamingtons-14699 This a recipe from the Australian Womens Weekly original cookbook, which is about as Australian as a cookbook can get.

    Thanks! :) (Lots of yummy-looking cake recipes on that site...!) This one looks a bit messy to make, although I might try it anyway, but I noticed there was another one for a "Lamington slice" that looks easier... maybe I'll give that one a go next weekend, for a treat when my son's friend stays over!
  • ivygirl1937
    ivygirl1937 Posts: 899 Member
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    Oh my goodness, that set is so cute!!!! Love it!!
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    I love bento boxes. I use them from bentology.com and have used these, also: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016Y0VEDQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I love making pretty lunches.
  • Monisha4005
    Monisha4005 Posts: 10 Member
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    I honestly don't use Bento because it feels like a fad and there are more affordable options for portion control. 1st I have an Igloo lunch box that helps prevent spills and keeps food especially if you are commuting. Secondly if you are looking for a BPA free product that is sectioned into portions you can buy Snapware or Rubbermaid bulk boxes. The big advantage of that for you is that you could premake your lunches for a few days.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    edited September 2016
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    @WindSparrow your reply articulates much of what I believe is true for bento's (and saves me a longer post). Thank you!

    @Monisha4005 I'm not sure how much of this thread you've read, or what your idea's of a bento are, so I apologise if this post is a little, gruff, or condesending or something (since I haven't written it yet, I don't know how it'll sound). I seem to post something similar to this every 10 pages or so; I guess it helps if people who've never read the thread only read the more recent posts *shrug*

    Most people who hear the word 'bento' generally think of one of two things:
    First, charaben/kyaraben:
    h31pu5qtscry.jpg
    Or, restaurant style bento:
    22xnwk3qdlg7.jpg

    These are both bento in the traditional sense (since the term bento refers to a meal in a box), but not what this thread is about at all (I'm assuming the charaben thread is closer to what most people think about these days when they hear the word 'bento'). Most charaben take hours to prepare, and aren't actually that healthy. I certainly couldn't make one like the picture above without wasting a lot of food. Most of my lunches take less than 10 minutes actively in the kitchen (I'm not sitting there watching my eggs boil for example), or are made during any downtime I have making dinner each night.

    The restaurant style bento is usually pretty high calorie and although it can be transported, it certainly isn't designed to be thrown in a handbag or backpack and taken on a long commute to work or school.

    This thread is about packing a lunch that falls into the majority of the below categories, as well as sharing the different ideas that people have:
    - is quick to make
    - travels well, and in many cases is safe being left at room temperature from morning until lunchtime
    - is low in calories (for those eating in a Caloric deficit)
    - has a balance of macronutrients
    - creating a stash of staples that make the process easy to prepare, repeat and for many of us, log in our mfp diaries.
    - is pleasing to the eye (this is to help eat with the eyes, especially for those who may not get to eat a large lunch), and is packed in such a way that it can look much like how it was packed when it's opened back up at lunchtime.

    And of course, tastes delicious!!

    Nowhere in that list does it say you require a fancy box of some kind. Hell, my first bento was in a re-used takeaway container (which was way too big for what I was trying to do and ended up a mess!). Having a 'bento' container can help with the last point since that's what they're designed for, but for many of us who do use them, they're a privilege, not a necessity.

    No one said that bento containers are an expensive item anyway. With the exception of the pink Zojirushi set that I've been using in the last couple of posts (which I purchased well over a year ago), not a single one of my boxes costs more than AU$5. Most of them come from Daiso (a Japanese 'dollar store' chain) and cost $2.80 each. My post below for my Monday lunch has a total of AU$8.40 of products, $11.20 if you include the cooler bag not in the picture (for reference, that's about US$8.50). Unless you microwave them, or stick them in a dishwasher, they last ages. Also, since they're solid colour, they're automatically BPA free for people who worry about that sort of thing.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    Tuesday was me having my first attempt at prepping and eating konjac noodles. 20Cals for 250g of noodles made them worth a shot. Totally gross. No amount of low cal bulk to fill me up could justify the disgusting texture that was a konjac noodle (something like a firm flavourless jellyfish :s ) Needless to say, I went off and bought something for lunch.

    Today's is much nicer. I'm reversing my dinner and lunch Calories today since it's a run day for me, and if I don't eat a big meal, I'll want to snack all arvo:
    e43zmm12tjdt.jpg
    Total Cals: 804
    - 210g rice with pickled plum paste, furikake and pickled daikon (it tastes lovely, but the fake yellow colour is always a bit disconcerting), 363Cal
    - 6 beef and pork meatballs, 327Cal
    - 110g Cabbage & 30g carrot, simmered in dashi stock, sriracha and sesame oil (the water was left to steam down into a dashi sauce, nomnomonom), 62Cal
    - Narutomaki (Naruto fish cake, the white slices with the pink swirl through them), 42Cal
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    mangrothian wrote: »
    Tuesday was me having my first attempt at prepping and eating konjac noodles. 20Cals for 250g of noodles made them worth a shot. Totally gross. No amount of low cal bulk to fill me up could justify the disgusting texture that was a konjac noodle (something like a firm flavourless jellyfish :s ) Needless to say, I went off and bought something for lunch.

    Today's is much nicer. I'm reversing my dinner and lunch Calories today since it's a run day for me, and if I don't eat a big meal, I'll want to snack all arvo:
    e43zmm12tjdt.jpg
    Total Cals: 804
    - 210g rice with pickled plum paste, furikake and pickled daikon (it tastes lovely, but the fake yellow colour is always a bit disconcerting), 363Cal
    - 6 beef and pork meatballs, 327Cal
    - 110g Cabbage & 30g carrot, simmered in dashi stock, sriracha and sesame oil (the water was left to steam down into a dashi sauce, nomnomonom), 62Cal
    - Narutomaki (Naruto fish cake, the white slices with the pink swirl through them), 42Cal

    I tried konjac noodles. There are no adequate words to explain how nasty those are. My dogs wouldn't even eat them (and that's saying something, the only food they wouldn't eat prior to that was sugar free jello). I got a narutomaki roll from the Japanese market I just found. Wasn't sure what it tasted like or what to do with it besides stick it in ramen, but your lunch looks amazing!
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    SpecialKitty7 wrote: »
    mangrothian wrote: »
    Tuesday was me having my first attempt at prepping and eating konjac noodles. 20Cals for 250g of noodles made them worth a shot. Totally gross. No amount of low cal bulk to fill me up could justify the disgusting texture that was a konjac noodle (something like a firm flavourless jellyfish :s ) Needless to say, I went off and bought something for lunch.

    Today's is much nicer. I'm reversing my dinner and lunch Calories today since it's a run day for me, and if I don't eat a big meal, I'll want to snack all arvo:
    e43zmm12tjdt.jpg
    Total Cals: 804
    - 210g rice with pickled plum paste, furikake and pickled daikon (it tastes lovely, but the fake yellow colour is always a bit disconcerting), 363Cal
    - 6 beef and pork meatballs, 327Cal
    - 110g Cabbage & 30g carrot, simmered in dashi stock, sriracha and sesame oil (the water was left to steam down into a dashi sauce, nomnomonom), 62Cal
    - Narutomaki (Naruto fish cake, the white slices with the pink swirl through them), 42Cal

    I tried konjac noodles. There are no adequate words to explain how nasty those are. My dogs wouldn't even eat them (and that's saying something, the only food they wouldn't eat prior to that was sugar free jello). I got a narutomaki roll from the Japanese market I just found. Wasn't sure what it tasted like or what to do with it besides stick it in ramen, but your lunch looks amazing!

    I managed to get the flavour of the konjac sorted; they're meant to be a sort of sponge for flavour, so I used the marinade that I had for the beef with the noodles to give it flavour (chilli, soy sauce and mirin). So they tasted alright. I tried them once and thought 'hmm, nice flavour, but dunno about the texture'. Next bite was 'what the *kitten* is this texture?". Third bite I gagged a little and gave up. My chicken katsu curry-rice was much nicer ;_

    The narutomaki soaks up a lot of flavour as well (on its own I think it's a bit meh), so cooking it with the cabbage and dashi stock made it taste super duper awesome.
  • WindSparrow
    WindSparrow Posts: 224 Member
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    Note to self: Stay the heck away from konjac noodles.

    It's probably more fuss and bother than you want to do, but I really enjoy the mouthfeel of zucchini/courgette ribbons made with a vegetable peeler rather than a julliene tool or spiralizer, and if you like zucchini, they go well with all sorts of different flavors in place of noodles. (If anyone wants detailed instructions, let me know.)
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    WindSparrow wrote: »
    Note to self: Stay the heck away from konjac noodles.

    That's best. My mom called them garlic and onion flavored rubber bands. They don't really have a taste of their own, kind of like tofu, but they have an egregious texture.

  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    WindSparrow wrote: »
    Note to self: Stay the heck away from konjac noodles.

    It's probably more fuss and bother than you want to do, but I really enjoy the mouthfeel of zucchini/courgette ribbons made with a vegetable peeler rather than a julliene tool or spiralizer, and if you like zucchini, they go well with all sorts of different flavors in place of noodles. (If anyone wants detailed instructions, let me know.)

    For me it's not the fuss; I don't usually put zucchini in my bentos because it goes so soft when cooked, and continues to release moisture after you put it into the box. Made for some soggy and soupy lunches.

    No bento for me today. I have curry udon with cabbage and eggs to have for lunch. With that concoction, I'm glad no one sits at the desk next to me though.
  • ivygirl1937
    ivygirl1937 Posts: 899 Member
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    Also noting to stay away from konjac noodles - I was going to try them, glad I haven't bought any yet!!

    I like zucchini noodles as well but as @mangrothian said, they tend to get things really soggy/soupy, not at all appetizing. I really only eat those for dinner when I can eat immediately and they don't have to sit around.

    No bento for me today, I just threw some stuff in my lunchbox since I got home late last night so nothing is pretty. I really need to work harder at putting things together that are pretty and yummy. Eating too much pre-packaged stuff right now because it's what I have and I haven't had a chance to go to the store and buy produce in several weeks. :disappointed:

    Love seeing your guys' bentos, though!
  • Lucy0304
    Lucy0304 Posts: 10 Member
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    After leaving my bento set on the bus, I bought Freshware 3-compartment bento boxes off Amazon. They are like the take-out boxes from Pei Wei and very affordable. That way if I lose one (I bought a package of 15 for less than $13) I don't have a panic attack. I still use my thermos for soups but the rest fits in one box. I eat the cold food first then nuke the rest. They are freezer safe so I can make up several for when I'm in a rush in the morning.

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