Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

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Replies

  • kramrn77
    kramrn77 Posts: 375 Member
    I found a recipe for chicken and rice muffins that you can play with for any given taste. Really, it boils down to cooked rice, poached chicken, chopped veggies, cheese and eggs baked in a muffin tin. I usually do left overs- tomorrow's box will have tonight's salsa chicken bad rice.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Sorry to multi post so much, but I just remembered to ask something I thought about last night. What do you guys use to eat your bentos with? Do you use a fork or chopsticks? Was curious......

    Forks! My skill with chopsticks is extremely limited.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member

    For those who were talking about (and drooling over) small cheeses earlier, look what Trader Joe's has now!!!

    fig_05.jpg

    WHAAAT?!?!

  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
    Sorry to multi post so much, but I just remembered to ask something I thought about last night. What do you guys use to eat your bentos with? Do you use a fork or chopsticks? Was curious......

    I would love to learn how to use chopsticks, I don't have any, and can't find them in the store :(
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    Sorry to multi post so much, but I just remembered to ask something I thought about last night. What do you guys use to eat your bentos with? Do you use a fork or chopsticks? Was curious......

    I would love to learn how to use chopsticks, I don't have any, and can't find them in the store :(
    Lol, I'd go to your local shopping centre to the food court, and if there's any Asian takeout joints, they usually have disposable chopsticks, so you could grab a few sets.
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
    edited February 2015
    I would love to learn how to use chopsticks, I don't have any, and can't find them in the store :(

    Yeah, I second picking them up in the hot food area of your local supermarket...! I learned by following the directions on the pack of chopsticks, but nowadays, everything is on youtube!!!

    fig_05.jpg

    I am so glad Trader Joe's opened up here!!! I'm going to have to check that out...!!!
    kramrn77 wrote: »
    I found a recipe for chicken and rice muffins that you can play with for any given taste. Really, it boils down to cooked rice, poached chicken, chopped veggies, cheese and eggs baked in a muffin tin. I usually do left overs- tomorrow's box will have tonight's salsa chicken bad rice.

    If I can make it in a muffin pan, I will do so!!! Awesome for portion control, and also awesome for freezing single servings. And now that I'm doing bento...easy for that too!

  • liekewheeless
    liekewheeless Posts: 416 Member
    @mangrothian next time I'm at a food court I'll see if I can find some. Thanks!
  • HanamiDango
    HanamiDango Posts: 456 Member
    Agh I typed out my reply and than push the back button.......

    Ok, so I was lazy and did not make my husband a lunch for today. However here is yesterdays. It is probably 750 cals as I was generous on the cheese. The top is a quesadilla with salsa chicken, re-fried beans, pepperjack and colby jack cheese with a side of salsa. The salad is croutons (which need to be put in a baggie as they got air soggy!), lettuce, cheese, carrots, and a small amount of ham with dressing on the side.
    Hubby has been talking about losing weight and building strength/muscle, so his lunches might start getting a better calorie count, but they will still be higher than what I could eat as his calorie intake is higher. Since I eat at home my lunches are normally sandwiches or salads. Today is buttery rice and soy. It has been calling my name for too long.

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  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    edited February 2015
    Wanted to share my non-fancy box and non-fancy ingredient bento for lunch tomorrow. It's a plain old lock-lock tupperware box with saffron rice on the bottom, black beans in the middle and shredded taco beef on the top layer with a cup of cheese (you can see the layers in the bottom right corner. On the side I put the avocado in hopes of it making it to lunch w/o rotting. Standard snack bento of laughing cow cheese & bagel chips and an apple.

    h73d39n0s7ap.jpg

    oh wow, just realized how crappy the picture is. well, you get the idea anyway.
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
    Oh that looks good! Way fancier than I do!! lol Squeeze just a bit of lemon juice on the avocado to keep it from browning...!! =D

    I want to get cutters to make my vegetables look cute too Hanami!!! That looks tasty.. Good idea too about quesadillas. I used to eat them dang near every day as a snack when I was a teenager. Don't think Ive made them since then!!!
  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
    new sushi place opened up near work and they had these supper tasty "lunch bento" boxes. everything was home made and so good...and only 5$!

    2015-02-27%2012.15.03_zpsqtqdnpbj.jpg
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Wow! 5 bucks is amazing, and that looks really tasty too!

    On a side note, my avocado made it! I spritzed with some lime juice as I am out of lemon and stuffed a plastic sandwich baggie in the container to take up the head space, and it was perfect :smile:
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
    YaY! Lime has a nice tang to it too..subtle but I'm sure it tasted yum. I love avocado..!
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Dragn77 wrote: »
    YaY! Lime has a nice tang to it too..subtle but I'm sure it tasted yum. I love avocado..!

    Me too, problem is, it's perfect for about a minute. One minute too raw, next minute too ripe :smiley: I need to find a way to make it bento proof!

  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    @SpecialKitty7 I love avocado too, but never seem to eat it all before it spoils, so I started buying instead boxes of the 100 calorie snack-packs of guacamole instead. They're great for bento, easy to make room for, and very tasty, without worry of browning.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    @SpecialKitty7 I love avocado too, but never seem to eat it all before it spoils, so I started buying instead boxes of the 100 calorie snack-packs of guacamole instead. They're great for bento, easy to make room for, and very tasty, without worry of browning.

    Where are those at? The refrigerator section at the grocery store? That sounds amazing!

  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    edited March 2015
    Yes, usually Moe's or Wholly Guacamole brands. I found a huge box at my local BJ's warehouse (like a Costco). They look like this:

    dev-guac-large-snackspicy.png
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

    A lot of the single serve foods like that aren't really available here, are super expensive, full of sugar as a preservative or they're part of mix packs which I don't want :( It'd be nice to have the option for stuff like that when I wanted to buy it. I guess that's why I make so much of my stuff from scratch.

    @emmiebaby That looks delish. Wish I could get something like that near here!

    Back to my Bento's after a little bit of food gluttony. The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival kicked off this weekend. I managed to stay away from the sweets provenders, but not from the Wine and cheese. My belly was extremely happy.

    Monday's Bento:
    f2emf9razo9d.jpg
    My standard yoghurt & fruit for the morning and fruit for the afternoon. Today's box has steak marinated in ponzu sauce, rice, veggies, pickes, a 1 egg tamagoyaki, and because I found them leftover from Christmas, 2 Raffaelo balls. Total Cals for the lunchbox is 460, and including everything else in the pic, 855 cals.

  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Thanks @snugglesmacks we have that brand around here, so I'll have to poke around.
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    I finally have a bento again! And I pulled out a cookie/candy cutter for some star-shaped banana slices to pretty up my bento a little more than usual. We'll see how well they held up come lunch time :p
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    edited March 2015
    Rice and chicken in the big tier, cut up apple and banana pieces in the other. The bananas browned a little but they weren't as squished as I was afraid.
    3dkzahmj333p.jpg

    And this bento ended up being very monochromatic, but....that's what I had available :/
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Rice and chicken in the big tier, cut up apple and banana pieces in the other. The bananas browned a little but they weren't as squished as I was afraid.
    3dkzahmj333p.jpg

    And this bento ended up being very monochromatic, but....that's what I had available :/

    Your bananas held up quite nicely. Did you do anything special to them to keep them from browning?

  • colejkeene
    colejkeene Posts: 84 Member
    I just bought my hubby a box from monbento- can't wait to share my new creations!
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Oh yeah, i've been meaning to ask. For all the cute cut fruit and veggies, what do you do with the scraps? I ate them. Probably not what you're supposed to do, but i also thought of a veggie cutout/scrap stirfry, all those funky shapes tickled my funny bone.
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    Rice and chicken in the big tier, cut up apple and banana pieces in the other. The bananas browned a little but they weren't as squished as I was afraid.
    3dkzahmj333p.jpg

    And this bento ended up being very monochromatic, but....that's what I had available :/

    Your bananas held up quite nicely. Did you do anything special to them to keep them from browning?

    Nope, just cut them up and dropped them in (along with the leftover pieces, to answer your other question - that's what all the little squares are, and I liked the look of the extra "shapes") However, I had already added some lemon juice to the apple slices, so that might've helped with the bananas too.
  • Dragn77
    Dragn77 Posts: 810 Member
    I never did make it to the Asian grocery down the street from me... But I just got paid soooooo, I'll be there sooner rather than later! My bentos have been boring as of late, same ol stuff Ive already shown you lol I havent gone grocery shopping yet though.

    This week...theres gonna be some changes, I can feel it! ;)
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    Rice and chicken in the big tier, cut up apple and banana pieces in the other. The bananas browned a little but they weren't as squished as I was afraid.
    3dkzahmj333p.jpg

    And this bento ended up being very monochromatic, but....that's what I had available :/

    Your bananas held up quite nicely. Did you do anything special to them to keep them from browning?

    Nope, just cut them up and dropped them in (along with the leftover pieces, to answer your other question - that's what all the little squares are, and I liked the look of the extra "shapes") However, I had already added some lemon juice to the apple slices, so that might've helped with the bananas too.

    I'm generally not anti any foods, but banana's to me have always been bleuargh (that's about the sound I make too if I have to eat one). I won't be giving that one a go ;) Although, if I was ever going to make a charaben bento, I'd consider using bananas just so I could make some minions.
    Dragn77 wrote: »
    I never did make it to the Asian grocery down the street from me... But I just got paid soooooo, I'll be there sooner rather than later! My bentos have been boring as of late, same ol stuff Ive already shown you lol I havent gone grocery shopping yet though.

    This week...theres gonna be some changes, I can feel it! ;)

    I sense some pretty pictures arriving...
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    I might have had some spare time tonight and gone pretty on the Bento...
    wmbsxafren8r.jpg
    Today's is smoked salmon, rice bunnies, blanched veggies, pickle, umeboshi, and a 1 egg tamagoyaki. 475 cal
  • LizN63
    LizN63 Posts: 129 Member
    Wow @mangrothian that looks amazing!!
  • HanamiDango
    HanamiDango Posts: 456 Member
    @mangrothian‌ That is soo pretty!
    I have been making hubby lunch just not taking pictures. Been tired at night and need to make some foods to freeze on nights for no leftovers bentos. I have been researching recipes for that and I also been trying to plan out some breakfast bentos for my 3 picky eaters. We are going on a trip in two weeks and my oldest is looking forward to the bento, lol!