Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

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  • madeleadele
    madeleadele Posts: 64 Member
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    First bento today!! Boiled egg, almonds, blueberries w cinnamon in the top container (no way to separate my egg from my almonds..not a big deal though). And tuna salad and carrot sticks in the lower container!
  • PinkDeerBoy
    PinkDeerBoy Posts: 89 Member
    I don't have a rice cooker, so I just make mine on the stovetop. The key is the type of rice you're using. Your standard long grain rice is supposed to make dry separate kernels. Short and medium grain rices tend to get a bit more sticky and are better for our purposes here. I do a modified version of the Just Bento method for pre-making rice in that I put my rice in little gladware containers instead of plastic wrap. Then I just toss it in the microwave for 2 minutes (totally frozen) and stuff it in my bento. I don't know what you can get around you, but I mainly use Mahatma Jasmine rice & Nishiki Sushi rice.
    I have been using shorter grain rice and freezing it like I saw on Just Bento. I am starting to think I am just being picky. :p
  • sagj
    sagj Posts: 256 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Today's bento:

    Layer one: BBQ Salmon and asparagus with some tartar sauce

    Layer two: Kale salad with ham, basil goat cheese, and carrot flowers with grapefruit and cherries
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    sagj wrote: »
    Today's bento:

    Layer one: BBQ Salmon and asparagus with some tartar sauce

    Layer two: Kale salad with ham, basil goat cheese, and carrot flowers with grapefruit and cherries

    Oooooooh, now I want ham! @_@
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    I don't have a rice cooker, so I just make mine on the stovetop. The key is the type of rice you're using. Your standard long grain rice is supposed to make dry separate kernels. Short and medium grain rices tend to get a bit more sticky and are better for our purposes here. I do a modified version of the Just Bento method for pre-making rice in that I put my rice in little gladware containers instead of plastic wrap. Then I just toss it in the microwave for 2 minutes (totally frozen) and stuff it in my bento. I don't know what you can get around you, but I mainly use Mahatma Jasmine rice & Nishiki Sushi rice.
    I have been using shorter grain rice and freezing it like I saw on Just Bento. I am starting to think I am just being picky. :p

    Maybe :wink: but it did take several of us quite a few tries to not have crunchy-cement like rice. Maybe you'll find what works best for you?

  • scante60
    scante60 Posts: 106 Member
    Another smoked salmon flower bento. I think I'm getting lazy. Although I did make two of them; it seems my mother-in-law stays the extra night when we come visit so I'll make her a bento to take into work with her on Monday.

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    Lovely looking box - do you happen to know by weight how much salmon you use?
    scante60 wrote: »
    My lunch for tomorrow:

    Carrots and Laughing Cow Cheese; red pepper pieces; spinach, white bean, and garlic dip; and pasta with ricotta, spinach, and tomatoes. Here's how it looks assembled with the ice pack in the middle:

    Those carrots are so uniformly sized. It's quite unnerving to me, like those square watermelons you can buy in Japan.


    The carrots in my box are the "baby" carrots that are pretty ubiquitous in the States - I think they're actually cut down to the shape out of bigger carrots. I just go with it because it saves me the time and trouble of peeling and cutting for myself.

  • LifeInTheBikeLane
    LifeInTheBikeLane Posts: 345 Member
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    Shirataki noodles w/ shrimp and mushrooms in a jerk sauce, a turkey rolls with blue cheese crumbles and grapes, strawberries & cantalope! :)
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    scante60 wrote: »
    Another smoked salmon flower bento. I think I'm getting lazy. Although I did make two of them; it seems my mother-in-law stays the extra night when we come visit so I'll make her a bento to take into work with her on Monday.

    jazcd8zrue99.jpg

    Lovely looking box - do you happen to know by weight how much salmon you use?
    scante60 wrote: »
    My lunch for tomorrow:

    Carrots and Laughing Cow Cheese; red pepper pieces; spinach, white bean, and garlic dip; and pasta with ricotta, spinach, and tomatoes. Here's how it looks assembled with the ice pack in the middle:

    Those carrots are so uniformly sized. It's quite unnerving to me, like those square watermelons you can buy in Japan.


    The carrots in my box are the "baby" carrots that are pretty ubiquitous in the States - I think they're actually cut down to the shape out of bigger carrots. I just go with it because it saves me the time and trouble of peeling and cutting for myself.

    I live for baby carrots. Buzzfeed did an awesome thing on baby carrots, but just a pre-warning, it's Buzzfeed, so there's lot's of colorful language.

  • Swiftlet66
    Swiftlet66 Posts: 729 Member
    Mini bento! ^_^

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  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    I don't have a rice cooker, so I just make mine on the stovetop. The key is the type of rice you're using. Your standard long grain rice is supposed to make dry separate kernels. Short and medium grain rices tend to get a bit more sticky and are better for our purposes here. I do a modified version of the Just Bento method for pre-making rice in that I put my rice in little gladware containers instead of plastic wrap. Then I just toss it in the microwave for 2 minutes (totally frozen) and stuff it in my bento. I don't know what you can get around you, but I mainly use Mahatma Jasmine rice & Nishiki Sushi rice.
    I have been using shorter grain rice and freezing it like I saw on Just Bento. I am starting to think I am just being picky. :p

    I find i need to add a little more water than what Maki suggests on justbento (if yiu dont know how old your rice is, you may need to as well). The other tip i have is to separate and freeze your servings as soon as the rice is cooked to keep in all the moisture. I also still get the crunchy rice issue if my soak time is less than two hours.
    scante60 wrote: »
    Another smoked salmon flower bento. I think I'm getting lazy. Although I did make two of them; it seems my mother-in-law stays the extra night when we come visit so I'll make her a bento to take into work with her on Monday.

    jazcd8zrue99.jpg

    Lovely looking box - do you happen to know by weight how much salmon you use?
    scante60 wrote: »
    My lunch for tomorrow:

    Carrots and Laughing Cow Cheese; red pepper pieces; spinach, white bean, and garlic dip; and pasta with ricotta, spinach, and tomatoes. Here's how it looks assembled with the ice pack in the middle:

    Those carrots are so uniformly sized. It's quite unnerving to me, like those square watermelons you can buy in Japan.

    The carrots in my box are the "baby" carrots that are pretty ubiquitous in the States - I think they're actually cut down to the shape out of bigger carrots. I just go with it because it saves me the time and trouble of peeling and cutting for myself.

    That one is 125g. It's a lot more than a recommended serving, but i needed the protein. My MIL had 75g in hers and it still turned out pretty.

    And i was wondering about the carrots, because here they look nothing like that. Ours look literally like skinny minisized carrots.

    And for anyone who wants to know exactly what is in my bentos, my diary is completely open :)
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    Onigiri bento! ^_^ Oh, there's also edamame, a fish-shaped egg, and salad - which I FORGOT dressing for, so I had to choke it down dry! Blech! D:
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  • sagj
    sagj Posts: 256 Member
    Onigiri bento! ^_^ Oh, there's also edamame, a fish-shaped egg, and salad - which I FORGOT dressing for, so I had to choke it down dry! Blech! D:

    Check out my avatar to see how I feel about that! ;)
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Swiftlet66 wrote: »
    Mini bento! ^_^

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    It's cute! What's the green thing on the rice? On a side note, I have bento for tomorrow, I will get a pic before I snarf it down.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    Swiftlet66 wrote: »
    Mini bento! ^_^

    u9n3ch30z63t.jpg

    It's cute! What's the green thing on the rice? On a side note, I have bento for tomorrow, I will get a pic before I snarf it down.

    Thai eggplant? If so, delish ^_^
  • madiao
    madiao Posts: 119 Member
    @sagj your salmon flower looks delish! And super pretty :)

    @Swiftlet66 what's in your mini bento?

    Today's lunch was dumplings, sfir fried veggies and rice

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  • madiao
    madiao Posts: 119 Member
    Tomorrow's lunch: rice, hamburg, carrors, broc and a bear shaped egg :)

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  • scante60
    scante60 Posts: 106 Member
    I live for baby carrots. Buzzfeed did an awesome thing on baby carrots, but just a pre-warning, it's Buzzfeed, so there's lot's of colorful language.

    Love this (colorful language and all)!!!!
  • PinkDeerBoy
    PinkDeerBoy Posts: 89 Member
    Lunch today! Chicken with General Tao sauce, an onigiri, grapes, blueberries, wax beans, and plain yogurt with cinnamon to dip my fruit in. Plain yogurt is a bit ... odd. I am so used to preflavored flavored kinds that I was not aware that's what yogurt by itself really tastes like.
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  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    Here's today's lunch. Jasmine/Forbidden rice mix (I have a bunch of this still in my freezer, you'll be seeing it for a while) sugar snap peas, mini peppers, italian dressing in the pot for dipping. Bottom tier is pork dumplings & some really wrinkled edamame.jz6qinyiwgj1.jpg
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    Another onigiri bento! #_# Today with edamame, shrimp, pear slices, and kiwi stars/pieces
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  • Narcissora
    Narcissora Posts: 197 Member
    Lunch today! Chicken with General Tao sauce, an onigiri, grapes, blueberries, wax beans, and plain yogurt with cinnamon to dip my fruit in. Plain yogurt is a bit ... odd. I am so used to preflavored flavored kinds that I was not aware that's what yogurt by itself really tastes like.
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    Plain yogurt is mega yuck. I only use it if a recipe calls for it. Vanilla is so much better. If you aren't liking it, maybe add a drop of vanilla extract to it for flavor? I'm not sure if that would work, but it could make the yogurt more pallettable.
  • moribunny
    moribunny Posts: 417 Member
    Your dumplings look so yum!
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    Narcissora wrote: »
    Lunch today! Chicken with General Tao sauce, an onigiri, grapes, blueberries, wax beans, and plain yogurt with cinnamon to dip my fruit in. Plain yogurt is a bit ... odd. I am so used to preflavored flavored kinds that I was not aware that's what yogurt by itself really tastes like.
    p15xlhg95fba.jpg

    Plain yogurt is mega yuck. I only use it if a recipe calls for it. Vanilla is so much better. If you aren't liking it, maybe add a drop of vanilla extract to it for flavor? I'm not sure if that would work, but it could make the yogurt more pallettable.

    I love plain Greek yoghurt, but im very picky about the brands I buy. Took me a while to find a non-tart creamy one that I liked. Try adding fresh berries to it and mooshing them about a bit in the yoghurt. It will change the flavour enough for it to be paletable enough if youre not a fan.

    No bento for me today. The weather is nasty enough to call for soup, and besides, I didnt want to get out from under my heated blankie to go into the kitchen last night. Since ive lost weight I'm not cold all the time like some girls complain about, but when I do it's definitely harder to warm back up.
  • mgotravel
    mgotravel Posts: 8 Member
    I love your idea. Thank you for sharing.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    bunnyxhime wrote: »
    Your dumplings look so yum!

    I can't take total claim for them. They are made and frozen, I just cook them!

  • moribunny
    moribunny Posts: 417 Member
    bunnyxhime wrote: »
    Your dumplings look so yum!

    I can't take total claim for them. They are made and frozen, I just cook them!
    There's still skill to cooking them up! I love crisp dumplings of all kinds. [Now I want dumplings >__<;]
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    bunnyxhime wrote: »
    Your dumplings look so yum!

    I can't take total claim for them. They are made and frozen, I just cook them!

    I think I need to take a picture next time I make a batch of pot-stickers by hand.
  • madeleadele
    madeleadele Posts: 64 Member
    Lunch for tomorrow!
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    Leftovers of ground turkey and vegetables with some guacamole on top of some spinach, with a poorly boiled egg, cheese stick, and snap pea crisps for snacks!
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
    edited July 2015
    Lunch for tomorrow!
    x6wq122jvfma.jpg
    Leftovers of ground turkey and vegetables with some guacamole on top of some spinach, with a poorly boiled egg, cheese stick, and snap pea crisps for snacks!

    Snap pea crisps? Now that's new to me. And don't worry about the egg; most of mine are horribly peeled, but I put the nicest looking side to the surface for the picture ;)
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    bunnyxhime wrote: »
    Your dumplings look so yum!

    I can't take total claim for them. They are made and frozen, I just cook them!

    I think I need to take a picture next time I make a batch of pot-stickers by hand.

    I'll make them again. These are just so tasty and so cheap. A bag of around 25-30 is only $3.50. And no messy kitchen! :tongue: