Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

jenluvsushi

I make my 4 year old DD bento box lunches for preschool. She loves them!

PixieGoddess

Made 2 bentos (same stuff) for tomorrow & Friday!

Brown rice, mixed veggies, and tilapia (baked with salt, pepper, & lemon juice) in the large tier; a pickle spear & mushrooms in the small tier. I don't have any silicon cup holders (Amazon Prime will fix that in 2 days!) but I used a paper cupcake holder to try to keep the pickle from getting the mushrooms soggy.

I need to shop for some good bento fruits & veggies, plus I'm gluten-free right now - and my husband ate our last apple, grrr - so it's not ideal but pretty good

SpecialKitty7

1 - awesome looking bento
2 - is that a tardis cookie jar? if it is, OMG that's awesome!

ElliInJapan

oh wow I hadn't seen this thread before!
I don't have the time to prepare a bento every day, but I often do.
Here a couple recent ones

mangrothian

@PixieGoddess If that's a tardis cookie jar, I'm secretly hoping that the Dalek is a salt canister or something.

rainbowbow

Easiest way i've been able to make tamagoyaki (i dont have a square pan)-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lclhzwuvxNw

I haven't seen anyone with one of these in there yet. I am loving all these bentos. Check out the other recipes from Eugenie kitchen too! She has some amazing sweets recipes.

kramrn77

My first attempt at bento. Can't wait for tomorrow night!

SpecialKitty7

@kramrn77 that bento looks awesome!
@mangrothian I thought the dalek was a salt cannister too!

aSearch4Me

@kramrn77 & @ElliInJapan , your meals look great!

NoelFigart1

These bento all look great.

Does anyone else find that their bento are more satisfying meals than say, a sandwich of equal calorie count? I do, and I think in part it's due to the wider variety of tastes and the fact it LOOKS so special.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

barbiegirlie2

I definately find my bento lunches to be more satisfying than a sandwich of equal caloric value. There is more variety, and I tend to eat them slower.

aSearch4Me

@NoelFigart1 This is my first week bento'ing. Prior to that, I would bring my lunch in lots of little glass containers or plastic baggies (if my husband forgot to start the dishwasher ). I find the bento box MUCH more satisfying, even though this week it has basically been the same things I would bring in multiple small containers. I realized that when I had multiple small containers, I would eat 1 thing and then move onto the next thing. With the bento box, I kindof snack between all of the different options. I think this ongoing variety helps my palate be satisfied easier after lunch, compared to at the end of my meal going "what's next" and then realize I'm out of lunch. Does that make sense? Calorie wise, my lunches are still around the same.

I've never been a big fan of sandwiches for lunch (I eat lower carb, not to be confused with "low carb" , and choose not to spend my carbs on bread most days)...so I can't say how satisfying the equal calorie sandwich would be compared to the bento.

PixieGoddess

Yes, it's a TARDIS cookie jar, but the Dalek is actually a travel Yatzee game. Almost lunch time here in Denver - can't wait to eat my bento! ^_^

mangrothian

@rainbowbow I do make tamagoyaki, but for some reason it's always been on the days when I have taken a photo of my lunch. I like the way they've made it in the vid, but I've never added milk to mine, so I'm thinking that might be a thing that the koreans do to theirs. I'll have to give it a go. I also always make mine in a round pan, but if it gets too wonky on the edges, I just tended to fold them in to straighten up whilst the egg is cooking.

@noelfigart1 I just don't do sandwiches anymore. As an Aussie I certainly get the craving for the odd vegemite and cheese sandwich, but I usually have it at home. I feel like a sandwich at work just isn't enough compared to my Bento. Maybe I just feel like my lunch is larger when it's all in smaller pieces. That, and it also takes me longer to eat since I always eat it with chopsticks. If I use a fork I tend to pick up more food at once and eat too quickly.

kramrn77

I work 12 hour shifts, so I like the fact that it comes with little boxes that I can eat at different times. I am still going to have to bring some "handy" snacks. Sometimes the floor is too busy to sit and eat so I have to be prepared for anything. If I don't use them I generally stick them back into the fridge in the nurse's lounge and save them for next time.

mangrothian

@kramrn77 if the hospital you're working at is anything like the hospital I picked my dad up from today, I can definitely see that. Those nurses were being run off their feet from being short staffed. I still keep some on the go food in my desk and in my kitchen cupboard for days just like those.

Sunitagt

Ok, I'm in. I've been lurking on this thread for a few days now and you've all inspired me. I've been bringing my lunch to work for years, but like many others it involves lots of half full individual containers. I would like to get a bento box like I see on Amazon, but I don't know if it would be enough food for me as I don't eat a lot of rice (usually just a little when I do), and my fresh fruits and vegetables are a little more volumuous. My shifts are longer sometimes, so I tend to bring a fair amount of food, but the suggestions on the justbento website are fantastic! I'll probably just use a glasslock container and fill it up with good stuff.

Anyway! Thanks for the cool ideas. I'm ordering these on Amazon as soon as our cart is full, thought they're a pretty good deal to share:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N4ONBGY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3FBXRCQM2YOFH

And we've been wanting to start cooking more japanese food anyway, so I'm looking forward to it.

satansees

You can cram a surprising amount of fruit in if you cut it up first. Even cutting grapes in half makes a lot of space.

Those silicone cases are great (especially the square ones). If they're too tall you can easily trim them down. I couldn't find mine, and just opened my lunch to find all my raisins running amok

aSearch4Me

Sharing my bento of the day (still working with just fridge/pantry ingredients). I have some recipes planned for this weekend..
Along with hopefully mastering cooking sushi rice .

My bento today is a bit higher carb than I normally do, and lower protein. We had a meat-feast last night during a special dinner, and I couldn't stomach the idea of packing meat last night when I packed my bento box.

1/2 cup blueberries, 3oz carrot chips, 60g snow peas, 14g raw pecans, 14g raw pumpkin seeds, 3 dried apricots, and a cheese stick. 405 calories, 39g carb, 9g fiber, 16g protein, & 22g fat.

aSearch4Me

@sunitagt I think you will be surprised how much you can fit. i.e. Strawberries halved or quartered take up MUCH less room than whole berries. I like carrot chips, because they fit better than baby carrots. Melon sliced thin or cubed would fit really well too...

HanamiDango

I love these ideas. I really want to pack a better lunch for my husband and this might just push me to do so, maybe, kind of. The issue, my husbands forgets his lunch, daily >.< Thank you guys for the information in this thread!!

ETA: I do make dashi stock from time to time, and honestly find it really easy. I use it for miso soup, have yet to tried rolled eggs as me and eggs = burned messes. I am a work in progress. I also use dashi for ramen too.
I do make and freeze steamed buns for my husbands lunches, those he bring, sometimes too lol. I never thought about making and freezing rice. Going to have to try that. I need to invest in a big freezer.
I make my kids rice balls all the time, minus any nori, and normally they are tuna filled. I am making them for lunch today, but my kids and I do get to stay home for lunch. Sometimes I still think a bento box lunch would be cute for them on nice days to eat outside.

fish2find

Some really great ideas on this thread, thanks for sharing.

katoftheyear

^ I agree! I bought a ton of bento stuff years ago and never used it. Now I'm finishing university and my last semester is crazy -- tons of packed lunches/snacks in my future. Digging this thread for ideas! thanks guys. (your pictures are all amazing!)

Sunitagt

@aSearch4Me‌ & @satansees‌ thank you for the tips! I will keep these in mind when I start bento-ing. The husband says he is planning on doing little lettuce wraps next week (we take turns making lunches), so that sounds like a good start! Got my cart full last night after talking to a coworker about home-made kimchi (added a double-lid fermenting container), so I was able to order the silicone cups.

mangrothian

@HanamiDango I make my own Dashi as well, but for people who are only using it for tamagoyaki or have to order all their items off Amazon, the (better quality) instant stuff works just as well, rather than ordering the kombu and katsuoboshi. If I had a really good rice cooker like a Tiger or similar, I probably wouldn't freeze my rice and just cook a small amount in a rice cooker each night so it was fresh, but eh, the freeze and microwave works well, and it means you have emergency rations for days you're short on time. Oh, and I'm going to a Hanami Dango making class next month! I'm so excited!

@sunitagt If you have lots of fruit and veg and not a lot of rice/starchy carb in your lunches (the volume of your lunch without a starchy carb would be larger than mine I'm guessing?), a larger Bento box might work well for you - something between maybe 700ml and 1.2L. If the silicon cups aren't big enough for you, you can get some baran dividers the same width as your box, and that way you just place them in a different spot in your container depending on how much fruit you have.

I had a 450 cal lunch today ready for after my gym session (which didn't happen, and I'm still grumpy about it, but meh).


- 130g rice with Shiso ume furikake (plum and shiso leaf flavoured rice seasoning)
- 2 soy sauce & tea marinated eggs
- mixed blanched veggies
- pickled plum
- pickled vegetables
- I also had 50g smoked salmon to up my protein for the day, but it was in a separate container.

I had pre-frozen rice at my parents place (i think they think I'm loopy), and saved time by popping the eggs in the same saucepan I was doing my veggies in. Eggs go in when the water is cold, the water has been boiling for a few minutes by the time my veggies are ready to be put in, by the time the veggies are ready, the eggs come out at the same time. By the time the veggies have cooled, my eggs have been peeled and marinated for enough time ^_^. Minus the waiting time for things to cool/marinate, I think I spent less than 10 minutes making my lunch.

LizN63

I'm finding sometimes my frozen, reheated rice is rock hard when I come to eat it at lunchtime - what am I doing wrong??

missiontofitness

LizN63 wrote: »

I'm finding sometimes my frozen, reheated rice is rock hard when I come to eat it at lunchtime - what am I doing wrong??

Rice shouldn't be frozen; if you're reheating it, you should keep it refridgerated and add a little water in with the container before putting it into the microwave, and stir it often. Definitely would recommend keeping it separate if you can!

x311Tifa

Definitely was just looking at getting one of these the other day!!

barbiegirlie2

Of course you can freeze rice! I make a ton of rice on the weekend, then, while still hot, I divide it up and freeze it for lunches. Here is the method I use (specifically, the bowl/cling-wrap method, because I don't have rice freezer containers). My rice is perfect everyday!

And for reheating your rice, here are some tips.

MKEgal

Uh oh... I just _had_ to look & see where there are Daiso stores.
Here in the USA, only CA & WA.
But they have an online store. Uh oh.
http://www.daisojapan.com/

While I do have several actual bento boxes of varying sizes, I just as often use the Rubbermaid or imitation stuff I've found at yard sales for 50c each. Which I use depends on how hungry I am or what I'm packing. (More lower-cal stuff, or a smaller box of higher-cal foods.)

One thing I haven't seen yet in this thread is the suggestion to pack the box as tightly as possible to prevent shifting / mixing. If you're sure it's not going to be bounced around at all, leaving head space is fine. But if you're making lunch for your kid that might not end up well.