Using Bento Boxes for lunches.

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  • LilSweet2015
    LilSweet2015 Posts: 41 Member
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    A respectable lunch this week. I was going to pack homemade rice paper wraps but we ate them all too fast. Today's lunch is cherries, cherries, squash, broccoli, carrots, and yuba noodles. Some of the veggie bits were leftovers from dinners I made this week, but I like veggies so no complaints here.
  • HanamiDango
    HanamiDango Posts: 456 Member
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    All the food looks so yummy!! I am with sagi, trying to taste all the yummies through the screen doesn't work!

    @PixelPuff and @mangrothian No spoilers, just no :'( I am only on chapter like 150 I think.
  • Narcissora
    Narcissora Posts: 197 Member
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    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
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    A respectable lunch this week. I was going to pack homemade rice paper wraps but we ate them all too fast. Today's lunch is cherries, cherries, squash, broccoli, carrots, and yuba noodles. Some of the veggie bits were leftovers from dinners I made this week, but I like veggies so no complaints here.

    Those spring rolls!!! Did you make a dipping sauce for them too?
  • sagj
    sagj Posts: 256 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Today's bento:

    Layer one: Kale, arugala, and spinach with tomato and some hot and spicy pickle chips

    Layer two: Beef and edamame teriyaki with rice

    I also have two layers of my round bento with blueberries and cherries and a container of pear yogurt. These may end up being first dinner before training tonight.
  • Swiftlet66
    Swiftlet66 Posts: 729 Member
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    madiao wrote: »
    This looks delicious! What is the daikon braised in??

    Dashi stock, soy sauce, sake, and a bit of mirin. It would taste better braised with some fatty pork. :)

  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
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    madiao wrote: »
    @PixieGoddess I'll trade with you if you fill it up with those delicious looking berries ;):)

    DEAL! I have more berries today! :3 Also steak, green bean casserole (buried by steak), and mixed veggies! It was actually a pretty good lunch :)

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  • LilSweet2015
    LilSweet2015 Posts: 41 Member
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    @Narcissora - I made a sauce with natural (just peanuts only) peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, mirin, and just pulsed it in the magic bullet with a little water to thin it. Everyone loved the sauce and I put the leftovers on noodles for my daughter and bf. I also ate some with a spicy bottle sauce from thai chile sauce from The Ginger People. Both were yummy.
  • Narcissora
    Narcissora Posts: 197 Member
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    LilSweet2015 wrote: »
    @Narcissora - I made a sauce with natural (just peanuts only) peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, mirin, and just pulsed it in the magic bullet with a little water to thin it. Everyone loved the sauce and I put the leftovers on noodles for my daughter and bf. I also ate some with a spicy bottle sauce from thai chile sauce from The Ginger People. Both were yummy.

    Thanks for the info! When we finally have a place with a kitchen, I am going to try this. I haven't made spring rolls in a long time, but I love them. I've just never perfected a dipping sauce to compliment them.
  • madiao
    madiao Posts: 119 Member
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    @PixieGoddess sounds good!

    No bento for me today, having left over Thai curry from last night's dinner instead mmmmm.. :smile:
  • nich531
    nich531 Posts: 1 Member
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    I am in love with this thread :D I've been reading through all of it trying to get to the end as quick as possible to see if you were all still bentoing - so glad you are!

    Thank you for the inspiration, I'd completely forgot i'd bought some bento items last year and this thread has inspired me to start it up again.

    So I have a bento box, egg moulds and silicone cups already but I may have bought another box and some picks tonight :#

    So very excited but they have a long journey so it'll be while for the postman to bring them.

    This was my first bento box that I made for today, it covers breakfast and lunch - I haven't been shopping so it's a little boring at the moment

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    So pineapple and greek yogurt (my muesli is at work already which I add in) and a snack of maple syrup almonds, lunch is salad, fried gnocchi and sweet chilli sauce with a bit of parmesan and cheese shapes. I realise I need to up my protein a little so i'm going to spend the weekend making some meatballs, dumplings and chicken portions.

    Sorry for the rubbish pic I haven't got a decent camera :( but you get the idea
  • angelamary61
    angelamary61 Posts: 97 Member
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    Wow, all I can say is, what awesome looking meals. Which I had the patience and time to do this.
  • QuikDogs
    QuikDogs Posts: 194 Member
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    I wish I had the time and arm strength left after weighlifting, but I never will. I just use this (got it for free from the gym by cashing in my you-attended-a-class-here's-5-points rewards.) I live where it's hot, so space for blue ice is mission critical.
    http://fitmarkbags.com/fitness-bags/latest-gym-and-fitness-bags/the-box
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    angelamary61 wrote: »
    Wow, all I can say is, what awesome looking meals. Which I had the patience and time to do this.

    I think this is the common misconception for bento lunches. If you're going to make extremely cutsie food with cartoon characters or spend time making something that looks artisan, then yes it takes patience and time.

    In most cases, making a bento vs a traditional lunch doesn't take much, if any more time at all if preparation is done. I can't speak for anyone else, but most of my lunches take me less than 10 minutes, 15 if I'm being lazy (20 if I stuff up my tamagoyaki XD ), plus some prep time to refill my freezer stash on weekends.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    Team_KiKi wrote: »
    I wish I had the time and arm strength left after weighlifting, but I never will. I just use this (got it for free from the gym by cashing in my you-attended-a-class-here's-5-points rewards.) I live where it's hot, so space for blue ice is mission critical.
    http://fitmarkbags.com/fitness-bags/latest-gym-and-fitness-bags/the-box

    There's quite a few of us here who deal with hot weather (I'm Australian, it's what we do), so I understand your need for a cooler bag. I always take my lunch in one, with small freeze packs in Summer, since my lunch just needs to last getting to my office in the morning. For most of us who are on a calorie deficit (since you're lifting I assume you're not or its a very small one), our boxes are quite small, so a bag like that would be huge!
  • sagj
    sagj Posts: 256 Member
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    angelamary61 wrote: »
    Wow, all I can say is, what awesome looking meals. Which I had the patience and time to do this.

    I agree with @mangrothian ; it really doesn't need to take that much time. The box I made above took all of maybe ten minutes between pulling leftover's out of the fridge, putting them in the box, pulling out salad mix, a tomato and pickles, putting pickles in the little cup, cutting up the salad mix and tomato, and putting all that in the other box. I took maybe 30 seconds arranging the tomato and done! Can you take more time? Sure but I was running behind and didn't feel like it :smiley:

    I think the box shape does 70% of the work making it look pretty anyway. I think most of the rest of it is just keeping different food kind of separate rather than all mixed together in a jumble. :)
  • mmnv79
    mmnv79 Posts: 538 Member
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    Silly question. When you cut food with a cutter, what do you do with the rest of the food? I love the wee star shapes, etc. but I don't like wasting food.
  • PixelPuff
    PixelPuff Posts: 901 Member
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    mmnv79 wrote: »
    Silly question. When you cut food with a cutter, what do you do with the rest of the food? I love the wee star shapes, etc. but I don't like wasting food.

    I eat that as my dinner, since I'm usually making lunch for the next work-day.

    In fact, that's what my dinner is. Leftover omelette [Japanese-style, just an unrolled tamagoyaki] from when I did a cute face punch out [CuteZcute Animal Cutters], some goat cheese, and mixed greens with sesame ginger sauce... This dinner is less than 150 cal... And I have enough lunch packed for three days.
  • mangrothian
    mangrothian Posts: 1,351 Member
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    mmnv79 wrote: »
    Silly question. When you cut food with a cutter, what do you do with the rest of the food? I love the wee star shapes, etc. but I don't like wasting food.

    We feed fresh vegetables to our dogs along with other food. If I'm not making soup or stew, etc., they get mixed up with their food each night. Saves me having to chop up extra for them.
  • meadowlark42
    meadowlark42 Posts: 23 Member
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    I ended up packing today's bento in 10 minutes before work (oh, i'll leave it for the morning, plenty of time/oh crap oh crap get out the door, so picture goes up late ; ). It wasn't very pretty but it was very, very tasty. Got my game together tonight, so tomorrow's is packed and ready

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    Today's bento: Sandwich bento!
    Big Green: Ingredients for grilled zucchini sandwich! 1 leftover grilled zucchini, underneath which are 2 slices of bread, 6 slices salami and 1 slice provolone. At work, I toasted the bread, sliced up the zucchini thin and some of the cherry tomatoes and dressed with salt/pepper/balsamic vinegar. Seriously, grilled zucchini is amazing on sandwiches, try it!
    Light blue: cherry tomatoes and kosher dill mini pickles
    Dark blue: strawberries!
    Off to the side: miso soup packet

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    Tomorrow's bento: Leftovers bento!
    Green med: leftover grilled squash turned into a salad with some cherry tomatoes, topped with carrot sticks
    Blue med: leftover grilled tritip
    Dark blue: strawberries!
    Light blue: hummus (garlic chive)
    Snack container: triscuts to eat the hummus, square of dark chocolate and freeze dried raspberries

    Both lunches end up ~500 cal, which is where I try and aim my lunches :)
  • LadyAhiru
    LadyAhiru Posts: 112 Member
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    I actually can not wait to eat this tomorrow ;)
    I never made Panko coverd Schrimps bevore^^

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