Using Bento Boxes for lunches.
mangrothian
Posts: 1,351 Member
in Recipes
Please be easy on me, it's my first post in the forums here! 
I'm so surprised that there aren't any posts on Bento-ing here; or at least not where I could find them. And before I get a member of the grammar patrol on me, it does seem that the word has evolved to the point that it can be used as a verb!
Are there people here on MFP that make Bento lunches to help control their calories/portion sizes? If so, what kind of things do you add to your Bento box? Do you have favourite recipes that you regularly use to help with your dietary goals?
As an office worker who has a long public transport commute, after much trial and error (and a few leaked lunches on the train
), I discovered Bento lunches through the JustBento website when looking for healthy lunch ideas. The idea of using the concepts of a traditional homemade Bento lunch to control the size of your lunch portions as well as their transportability appealed to me, and after giving them a go, I was hooked.
Just to clarify, I'm not talking Charaben/Kyaraben here (those cute yet unhealthy artistic lunches that look like cartoon characters and take hours to make). I hate to think what gets put into some of those lunches for the sake of them looking like a piece of artwork.
I find that now for me, the almost ritualistic habit of making my Bento each night for my lunch the next day to be essential to controlling what I eat whilst I'm at work (I can be a bit of a mindless eater and don't always realise that I'm actually putting food in my mouth), as well as being very aware of portion control and serving sizes. I have to think about what I'm going to eat for the week in advance, I can pre-cook meat and freeze it in portions required, same with my carbs, it never takes me more than 15 minutes during the week to do (about an hour of pre-cooking and freezing on the weekends) and I feel good knowing that I've formed a healthy eating habit that I enjoy greatly.
I also love the fact that my Bento's look good as well since neat and tidy packing is the key to a good Bento lunch - because food that looks pretty is generally more fun to eat, and if it's fun to eat, then you're more likely to enjoy the food itself. I mean, people buy those fancy birthday cakes, and fondant icing tastes horrible (sweet plasticine anyone?)
I rarely ever comment on MFP, generally staying to the lurking shadows of the forums (seeing some of those threads evolve from a simple question into macro/lowcal/sugar/fasting/give-me-a-scientific-reference-or-be-damned arguments scares me to posting silence!), but when making tomorrows bento before dinner (I made it extra neat and used some fun cutters to liven up my vegetables since we having a New Years picnic lunch), I thought I'd make the dive into the forums and reach out to see if there were Bento-ers around, see how they made their Bento, and to maybe get some great new ideas for foods/recipes to add to my repertoire. I really want this post to be about ideas and recipes for foods that are:
- Easily transportable (please don't suggest sandwiches, as that's pretty much a given!)
- Can be eaten at room temperature, or only need to be stored in a basic insulated bag
- Can be packed tightly without smooshing (is that the technical term?)
To start with, this is an example of my Bento for my breakfast, lunch (in this case a more Japanese traditional style) and snacks that I have at work, just made prettier than normal for our work picnic tomorrow (hey, it's lovely and warm in Australia right now - come and visit!):
The foods you can see here are:
blue containers
- white Japanese rice (140g), with 1/4tsp rice seasoning and pickled plums
- 5 lean beef mince meatballs, cooked and glazed with a small amount of soy sauce, with lettuce and tomatoes with filling
- 1 cup of lightly blanched vegetables (carrot, capsicum(peppers), broccoli, snow peas, brussel sprouts)
pink container
- 80 grams strawberries, quartered
- 20 grams blackberries
green container
- 15g each of blueberries and raspberries
- 100g natural yoghurt (unflavoured) with cinnamon.
For reference, the three Blue containers stack together, and have a total capacity of 490mL; the two square containers are 120mL and 70mL (normally I'd just use one container that has dividers). Throw in a babybel light mini-cheese and you have there a total of 545 calories that took me 15 minutes to make (maybe add 30 mins if you include me cooking a batch of mini-meatballs on the weekend that gave me 10 lunch servings) and leaves room to have a couple of coffees and maybe a cookie during the day without wanting to fret about my calories.. Except for the cheese and the seasoning on the rice, the food is cooked from scratch with in-season vegetables and fruits (so much cheaper!), and there are no preservatives in sight. They fit in a small carriable insulated bag, which I find is essential when taking peak-hour public transport.
I'm so surprised that there aren't any posts on Bento-ing here; or at least not where I could find them. And before I get a member of the grammar patrol on me, it does seem that the word has evolved to the point that it can be used as a verb!
Are there people here on MFP that make Bento lunches to help control their calories/portion sizes? If so, what kind of things do you add to your Bento box? Do you have favourite recipes that you regularly use to help with your dietary goals?
As an office worker who has a long public transport commute, after much trial and error (and a few leaked lunches on the train
), I discovered Bento lunches through the JustBento website when looking for healthy lunch ideas. The idea of using the concepts of a traditional homemade Bento lunch to control the size of your lunch portions as well as their transportability appealed to me, and after giving them a go, I was hooked.Just to clarify, I'm not talking Charaben/Kyaraben here (those cute yet unhealthy artistic lunches that look like cartoon characters and take hours to make). I hate to think what gets put into some of those lunches for the sake of them looking like a piece of artwork.
I find that now for me, the almost ritualistic habit of making my Bento each night for my lunch the next day to be essential to controlling what I eat whilst I'm at work (I can be a bit of a mindless eater and don't always realise that I'm actually putting food in my mouth), as well as being very aware of portion control and serving sizes. I have to think about what I'm going to eat for the week in advance, I can pre-cook meat and freeze it in portions required, same with my carbs, it never takes me more than 15 minutes during the week to do (about an hour of pre-cooking and freezing on the weekends) and I feel good knowing that I've formed a healthy eating habit that I enjoy greatly.
I also love the fact that my Bento's look good as well since neat and tidy packing is the key to a good Bento lunch - because food that looks pretty is generally more fun to eat, and if it's fun to eat, then you're more likely to enjoy the food itself. I mean, people buy those fancy birthday cakes, and fondant icing tastes horrible (sweet plasticine anyone?)
I rarely ever comment on MFP, generally staying to the lurking shadows of the forums (seeing some of those threads evolve from a simple question into macro/lowcal/sugar/fasting/give-me-a-scientific-reference-or-be-damned arguments scares me to posting silence!), but when making tomorrows bento before dinner (I made it extra neat and used some fun cutters to liven up my vegetables since we having a New Years picnic lunch), I thought I'd make the dive into the forums and reach out to see if there were Bento-ers around, see how they made their Bento, and to maybe get some great new ideas for foods/recipes to add to my repertoire. I really want this post to be about ideas and recipes for foods that are:
- Easily transportable (please don't suggest sandwiches, as that's pretty much a given!)
- Can be eaten at room temperature, or only need to be stored in a basic insulated bag
- Can be packed tightly without smooshing (is that the technical term?)
To start with, this is an example of my Bento for my breakfast, lunch (in this case a more Japanese traditional style) and snacks that I have at work, just made prettier than normal for our work picnic tomorrow (hey, it's lovely and warm in Australia right now - come and visit!):
The foods you can see here are:
blue containers
- white Japanese rice (140g), with 1/4tsp rice seasoning and pickled plums
- 5 lean beef mince meatballs, cooked and glazed with a small amount of soy sauce, with lettuce and tomatoes with filling
- 1 cup of lightly blanched vegetables (carrot, capsicum(peppers), broccoli, snow peas, brussel sprouts)
pink container
- 80 grams strawberries, quartered
- 20 grams blackberries
green container
- 15g each of blueberries and raspberries
- 100g natural yoghurt (unflavoured) with cinnamon.
For reference, the three Blue containers stack together, and have a total capacity of 490mL; the two square containers are 120mL and 70mL (normally I'd just use one container that has dividers). Throw in a babybel light mini-cheese and you have there a total of 545 calories that took me 15 minutes to make (maybe add 30 mins if you include me cooking a batch of mini-meatballs on the weekend that gave me 10 lunch servings) and leaves room to have a couple of coffees and maybe a cookie during the day without wanting to fret about my calories.. Except for the cheese and the seasoning on the rice, the food is cooked from scratch with in-season vegetables and fruits (so much cheaper!), and there are no preservatives in sight. They fit in a small carriable insulated bag, which I find is essential when taking peak-hour public transport.
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Replies
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I love my bento style lunchbox. Mine is from Laptop Lunches. I don't use it as much as I used to because I generally just take a huge container of salad for lunch every day. I would generally fill the larger size one with leftovers or a hummus or black bean wrap, then the smaller ones with fruit, veggies, olives, etc.4
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i don't use them but your meal looks pretty! 12 -
I have a bento style lunchbox as well. I use it when I take left overs and love it, but like Mihani, I usually just take a huge container of salad for lunch.1
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This is fabulous! I really want to get into this! Do you have a recipe for your little meatballs etc? They look great. I will try that Bento site you linked and start Bentoing asap!4
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Yay! Bento! I'm a bento-er too; well, occasionally. It's fun and you really do get to "eat with your eyes."
That and the box automatically helps you restrict the amount of calories. I'm maintaining right now but I still make bento occasionally because it's just pretty to look at.
http://flyingbentobox.blogspot.com/2014/07/old-bento-pictures.html?m=1
http://flyingbentobox.blogspot.com/2014/06/yummiest-item-dried-jackfruit.html?m=1
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=798630066876901&id=100001897442950&set=a.606681516071758.1073741831.1000018974429504 -
Welll, I sorta do that hahaha. I prepe every weekend and then portion out my food so that I can easily fill my lunchbox with good stuff.. but that is super cute!!!2
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I use one of those "box appetit" things and I know they have a recipe book to help you fill it, maybe look online at that? I haven't bought the book myself yet though x 2
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When I go to the office, I use my bento (Zojirushi) depending on what I'm taking. I always take leftovers and find the multiple boxes make it easier to fit my macros with lots of small portions of different things, but for a huge salad, I just take a big plastic container. I make a bento lunch for DD every day, again with leftovers, so she has something warm.
I did find that the suggested portions of starchy carbs etc were just too much food for me, but it does make life a lot easier.0 -
I'm a great fan of bento and I use justbento as well! It makes me more conscious of what I'm taking for lunch and less likely to snack. I've not been doing it recently, must get back into it!0
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I think bentos are adorable, but you'd have to pry my microwavable vented soup mug from my cold, dead hands. Hot soups get me through the winter. Also, how does one eat high volume veggies with a bento box? I do a lot of meal prep, but I think I would find the bentos limiting. I use rubbermaid tupperware and ziplock bags, plus some pre-packaged items like granola bars.
I instagram is covered with bento ideas. Check out #bento and #bentobox for ideas galore.5 -
Your meal looks delicious & healthy!!
I love bento, and if I ever get a real job I will be using my various boxes.
Here are a few recipe sites.
A couple are simply Japanese recipes, but there's lots there that would be appropriate.
http://justbento.com/recipes
http://www.aibento.net/
http://www.cookingcute.com/recipes.htm
https://cookpad.com/en/categories/japanese-recipes
http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipe-index/1 -
While I do own a Bento, I never really used it. I do use a website to get ideas on things to make to eat and it has some interesting Bento ideas. Here is the link to some of her Bento ideas: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/59118514268/paleo-lunchbox-roundup0
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If someone made me a lunch like that I'd be smiling every day! That looks beautiful AND delicious. I make my lunches for the week on Sundays. I portion them out - weigh and measure - but I don't have any cute containers like that.1
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These are awesome!! It looks like so much work? How do you cut down on prep time?0
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Bento are awesome and I adore them. Portion control, healthy food and pretty. You can't beat it.0
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We have a man in my town who makes bento lunches. We have gotten them before and they are always so amazing. I've always wanted to try to make them myself!
*clicks link*0 -
I love bento! I have a few random bento things I got from Daiso but I mostly just use regular containers. I love the style of eating though - a bit of everything, rahter than just 1 solid meal. Would love to see more of your photos!0
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I just make my wife fill mine... if she will ever fill mine.1 -
Of_Monsters_and_Meat wrote: »I just make my wife fill mine... if she will ever fill mine.
Hmm... Maybe I can teach my kids to make my lunches but my ex isn't about to start!3 -
I feel like I'd want to go all out and make them pretty enough... Otherwise anything I make the night before goes into a glass lock-n-lock container. I'm not too picky about foods touching
My salads just go into a zip lock. Shaking dressing on is very effective!
..... yet now I'm here drooling over the Laptop Lunches stuff on Amazon. LOL0 -
If you go on amazon the cutters are really cheap or if you're good with a knife you can cut them yourself. I cut them while I make dinner so they're pretty and I use the little cupcake inserts to separate some stuff. I do this as I cook dinner to make it nice. It cuts down on time to cook all at once.
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britishbroccoli wrote: »I think bentos are adorable, but you'd have to pry my microwavable vented soup mug from my cold, dead hands. Hot soups get me through the winter.
^^THIS^^ Someone at work "borrowed" my big red soup mug while I was still on shift and it has not wandered back. Time to hit Wally land and bring a new one home!
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I like the idea of Bento and bought one, but find that I'm more likely to use other containers. I don't really appreciate a variety of things for lunch. Plus, I generally eat more than just lunch away from home. I'd rather just have fewer and larger than what Bento provides.
I have four of the Rubbermaid lunch blox collection (various ones) and two of the lock and lock lunch boxes, the medium one and the large one. I also have many of the Rubbermaid round storage containers. I currently have twenty containers of soup in my refrigerator and freezer after making a lot last Saturday. Each container has 16 oz of a broth based soup.
In the morning I can grab two hard-boiled eggs which fit great in one of the lunch blox containers, a soup container, a large salad in one of the lock & lock containers, then I can get one of my yogurt creations (frozen or fresh fruit, 6-7 oz yogurt, 1/4 cup grapenuts cereal, and a tablespoon of chia seeds) in one of the smaller lock & locks. If I pack all this, plus a granola bar, I'm set for all of my meals and snacks for the day. And I have spent many many days gone from my house from dawn to dusk and relied on having it all.
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^ I was looking at the justbento.com site and they suggest using whatever boxes you can find. Bento specific ones are expensive (though certainly nice looking!)
I love what she says about, at least with the 1:1:2 ratio (carbs, protein, veggies) the calories and container mL are about equal when packed. That would make aspects of recording pretty easy to do.0 -
Thanks for all the links, they're all great! I would like to just reiterate though, that an actual "Bento box" isn't necessary, it's the practice of how the food is prepared, portioned and stored. Large or small, cutesy or practical, any box works. Laptop lunches, lunch blox, etc., are in a way, all a type of Bento.britishbroccoli wrote: »I think bentos are adorable, but you'd have to pry my microwavable vented soup mug from my cold, dead hands. Hot soups get me through the winter. Also, how does one eat high volume veggies with a bento box? I do a lot of meal prep, but I think I would find the bentos limiting. I use rubbermaid tupperware and ziplock bags, plus some pre-packaged items like granola bars.
I instagram is covered with bento ideas. Check out #bento and #bentobox for ideas galore.
I do have a thermos that I use in Winter for soup as well, but Winter is short here so it doesn't really get used a lot. I'm not sure how high you mean when it comes to volume veggies, but you can just use a bigger box tbh. I use such a small one because the volume of food I eat rather than the quality of food I eat is a big problem for me. Using a small, portion controlled box works for me in training my brain & stomach to understand that a small volume of food is enough. "Bento-ing" is more about how you store/transport and portion out your food, rather than the size of the box. When I'm having an empty day (yay Hunger Games reference!), I do have a 750mL and 1L tupperware that I use to up my veggie portions.dopeysmelly wrote: »When I go to the office, I use my bento (Zojirushi) depending on what I'm taking. I always take leftovers and find the multiple boxes make it easier to fit my macros with lots of small portions of different things, but for a huge salad, I just take a big plastic container. I make a bento lunch for DD every day, again with leftovers, so she has something warm.
I did find that the suggested portions of starchy carbs etc were just too much food for me, but it does make life a lot easier.
I find that the suggested starchy carb portions of a traditional bento are too much for me as well - half a meal of rice/potatoes/couscous isn't appetising. My usual serving if I have rice in a Bento is 120-140g cooked, and even then it can feel like too much.
I did splurge and buy a Zojirushi set as well which has a little heated container and two other smaller portion containers. The quality of them is great, but I usually buy cheaper ones.These are awesome!! It looks like so much work? How do you cut down on prep time?
Practice and Preparation! My main starchy carb is rice (potatoes and wheat don't sit too well with my stomach), which I cook in large batches, and freeze portions into ziplock bags for quick defrosting each night. I do the same thing for my protein, or reserve a small portion when cooking dinner. Veggies (the picture I posted is an exception) are usually just smaller cut portions that I prepare when doing that nights dinner. If I'm prepping a small amount of veggies just for my lunch, I've pretty much cut them up in the time it takes for the water in my saucepan to boil.LifeInTheBikeLane wrote: »We have a man in my town who makes bento lunches. We have gotten them before and they are always so amazing. I've always wanted to try to make them myself!
*clicks link*
Be careful with takeout Bentos - the sauces they use on the meat and dressings on the veggies aren't always exactly a healthy option, but boy they are tasty!I love bento! I have a few random bento things I got from Daiso but I mostly just use regular containers. I love the style of eating though - a bit of everything, rahter than just 1 solid meal. Would love to see more of your photos!
Daiso is the best for getting Bento boxes! All the boxes (not the water bottle) that I use are generally from there.^ I was looking at the justbento.com site and they suggest using whatever boxes you can find. Bento specific ones are expensive (though certainly nice looking!)
I love what she says about, at least with the 1:1:2 ratio (carbs, protein, veggies) the calories and container mL are about equal when packed. That would make aspects of recording pretty easy to do.
Some Bento boxes are expensive (I generally can't justify the splurge), but if you have a Daiso store near you, the boxes are cheap and good quality. It's like a Japanese variety store; in the Australian ones, everything is $2.80. The blue set is one box, and the two square boxes are another set. Throw in a mini cutlery set and a small insulated bag, and my box set costs a whopping $11.20AU (so under 10USD). Honestly, most of the time my Bento is prepped in a click-lock box, with small portion things like cut fruit separated from everything else in a silicone muffin cup.
It is easy to record as well - since i use the same proportions of foods regularly, logging for the day is usually a matter of ticking a few boxes in my recent foods category and that's it.0 -
I'd never heard of this but love the idea! Pinterest has a lot of bento lunch ideas as well. Will be exploring the other links shared as well. Thank you!1
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how long does that take you to put together? OOPS nevermind see you answer.0
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I have a couple of Bento boxes for work as well. I generally take left overs, so it makes figuring out portions quite simple. Mine are never as pretty as yours is though. LOL Great topic!0
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mangrothian wrote: »Thanks for all the links, they're all great! I would like to just reiterate though, that an actual "Bento box" isn't necessary, it's the practice of how the food is prepared, portioned and stored. Large or small, cutesy or practical, any box works. Laptop lunches, lunch blox, etc., are in a way, all a type of Bento.britishbroccoli wrote: »I think bentos are adorable, but you'd have to pry my microwavable vented soup mug from my cold, dead hands. Hot soups get me through the winter. Also, how does one eat high volume veggies with a bento box? I do a lot of meal prep, but I think I would find the bentos limiting. I use rubbermaid tupperware and ziplock bags, plus some pre-packaged items like granola bars.
I instagram is covered with bento ideas. Check out #bento and #bentobox for ideas galore.
I do have a thermos that I use in Winter for soup as well, but Winter is short here so it doesn't really get used a lot. I'm not sure how high you mean when it comes to volume veggies, but you can just use a bigger box tbh. I use such a small one because the volume of food I eat rather than the quality of food I eat is a big problem for me. Using a small, portion controlled box works for me in training my brain & stomach to understand that a small volume of food is enough. "Bento-ing" is more about how you store/transport and portion out your food, rather than the size of the box. When I'm having an empty day (yay Hunger Games reference!), I do have a 750mL and 1L tupperware that I use to up my veggie portions.dopeysmelly wrote: »When I go to the office, I use my bento (Zojirushi) depending on what I'm taking. I always take leftovers and find the multiple boxes make it easier to fit my macros with lots of small portions of different things, but for a huge salad, I just take a big plastic container. I make a bento lunch for DD every day, again with leftovers, so she has something warm.
I did find that the suggested portions of starchy carbs etc were just too much food for me, but it does make life a lot easier.
I find that the suggested starchy carb portions of a traditional bento are too much for me as well - half a meal of rice/potatoes/couscous isn't appetising. My usual serving if I have rice in a Bento is 120-140g cooked, and even then it can feel like too much.
I did splurge and buy a Zojirushi set as well which has a little heated container and two other smaller portion containers. The quality of them is great, but I usually buy cheaper ones.These are awesome!! It looks like so much work? How do you cut down on prep time?
Practice and Preparation! My main starchy carb is rice (potatoes and wheat don't sit too well with my stomach), which I cook in large batches, and freeze portions into ziplock bags for quick defrosting each night. I do the same thing for my protein, or reserve a small portion when cooking dinner. Veggies (the picture I posted is an exception) are usually just smaller cut portions that I prepare when doing that nights dinner. If I'm prepping a small amount of veggies just for my lunch, I've pretty much cut them up in the time it takes for the water in my saucepan to boil.LifeInTheBikeLane wrote: »We have a man in my town who makes bento lunches. We have gotten them before and they are always so amazing. I've always wanted to try to make them myself!
*clicks link*
Be careful with takeout Bentos - the sauces they use on the meat and dressings on the veggies aren't always exactly a healthy option, but boy they are tasty!I love bento! I have a few random bento things I got from Daiso but I mostly just use regular containers. I love the style of eating though - a bit of everything, rahter than just 1 solid meal. Would love to see more of your photos!
Daiso is the best for getting Bento boxes! All the boxes (not the water bottle) that I use are generally from there.^ I was looking at the justbento.com site and they suggest using whatever boxes you can find. Bento specific ones are expensive (though certainly nice looking!)
I love what she says about, at least with the 1:1:2 ratio (carbs, protein, veggies) the calories and container mL are about equal when packed. That would make aspects of recording pretty easy to do.
Some Bento boxes are expensive (I generally can't justify the splurge), but if you have a Daiso store near you, the boxes are cheap and good quality. It's like a Japanese variety store; in the Australian ones, everything is $2.80. The blue set is one box, and the two square boxes are another set. Throw in a mini cutlery set and a small insulated bag, and my box set costs a whopping $11.20AU (so under 10USD). Honestly, most of the time my Bento is prepped in a click-lock box, with small portion things like cut fruit separated from everything else in a silicone muffin cup.
It is easy to record as well - since i use the same proportions of foods regularly, logging for the day is usually a matter of ticking a few boxes in my recent foods category and that's it.
I love Daiso but there isn't one where I live - when I go on holdays to Melbourne I always make sure I stop past to check it out though :P0
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