Using Bento Boxes for lunches.
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I have no idea about the veg leather thingies - I've looked for it here in Aus and can't find them
What I do have though is one of my fav bentos. It doesn't really look different from the rest, but it has my favourite savoury furikake flavour, tamagoyaki and smoked salmon. Winter veggies are getting cheaper too, so I can add in some golden squash and asparagus to my lunch ^_^ Just over 500Cal
I also brought in some matcha crush pocky, but it's already in my belleh.
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Thanks to the local Dollar Store I got to give this a try before I invest in all the gear.
This is my first attempt (a feeble attempt, but it's a start)!
There is also a heart shaped egg, but it was less than pretty so I left it out. There is also a small container of oatmeal but I haven't figured out how to make that.....cute... yet.
ETA: AM snack of sliced cucumbers and grape tomatoes. Lunch is chili lime chicken legs, lime cilantro rice, fresh peas. Afternoon snack of cheese and sliced apple.
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Yes, it is like a fruit leather with spice or savory taste. I have never seen them at Trader Joes, I get them at Wegmans or the healthfood store. They are in different places in different stores but look at Gluten Free aisles.
There is also a coconut wrap if anyone is interested.
Hmmmmm... I checked the Wegmans app for gem wraps, but nothing came up. I wonder if mine has them. I will have to swing by to check out the GF section... I could call and ask, but I have the feeling that no one will know what I'm talking about.
I looked up nutrition information, and I have to find these. For a wrap that is 10-25 calories, these could be the answer to a lot of my problems.0 -
Today's bento lunch: white rice with peas; samosas from Trader Joe's (there are some great things for bentos at TJ's if you live near one); mukimame; kiwi; and a couple gummy things from the bulk candy bins at IKEA.
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If you can't find the Gem wraps, Trader Joe's has low carb wraps at 45 calories. They're small, a little larger than soft taco sized, but they're delicious and have lots of fiber. Also, Amazon has the Gem wraps.0
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Thanks to the local Dollar Store I got to give this a try before I invest in all the gear.
This is my first attempt (a feeble attempt, but it's a start)!
There is also a heart shaped egg, but it was less than pretty so I left it out. There is also a small container of oatmeal but I haven't figured out how to make that.....cute... yet.
ETA: AM snack of sliced cucumbers and grape tomatoes. Lunch is chili lime chicken legs, lime cilantro rice, fresh peas. Afternoon snack of cheese and sliced apple.
Looks mighty tasty to me; I like the sound of the flavours you have with your rice. Lots of colours with foods you like are all you need - pretty and cutesy happens 1) with practice and 2) if you have the time.
I dont know about everyone else, but the only reason mine look even remotely close to neat and pretty (at least I hope they do) is because I make nearly the same thing every day, and we all know that practice makes crazy
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Thanks to the local Dollar Store I got to give this a try before I invest in all the gear.
This is my first attempt (a feeble attempt, but it's a start)!
There is also a heart shaped egg, but it was less than pretty so I left it out. There is also a small container of oatmeal but I haven't figured out how to make that.....cute... yet.
ETA: AM snack of sliced cucumbers and grape tomatoes. Lunch is chili lime chicken legs, lime cilantro rice, fresh peas. Afternoon snack of cheese and sliced apple.
I like the little cheese flowers. What did you use to cut those?
And "Tupperware bentos" are awesome. You don't need all the fancy boxes and dividers to make bentos. Those are just extra "fluff".
For the oatmeal, maybe you could put fruit or raisins on the top to make it pretty? Or a bit of cinnamon to garnish?0 -
Narcissora wrote: »Today's bento lunch: white rice with peas; samosas from Trader Joe's (there are some great things for bentos at TJ's if you live near one); mukimame; kiwi; and a couple gummy things from the bulk candy bins at IKEA.
I really need to drive to the nearest Trader's Joe and check that place out!
Made lunch for hubby, leftovers and apples hey fruit is in there this time, yay!
Everyone's lunch are so lovely.0 -
Today's non-traditional bento. Salami and laughing cow cheese roll ups with carrots, a mandarin orange (tangerine or whatever) and strawberries. Total 485 calories.
Oh, and for whatever reason, my cat took offense to this bento (he does prefer the Japanese ones) and knocked it off the counter into his water bowl on the floor. Lunch came through unscathed!0 -
Thanks to the local Dollar Store I got to give this a try before I invest in all the gear.
This is my first attempt (a feeble attempt, but it's a start)!
There is also a heart shaped egg, but it was less than pretty so I left it out. There is also a small container of oatmeal but I haven't figured out how to make that.....cute... yet.
ETA: AM snack of sliced cucumbers and grape tomatoes. Lunch is chili lime chicken legs, lime cilantro rice, fresh peas. Afternoon snack of cheese and sliced apple.
I think it's pretty awesome!
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Can you please come to my house and cut my veggies into pretty shapes like that?
I haven't used bento per se, however, I did purchase a few sets of containers made by Rubbermaid, I think they are called The Cube (??) and they all seal nicely and snap together, they come in a variety of sizes and have been great for portion-control. For me the trick was to buy a few sets so that there is always at least 1 clean set available. I thought the prep was going to be a dreadful chore, but have just made it part of dinner prep and post-dinner cleanup. This may crazy but having fun & pretty containers makes me look forward to packing my lunch, and fetching my lunch from the fridge and actually eating it rather than running out for fast food.0 -
I use a PlanetBox lunchbox. I love it!0
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carolynmo1969 wrote: »having fun & pretty containers makes me look forward to packing my lunch, and fetching my lunch from the fridge and actually eating it rather than running out for fast food.
This
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I learned an important Bento lessons last night.
If you make your meals ahead of time and just have to 'build' the Bento it makes you less stressed... and homicidal.
Last night I made chicken legs for the week and rice for 3 days. I anticipate this making tonight's work MUCH easier.
I also learned that just packing the containers full of food took me about 500 calories over my macros. It also packed WAY more food than I can eat in a single day. Have to pay more attention to that when I'm building.
I'm really glad I found this thread. I love the idea and I LOVE when my food looks nice. IT makes my meals so much more pleasant!0 -
I just wanted to thank this thread in general for introducing me to GemWraps. I'm not a bento gal (so fat, so lazy am I), but I totally just ordered a pack of tomato and a pack of barbecue wraps and I am SO EXCITED to try them!0
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I learned an important Bento lessons last night.
If you make your meals ahead of time and just have to 'build' the Bento it makes you less stressed... and homicidal.
Last night I made chicken legs for the week and rice for 3 days. I anticipate this making tonight's work MUCH easier.
I also learned that just packing the containers full of food took me about 500 calories over my macros. It also packed WAY more food than I can eat in a single day. Have to pay more attention to that when I'm building.
I'm really glad I found this thread. I love the idea and I LOVE when my food looks nice. IT makes my meals so much more pleasant!
So true! If everything is already made and it just needs to be assembled it can go by very quickly (and I don't even have a kitchen right now. Yay renovations! ) The surplus of calories your experiencing I think may be why bentos look so small; with the right size box you literally cannot stuff too much in
It is so much more enjoyable to eat attractive food, right?!0 -
mangrothian wrote: »I have no idea about the veg leather thingies - I've looked for it here in Aus and can't find them
What I do have though is one of my fav bentos. It doesn't really look different from the rest, but it has my favourite savoury furikake flavour, tamagoyaki and smoked salmon. Winter veggies are getting cheaper too, so I can add in some golden squash and asparagus to my lunch ^_^ Just over 500Cal
I also brought in some matcha crush pocky, but it's already in my belleh.
So pretty!0 -
What do you all do with the scraps from cutting the veggies and cheese (and cured meats) into cute shapes? I stuffed the excess under the apple slices (since it was already weighed out and added to my daily log) but... do you just toss the excess? Hide it somewhere in the bento?0
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What do you all do with the scraps from cutting the veggies and cheese (and cured meats) into cute shapes? I stuffed the excess under the apple slices (since it was already weighed out and added to my daily log) but... do you just toss the excess? Hide it somewhere in the bento?
I had asked the same question when i started out. At first, i just weighed the shapes and fed the dogs the scraps. Now i know to hide them under the pretty top layer.
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What do you all do with the scraps from cutting the veggies and cheese (and cured meats) into cute shapes? I stuffed the excess under the apple slices (since it was already weighed out and added to my daily log) but... do you just toss the excess? Hide it somewhere in the bento?
I vote hide it somewhere (whether in the bento or in my mouth as I'm making it ) For instance, above I cut out egg white flowers and the rest of the yolk and scraps got mixed into my salad. Once I can really cook again I'm toying with the idea of saving the bits in a bag in the freezer and throwing them into meatballs and such. But mostly I think I'd still just hide them in my meal somewhere (or in my belly, but I think I already said that ) 0 -
DOH! Another question. I'm sorry I keep bugging you.
What web resources do you have for reasonable but safe (BPA free, dishwasher, etc) bentos and accessories?
Munching the scraps WAS a problem last night. I found myself stuffing more than a few extra bits of cheese into my trap. I'll just hide them under the prettier stuff. That worked well last night.
I did a fair amount of googling and spent some time on Pinterest today getting ideas. I can see a substantial amount of my upcoming paychecks going towards making my food adorable.....0 -
SpecialKitty7 wrote: »Narcissora wrote: »
Hangover bento: kale and spinach balls; mukimame; peas; almonds; babybel light; bananas with Greek yogurt and cinnamon; pineapple; unsweetened applesauce; ibuprofen
Giggles at Hangover bento. No bento for me today, long unexpected night last night.
@srschaffer1 I got nearly all of my stuff on Amazon (the rest from Aliexpress and Jlist). The only thing that's tough is a lot of times they don't list the size of the box so I've gotten surprised a few times. Just go to Amazon and search Bento, you'll find tons of stuff.
@MyM0wM0w Here's one I answered for another MFPeep. There should be something you like at one of these places. A lot of these are not dishwasher safe, but I don't know about their BPA status (something about clear plastic?) There's another place that's pricey, but I think they are dishwasher safe, and that's Monbento. @mangrothian knows all the cool brick and mortar places that we sadly don't have around here.
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I've heard that BPA is mainly in clear/translucent plastic too. Without microwaving/heating it isn't as big of a concern either. There are also stainless steel bentos out there and glass containers if you prefer. You can look under "bento box" on Amazon to track down more options. I think Lunchbots makes a steel one but I could be wrong.0
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Just chiming in: I also hide my scraps under the pretty stuff and/or in mah belleh, and most of my containers come from Amazon or ebay. My very first one (that has almost bitten the dust now
) came from Jlist but theirs are definitely pricier. I'm about to unsubscribe from Amazon Prime, and I'm considering buying a couple more bentos before I do 
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Yay! I remembered seeing some bento(ish) containers I liked @ Grocery Outlet so I went there after work. They are called Eco One I love that the silicone bottoms fold in on themselves. I was able to use the flattest ...setting... for my snacks.
Soup Bowl (which will be an oatmeal container. It came with an insert with a divider, in retrospect the berries would have been better off if I had divided them. Whatever though, it'll be YUM!
My same lunch as today's. Chili lime chicken legs, cilantro rice, and peas. Garnished with carrot and radishes and a side of cucumber and grape tomatoes.
My snacks for the day. A hardboiled egg for 10AM snack and apples/cheese for 3PM snack. I hid the ugly bits of cheese under the spinach.
It's not the same brand, but next to these containers were lunch bags for only 5.00 and when I tested to see if everything fit it was perfect! So I got a new bag too.
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DOH! Another question. I'm sorry I keep bugging you.
What web resources do you have for reasonable but safe (BPA free, dishwasher, etc) bentos and accessories?
@sagj is right - BPA is only found in clear plastics, and some of the initial studies that made the BPA-free plastics craze begin are being debunked by some reputable independent research groups anyway. If you want one that is microwave safe, I would suggest a Bentgo or monbento box. Those ones are generally microwave safe for reheating purposes without their lids on.What do you all do with the scraps from cutting the veggies and cheese (and cured meats) into cute shapes? I stuffed the excess under the apple slices (since it was already weighed out and added to my daily log) but... do you just toss the excess? Hide it somewhere in the bento?
Mine go to my doggies because we give them fresh veg with their food every day anyway, and for me it just kills two birds with one stone.I learned an important Bento lessons last night.
If you make your meals ahead of time and just have to 'build' the Bento it makes you less stressed... and homicidal.
Last night I made chicken legs for the week and rice for 3 days. I anticipate this making tonight's work MUCH easier.
I also learned that just packing the containers full of food took me about 500 calories over my macros. It also packed WAY more food than I can eat in a single day. Have to pay more attention to that when I'm building.
I'm really glad I found this thread. I love the idea and I LOVE when my food looks nice. IT makes my meals so much more pleasant!
I have a whole shelf in my freezer devoted to rice frozen into bento sized servings, and the same with all sorts of cooked meats and dumplings. Definitely makes my life easier.
You may also find that you just need to use a smaller box (or just use one, but put the snacks into a silicone container in the larger box to take up that excess space instead of their own boxes).0 -
I forgot to mention another thing about scraps...
especially with cheese and carrots, if youre slicing a square/rectangular block of cheese for shapes, cut your thick slice into squares bigger than your cutter, then cut your cheese shape out of the centre (keep both sections!). Do the same with your carrot slices, trying to keep them the same thickness as the cheese. Use the same shaped cutter on your carrots.
Insert the cut cheese shapes in the hole made in the carrot slices, and the carrot shapes into the leftovers from the cheese. Oui la, no scraps!0 -
I had family in town last week, and I had a few pizzas in the freezer in case people just wanted an evening in with pizza and wine and games. Well, we never ate the pizza (but the wine is gone), so I popped a frozen pizza in the oven for my husband and I last night. This pizza happened to be gluten-free and dairy-free because one of my relatives can't have either.
I have to say, GF/DF pizza is disgusting. My husband wouldn't touch it, and I just don't want to eat any more of it... But I hate wasting food, so I can't just toss it... But maybe a pizza bento will make it seem more appealing?
So here it is: disgusting pizza bento. Pizza; roast beef; bananas with yogurt and pecans; carrots; babybel light.
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Disgusting pizza box looks good, at least I hope it tastes better bento-ized. 0
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