Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

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  • colejkeene
    colejkeene Posts: 84 Member
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    SpecialKitty7 wrote: »
    @colejkeene What is the green thing in the bottom right corner? I thought a lime, but I can't tell. The lunch looks tasty, it's nice to see other food preps on here as many people assume everthing has to be Asian or carby.

    @SpecialKitty7 It is a lime! Sliced right off the side rather than down the middle and into wedges. I used the rest of it in the taco "meat" mixture. :)
  • Narcissora
    Narcissora Posts: 197 Member
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    colejkeene wrote: »
    Vegan bento style spiiiiiiiicy Gardein taco salad packed for Mister's lunch. So good (and healthy)! Box from Monbento.

    11311199_1612846558954543_202491021_n.jpg

    This is really pretty!
  • colejkeene
    colejkeene Posts: 84 Member
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    Narcissora wrote: »
    This is really pretty!

    Thank you! I'm of the opinion that you eat with your eyes first. Food should be pretty. :)

  • LilSweet2015
    LilSweet2015 Posts: 41 Member
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    I definitely prefer vinegar based dressings and I make my own often, but when I eat a dinner sized salad, 2 TBSP feels skimpy. When I read food plans for "1 teaspoon" of butter, I'm like : are my measuring spoons different? Because a teaspoon is about the size of my thumb nail.
    Agree that the vegan taco salad bento is very pretty and colorful! I love an idea for around the world in 80 bentos - with different cuisines. It keeps me motivated to make more.
    Any good suggestions for online bento shopping that ships to the U.S. without putting me in the poor house?
  • LilSweet2015
    LilSweet2015 Posts: 41 Member
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    Narcissora wrote: »
    4oyckvafvhy5.jpg

    In the small tier: pork tenderloin, haricot verts (omg I learned a new term today!), and a mozzarella ball.

    In the larger tier: vanilla Greek yogurt, granola, strawberries, pineapple.

    Beautiful, balanced, and looks filling!
  • LilSweet2015
    LilSweet2015 Posts: 41 Member
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    mangrothian wrote: »
    linstapler wrote: »
    Thank you to the thread starter and everyone who shares their lovely bentos. Gives me ideas for my own lunches. I am using laptoplunch bentos and I instagram my simple lunches for own reference (https://instagram.com/minah_stapler/)

    Cheers ==

    You're welcome ^_^ It's nice being an appreciated OP!

    u7qf2yye0z5j.jpg

    For once, I remembered to take a pic of my bento at work before I scarfed it down.

    This one is 2 kids snags (sausages for you non-Aussies! :P ), rice and 3 veg since my fridge is getting all Mother Hubbard. At least I never seem to run out of umeboshi. Totals in at just under 400cals.

    This is so cute I want to pinch it's little sausage cheeks!!!!!!
  • aSearch4Me
    aSearch4Me Posts: 397 Member
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    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
    Any good suggestions for online bento shopping that ships to the U.S. without putting me in the poor house?

    I have a small Japanese grocery in my area that has a decent rotating selection of Bento supplies... But Amazon.com has a lot of good options too that are affordable & I've gotten a lot of my stuff off there. Also, if you have Meijer stores in your area, they currently have a line of Bento'ish kid lunch kits & stuff right now that are decorated with woodland creatures & are adorable!
  • Narcissora
    Narcissora Posts: 197 Member
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    @LilSweet2015 I purchased my bento box from Amazon, and it was Prime eligible, so shipping was free. I purchased some accessories there too (silicone muffin cups, little soy sauce squeeze bottles, etc). I would suggest looking at the "others who bought this item also purchased..." suggestions for more options and bento accessories. I found some really cute things for bentos that way.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    SpecialKitty7 wrote: »
    @snugglesmacks here are a few:
    http://www.jbox.com/category/819
    http://www.daisojapan.com/
    http://www.allthingsforsale.com/103-bento-accessory

    Those are the ones i remember. I bought most of my stuff with amazon prime too.

    @LilSweet2015 Here's an old list. I bought the vast majority of my stuff on amazon, but I got a bunch of stuff from Jbox/Jlist. I also started buying from aliexpress as well. The stuff is super cheap, but you have to wait forever for it to be shipped from China. I just received this in the mail yesterday, took about 2 weeks to come, but it's adorable!
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    aSearch4Me wrote: »
    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
    Any good suggestions for online bento shopping that ships to the U.S. without putting me in the poor house?

    I have a small Japanese grocery in my area that has a decent rotating selection of Bento supplies... But Amazon.com has a lot of good options too that are affordable & I've gotten a lot of my stuff off there. Also, if you have Meijer stores in your area, they currently have a line of Bento'ish kid lunch kits & stuff right now that are decorated with woodland creatures & are adorable!

    Whoa! Where in the Meijer??? I live across the street from one, I need to check this out! By the other lunchbox stuff in the kitchen section?
  • aSearch4Me
    aSearch4Me Posts: 397 Member
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    SpecialKitty7 wrote: »

    Whoa! Where in the Meijer??? I live across the street from one, I need to check this out! By the other lunchbox stuff in the kitchen section?

    At ours, it's in the kitchen/bakeware section, except it's on the "seasonal" aisle of that section (like where they put all of the holiday baking/decorating stuff around Christmas time, the canning supplies in the late summer, etc). Does that make sense? Ours aren't located in the regular lunch-box aisle, but they had been on an end-cap by the lunchbox aisle for awhile before being moved to the "seasonal" aisle of kitchenware. Our Meijer has had them for about a month, and I've been anxiously waiting for the close-out of those items to begin...lol.

    If I'm at Meijer within the next few days (which if trends are accurate I will be) I'll try to snap a photo.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    aSearch4Me wrote: »
    SpecialKitty7 wrote: »

    Whoa! Where in the Meijer??? I live across the street from one, I need to check this out! By the other lunchbox stuff in the kitchen section?

    At ours, it's in the kitchen/bakeware section, except it's on the "seasonal" aisle of that section (like where they put all of the holiday baking/decorating stuff around Christmas time, the canning supplies in the late summer, etc). Does that make sense? Ours aren't located in the regular lunch-box aisle, but they had been on an end-cap by the lunchbox aisle for awhile before being moved to the "seasonal" aisle of kitchenware. Our Meijer has had them for about a month, and I've been anxiously waiting for the close-out of those items to begin...lol.

    If I'm at Meijer within the next few days (which if trends are accurate I will be) I'll try to snap a photo.

    I know exactly what you mean. I'm rarely on the non-grocery half of the store, so I'll need to go patrolling. The lunch box area is usually what you pack for grade school kids (well and me :lol: )
  • sagj
    sagj Posts: 256 Member
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    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
    I definitely prefer vinegar based dressings and I make my own often, but when I eat a dinner sized salad, 2 TBSP feels skimpy. When I read food plans for "1 teaspoon" of butter, I'm like : are my measuring spoons different? Because a teaspoon is about the size of my thumb nail.
    Agree that the vegan taco salad bento is very pretty and colorful! I love an idea for around the world in 80 bentos - with different cuisines. It keeps me motivated to make more.
    Any good suggestions for online bento shopping that ships to the U.S. without putting me in the poor house?

    Check out this box. I don't have one so I can't vouch for it (this is sitting in my Amazon cart for the future though) but the price is half of the other ones I have. And they look like nice colors!

    Pretty lunches guys! I'm all for making your own salad dressings. They taste so much better :)
  • pronetocrash91
    pronetocrash91 Posts: 125 Member
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    I still have nothing Bento to add but I just wanted to chime in (Again) and say that everything in here looks gorgeous!

    re: salad dressing - I love creamy dressings like ranch. I've tried other, healthier dressings like vinaigrette and I don't like it. :(
  • LilSweet2015
    LilSweet2015 Posts: 41 Member
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    You guys are amazing. Have just spent the past hour looking at bento ware porn. Sooooo much cute stuff. I'm curious if any of you guys have a sturdy carrier for your stuff? I just got brave and got a bike and I'm trying to figure out how to rig it so I could get my lunch to work in reasonable shape. Maybe an insulated carrier. I'm less worried about temperature, more worried about losing my lunch (heh heh...pun intended).
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
    You guys are amazing. Have just spent the past hour looking at bento ware porn. Sooooo much cute stuff. I'm curious if any of you guys have a sturdy carrier for your stuff? I just got brave and got a bike and I'm trying to figure out how to rig it so I could get my lunch to work in reasonable shape. Maybe an insulated carrier. I'm less worried about temperature, more worried about losing my lunch (heh heh...pun intended).

    I have a range of carry bags, ranging from thin cotton to some really sturdy coolerbags. My fav though has to be my Star Wars Chewbacca lunch bag. Although, if you're not worried about temperature, with some of the long small boxes like this, if you have a rubber strap to go around them, they'll fit snugly in the bottom of most handbags. Just avoid soupy foods so your lunch doesn't leak into your handbag.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    I hit the Meijer last night, I found in the clearance section some cute boxes, three styles, and on an endcap they had the rubbermaid and Sistema "box collections" (not sure what else to call them), I got everything pictured for around $13.iodebh4m1j6h.jpg

    Then, of course, I had to try them out. Today's lunch is rice with a chicken, straw mushroom and water chestnut stir fry. The Husband's box has carrots instead of mushrooms bc he does not like them.l26ba88301kn.jpg

  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
    You guys are amazing. Have just spent the past hour looking at bento ware porn. Sooooo much cute stuff. I'm curious if any of you guys have a sturdy carrier for your stuff? I just got brave and got a bike and I'm trying to figure out how to rig it so I could get my lunch to work in reasonable shape. Maybe an insulated carrier. I'm less worried about temperature, more worried about losing my lunch (heh heh...pun intended).


    I have a few cotton drawstring bags that came with some of the boxes, but I have several different bags I use for daily use here's the main one I use, and the bigger one I use during tax season because it needs to hold breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Husband uses a plastic grocery bag, so I guess to each his own.
  • aSearch4Me
    aSearch4Me Posts: 397 Member
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    @SpecialKitty7 Yep, those are the ones I was talking about. Although I think our store had an owl one & another one (hedgehog??). I guess a giraffe doesn't qualify as a "woodland creature" does it?...lol They were on the clearance aisle at your store?!? Guess who's going to Meijer tonight...

    Your lunch looks delish! I wish I could get my hubby into bento'ing, or taking his lunch. It seems like it would seem worth the extra effort if compiling >1 box at a time. But he has a group of friends/coworkers that he goes out to eat with religiously during the work week...lol.
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
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    aSearch4Me wrote: »
    @SpecialKitty7 Yep, those are the ones I was talking about. Although I think our store had an owl one & another one (hedgehog??). I guess a giraffe doesn't qualify as a "woodland creature" does it?...lol They were on the clearance aisle at your store?!? Guess who's going to Meijer tonight...

    Your lunch looks delish! I wish I could get my hubby into bento'ing, or taking his lunch. It seems like it would seem worth the extra effort if compiling >1 box at a time. But he has a group of friends/coworkers that he goes out to eat with religiously during the work week...lol.

    Thanks! There was a dinosaur one too that I didn't get, but yes, they were in the clearance section for $1.99 each. Owls would have been cute! Husband agreed to take bentos for lunch as long as I don't send him with my Hello Kitty box. He said he has to have standards! His boxes are pretty easy to make as I don't need to weigh or measure anything for him, but it took me a year to convince him to not buy fast food every day.

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