Bento Lunch?

craftylatvian

Does anyone here do a bento box style lunch? I have been researching and it looks good for portion control, plus some of the bento boxes are super cute!!

Any good ideas to fill your bento box? My current lunch is hummus, cucumbers, carrots and sometimes some tuna if I need extra protein but I want to have a little more variety in my lunch. I don't eat a lot of microwaved lunches but with cooler weather coming soon I may venture into hot foods.

I could go crazy with the little shaped fruit cutters and egg molds, not to mention the fake graas you can buy to make everything look pretty.

poustotah

For the warmer weather I would recommend some homemade soups (I have no clue what a bento box is). I make a homemade vegetable beef soup that is awesome. High protein, low sodium, low fat and delicious. And just about any other soup can be made to fit your new lifestyle.

Pleasedaspunch

I you have room for it in your carbs...add some rice whatever kind you like...it works for millions of skinny Japanese people so why not?

shelbyfrootcake

The River Cottage did a good episode about lunchboxes. The info is here... http://www.channel4.com/4food/on-tv/river-cottage/extras/river-cottage-everyday/top-tips-for-livening-up-lunch

njfitnessgirl

I've seen the bento lunches for kids lunches. I think they would be awesome to help with portion control and you're right, the cutters are so cute!

cathcakey

I love bento boxes and I'm working up quite a collection! Once you start buying it's hard to stop!

Mostly I try and use up leftovers, plus a good portion of fresh fruit and veggies. So maybe left over rice and a little chicken with seasoning, or some stir fry vegetables and noodes. If you have rice you can use a rice mould to make shapes, and put a filling in the middle, like tuna. Then lots of fruit, like strawberries and apples slices (cut them with a knife dipped in lemon juice to stop them going brown)

Check out www.justbento.com and www.cookingcute.com for some great ideas & recipes.

Enjoy your bento!

dayzeerock

http://happylittlebento.blogspot.com/

This blog is excellent for bento-lunches! I make myself bento-lunches and am always checking out this blog and veganizing some of her ideas. check it out!

KimmyEB

My favorite Japanese restaurant has an entire line of bento box meals, and I love it. It's a great way to get variety, but still use potion control. If you really like the healthy choices that you listed in your post, maybe try transitioning one food at a time...like switch out one of the regulars for something new, or maybe once a week go for something completely different. Like a small home-made salad, or some dried fruit, and instead of tuna, maybe some shrimp? Also--where do you get the bento boxes?? It may go on my Christmas wish-list!

melaniecheeks

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/237106-springtime-bento-box-380-calories?hl=bento#posts-3143140

Some ideas here, also on justbento.com

FireSwan

Yes! A bendo box is perfect! This is exactly what I have started doing (again). A couple of years ago I purchased this bento/tiffin box at Plastica Shop:
http://www.plasticashop.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=P&Product_Code=BNTOBX&Category_Code=HE

And I recently drug it out again because I find myself buying too many of those "Bistro Boxes" from Starbucks. They are healthy, but expensive. It's really dumb for me to buy those boxes when I can just make it at home and bring it to work.

Here's what I've started doing:
Top section of the bendo/tiffin box has 3 portions: 1st 2 portions I fill with sliced strawberries and the 3rd portion is a perfect size for blanched green beans.
Middle Section: Cherry Tomatoes, a couple of low carb tortillas (in a baggie), shaved turkey lunch meat (in a baggie)
Bottom Section: Arnold sandwich thins (baggie), Cheddar cheese slices and a couple 100 calorie Wholly Guacamole paks

This will usually get me by for a couple of days (that way I'm not bringing it back and forth everyday). I also make some eggs each morning and bring it to work and make egg sandwiches with the Arnold Sandwich Thins. I guess I could make my eggs ahead of time and put them into the box ... haven't done that yet.

What's great about this box is that the bottom 2 sections are deep enough to use small containers to portion out things like hummus, dips and such. Oh, and there's plenty of room for the fake grass to make everything pretty! :happy:

Here's what I have been doing for my lunches/snacks:
a few tomatoes, green beans and strawberries along with a tortilla roll up of turkey, cheese, and half packet of dijion mustard (we have millions of these at work). I also have a few atkins bars on hand and some protein powder that I use if I am still hungry. I also try to keep a few bananas or oranges and some pistachios at my desk... This keeps me away from the evils of the vending machine!

Next week, I'll have to add the hummus & cucumbers to the box! yummy!

Kalrez

Bento!

craftylatvian

I feel a road trip coming on....there is a Japanese market about 1.5 hours from me that has bento box supplies. I saw some really cute boxes on Amazon too!!

melaniecheeks

Mmm, inspired by some of the recipes on those sites, I had a bento-style lunch yesterday and today.

yesterday - chicken breast on a bed of chopped cucumber and celery with some green grapes, in a light lemon and hemp oil dressing, wasabi peas as a crunchy snack (lovely fresh green colours)

Today - cajun blackened salmon on a bed of watercress, with chopped cucumber in soya yoghurt as a sort of raita, and diced mango as a salsa sauce. Fresh blackberries in a little tub alongside, so the colour theme is black.

They look so pretty, and it doesnt take much time to make them atttractive, which means you feel real pleasure in eating.