Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

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Replies

  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    @Malyndiajc That's okay, we love all commenters, lurkers, shifty and shiftless! Some on here are new to bento (like me) and others like @mangrothian are superstars B) .
  • Daiako
    Daiako Posts: 12,545 Member
    sarieth05 wrote: »
    Daiako wrote: »
    That be to collection is amazing! So jealous.

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    Lunch! Ramen noodles, sriracha soy chicken (I just trow stuff at stuff and pray) and mixed veggies tossed with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, splenda, and vinegar. Just shy of 400 calories. Then grapes, boiled egg, and pepperoni for snacking.

    That ramen dish looks fantastic!

    It turned out pretty well, a bit spicey than intended (I suppose I went a bit overboard because I know flavors can get muted when food is cool) but still tasty.
  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
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    Made this for my daughter, then made me one too. For lunch tomorrow.

    There are 2 banana pancakes, 2 strawberries, 3 thin slices of honey ham, and 4 mini soda cup cakes for roughly 300 calories (rounding up)
  • Alliwan
    Alliwan Posts: 1,245 Member
    Malyndiajc wrote: »
    Shaped eggs? tell me more


    Long time stalker first time commenter :wink:

    Look up "egg molds" on amazon... there are so many nifty shapes

    I'm starting to get this feeling that we have quite a few people stalking this thread, lurking in the darkness.
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    I'm starting to get scared....

    I admit, I am a lurker. I LOVE looking at all your ideas. I show my husband everyday the new ideas on here and I tell him every time I want to need these! I am a SAHM who homeschools 2 teenagers. My lunch is here at home so I dont need them but man I never wanted to work outside the house as much as I do after looking at this. I want to have lunch in an office, any office will do, so I can say "honey I need bento boxes for my lunches'.

    Thx for showing us your most creative ideas. They look WONDERFUL!
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    Alliwan wrote: »
    Malyndiajc wrote: »
    Shaped eggs? tell me more


    Long time stalker first time commenter :wink:

    Look up "egg molds" on amazon... there are so many nifty shapes

    I'm starting to get this feeling that we have quite a few people stalking this thread, lurking in the darkness.
    9aonqmyng6xl.jpg
    I'm starting to get scared....

    I admit, I am a lurker. I LOVE looking at all your ideas. I show my husband everyday the new ideas on here and I tell him every time I want to need these! I am a SAHM who homeschools 2 teenagers. My lunch is here at home so I dont need them but man I never wanted to work outside the house as much as I do after looking at this. I want to have lunch in an office, any office will do, so I can say "honey I need bento boxes for my lunches'.

    Thx for showing us your most creative ideas. They look WONDERFUL!

    Why thank you! ^_^

    You know, even when I'm home on weekends or on leave, I still make my Bentos (last time I even made post gym-workout mini ones to have after I'd finished my workouts).

    The other option is to just get a picnic sized triple layer Bento. It gives you the reason to go eat somewhere outside (if it's not freezing that is) and have a bento lunch to share with the family :)
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    Made this for my daughter, then made me one too. For lunch tomorrow.

    There are 2 banana pancakes, 2 strawberries, 3 thin slices of honey ham, and 4 mini soda cup cakes for roughly 300 calories (rounding up)

    So cute! Especially with valentines day coming up. Although I am hoping you've somehow secretly got some vegetables into those soda cakes.... (you don't have to mind me; I'm just a vegetable fanatic).
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    @liekewheeless Oh my, how adorable!

    Here's tomorrow's lunch & snack bentos. The lunch bento is a bit larger than normal since I take all afternoon to eat it :smile:

    Bottom tier, jasmine rice, sugar snap peas & edamame, top tier stir fried shrimp, mini peppers and seaweed pops (the cracker lookin' things). The snack boxes are melba toast & laughing cow wedges, a kiwi and a star shaped egg.

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  • LizN63
    LizN63 Posts: 129 Member
    edited February 2015
    That looks wonderful! I am having a soup 'bento' today so no photo as it's very dull.

    I really want to bring edamame in my bentos as I love them but I can't find them in any supermarkets!

    @SpecialKitty7 what's in the little pot?
  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
    edited February 2015
    [/quote]So cute! Especially with valentines day coming up. Although I am hoping you've somehow secretly got some vegetables into those soda cakes.... (you don't have to mind me; I'm just a vegetable fanatic).[/quote]

    Oops, forgot the veggies today. It is fruit heavy with the pancakes being basically egg and banana. I usually do include some veggies.


    Haven't totally figured the partial quote out yet.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    @LizN63 its a tablespoon of Kraft fat free italian dressing for dipping the peppers in. Lately I've had a hard time finding my favorite brand of frozen edamame (Tasty Joy) and I found one yucky one (PictSweet) so I've been making do with the only other one I could find (Wel Pac). Seems lately I can't find edamame anywhere :\
  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
    @SpecialKitty7 Like the star egg, I'm going to have to find one of those molds.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    @SpecialKitty7 Like the star egg, I'm going to have to find one of those molds.

    I bought all my molds on amazon. I have a star, heart, fish, car, bear, bunny, and coming soon, a Hello Kitty one. The bunny works best, and the star and heart work best when I have abnormally large eggs.
  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
    This weekend I am going to the asian market in town to pick up some supplies, my mission is to find an onigiri mold, hard boiled egg mold, a lunch box, and maybe some new bento boxes.

    Is there anything else I should be on the lookout for?
  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
    Made a special Valentine's bento for my daughter today. Had planned to pack it in her strawberry box, but sadly some kid accidentally stepped on it and broke the lid at school. :( I'm going to try to glue it back together. We'll see if it works.
    Anyway, she has a sealed jelly sandwich with heart sprinkles, cheddar cheese X's and turkey O's, strawberries, pretzels and 2 dark chocolate hearts.
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  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
    @kristydi Nice! Like the x en o, hadn't thought of that.
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    Not very creative but I wanted to make a heart themed bento for my son's lunch today.
  • As I posted the above, I realized I didn't include any protein. Mother of the Year :)
  • PowerfulHunt
    PowerfulHunt Posts: 281 Member
    Cutest thread ever < 3
  • PowerfulHunt
    PowerfulHunt Posts: 281 Member
    kristydi wrote: »
    Made a special Valentine's bento for my daughter today. Had planned to pack it in her strawberry box, but sadly some kid accidentally stepped on it and broke the lid at school. :( I'm going to try to glue it back together. We'll see if it works.
    Anyway, she has a sealed jelly sandwich with heart sprinkles, cheddar cheese X's and turkey O's, strawberries, pretzels and 2 dark chocolate hearts.
    o5cfsyr76yf1.jpg

    SOO adorable! Love the cheese & turkey X's/O's.
  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
    @kristydi Nice! Like the x en o, hadn't thought of that.

    Thanks. They came in a little set with some heart cutters so no major creativity on my part.
  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
    @‌BinkyBonk
    I left out the vedgies on my daughters. Got caught up making it look pretty.
  • justcat206
    justcat206 Posts: 716 Member
    I do bento for my kids' lunchboxes quite frequently (mine, too, if I'm packing to eat with them). I keep a list on my fridge divided into proteins, fruits, veggies, grains, dips and treats and try to choose from each of them every time. I don't make them cutesy either, but I do have a bento "bunny" face press for our hardboiled eggs, and some cute picks for cheese and fruit. The kids eat SO much healthier when they get their meals this way than if I try to get them to eat an entire piece of fruit or veggie. I also follow a bunch of Bento boards on Pinterest that are always giving new great ideas.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    edited February 2015
    @justcat206 Yeah, I follow some of the Bento pinterest boards, but I try to stick to the Japanese traditional ones, because quite a few of the others turn out to be just full of charaben ideas, or kids bentos (I'm sure my furbabies would love a bento box, but they'd probably try to eat the box too!), which usually don't have ingredients to my style. Obviously, if you're making a bento for your kiddies, that's a different story :)

    There used to be a couple of good Bento pools on Flickr, but it kinda died. ETA: I lied, the Bento Flickr pools are going strong. I'm going to delve for new ideas....
    @‌BinkyBonk
    I left out the vedgies on my daughters. Got caught up making it look pretty.

    Sounds like you may need to invest in some shaped vegetable cutters. My heart and flower ones get used everyday; they're probably the bento items that I've had the most value for money out of.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    If anyone is in San Francisco I just had a friend who lives there tell me about a store called Asakichi they're meant to have 4 four stores in Japantown, and (at least used to) have a great selection of the more traditional Bento boxes, like the ones made out of bamboo if you like.

    It's kinda a little bit far for me to go shopping there ;)
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    I'm sad.

    I had a chicken and bacon chilli bento all nicely made, and I left it at home. I left it in the fridge instead of putting it in my gym bag :(

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  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    edited February 2015
    I'm sad.

    I had a chicken and bacon chilli bento all nicely made, and I left it at home. I left it in the fridge instead of putting it in my gym bag :(

    Oh no! That sounds super tasty too! At least it's in the fridge, that's better than the counter right?

    Here's mine for tomorrow, bottom tier: soba w/ smoked sesame seeds, sugar snap peas & edamame. Top tier, mini peppers, shrimp and pineapple.

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  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    So tasty looking....
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  • HanamiDango
    HanamiDango Posts: 456 Member
    edited February 2015
    So tasty looking....
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    I guess this is where "buddy" would come in handy? Ahh sorry pun on the live action Skip Beat. ^_^ However hope you are still able to get something yummy to eat!

    Moving along from my nerdy-ness. Tomorrow's lunch for hubby is carrots, beef jerk, salt & pepper chips, and a snicker doodle cupcake on top and botton is a turkey, ham, cheese sandwich on a homemade hamburger bun with more salt & pepper chips.

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  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    edited February 2015
    So tasty looking....
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    I guess this is where "buddy" would come in handy? Ahh sorry pun on the live action Skip Beat. ^_^ However hope you are still able to get something yummy to eat!

    Moving along from my nerdy-ness. Tomorrow's lunch for hubby is carrots, beef jerk, salt & pepper chips, and a snicker doodle cupcake on top and botton is a turkey, ham, cheese sandwich on a homemade hamburger bun with more salt & pepper chips.

    ti2o9jw1v2a4.jpg

    Heh looks yum. Never quite understood what a snicker doodle is, but I'm sure it's delicious.

    And in response to your nerdyness, I never watched the live action Skip Beat, just the anime and the manga. I really wish I had little Kyoko-chan demons to fling at people sometimes though.
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  • sarieth05
    sarieth05 Posts: 313 Member
    I made a lunch bento and a snack bento. I actually don't like a lot of variety in my day, so I like putting the same things in all of the boxes. :p

    Orange snack bento: half an apple, grapes, half a bagel, laughing cow cheese wedge = 234.6 calories.

    Blue lunch bento: half an apple, carrots, grapes, half a bagel, laughing cow cheese wedge, grilled chicken breast over some romaine + half a serving of that yogurt dressing that I'll put on it tomorrow since I don't have any sauce containers. XD = 336.3 calories.

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