Using Bento Boxes for lunches.
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aussie_girl_del wrote: »mangrothian wrote: »
Yeah, texture is the main thing that puts me off food (and one of the reasons I don't eat molluscs. Oysters? Bleuagh!), so I don't know if I could get myself to eat cooled porridge. Although it would definitely make a good box filler.
My Thursday bento is a little different for me. I'm trying to clean out the deep dark recesses of my pantry, and found a nearly empty box of spelt couscous. My husband and I butt heads about what the texture of couscous should be; he likes it soft, full of butter and kind of clumpy, whereas I like mine soft, but with all the grains separated and not oily, so our boxes of couscous have moved further and further back on the shelf since we never cook it anymore.
So spelt couscous bento with grilled salmon, asparagus and golden squash, with fresh roasted beetroot that came from my parents garden. There's onion, capsicum and carrot that was added to the couscous.
IMO this is the correct way for couscous
Exactly! My mom always thought it felt a bit like sand until I showed her she was cooking it wrong. Although I'm a big fan of the Israeli cous cous vs the standard "Mediterranean" kind.
No bento again today, just a pretty salad. We're on vacation next week, so we're trying to use up all the fresh fruits and veggies.
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SpecialKitty7 wrote: »aussie_girl_del wrote: »mangrothian wrote: »
Yeah, texture is the main thing that puts me off food (and one of the reasons I don't eat molluscs. Oysters? Bleuagh!), so I don't know if I could get myself to eat cooled porridge. Although it would definitely make a good box filler.
My Thursday bento is a little different for me. I'm trying to clean out the deep dark recesses of my pantry, and found a nearly empty box of spelt couscous. My husband and I butt heads about what the texture of couscous should be; he likes it soft, full of butter and kind of clumpy, whereas I like mine soft, but with all the grains separated and not oily, so our boxes of couscous have moved further and further back on the shelf since we never cook it anymore.
So spelt couscous bento with grilled salmon, asparagus and golden squash, with fresh roasted beetroot that came from my parents garden. There's onion, capsicum and carrot that was added to the couscous.
IMO this is the correct way for couscous
Exactly! My mom always thought it felt a bit like sand until I showed her she was cooking it wrong. Although I'm a big fan of the Israeli cous cous vs the standard "Mediterranean" kind.
No bento again today, just a pretty salad. We're on vacation next week, so we're trying to use up all the fresh fruits and veggies.
I was just about to say that I don't even like the regular couscous. I love the pearled/Iraeli couscous! Oiiishiiii!!!!
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PixieGoddess wrote: »SpecialKitty7 wrote: »aussie_girl_del wrote: »mangrothian wrote: »
Yeah, texture is the main thing that puts me off food (and one of the reasons I don't eat molluscs. Oysters? Bleuagh!), so I don't know if I could get myself to eat cooled porridge. Although it would definitely make a good box filler.
My Thursday bento is a little different for me. I'm trying to clean out the deep dark recesses of my pantry, and found a nearly empty box of spelt couscous. My husband and I butt heads about what the texture of couscous should be; he likes it soft, full of butter and kind of clumpy, whereas I like mine soft, but with all the grains separated and not oily, so our boxes of couscous have moved further and further back on the shelf since we never cook it anymore.
So spelt couscous bento with grilled salmon, asparagus and golden squash, with fresh roasted beetroot that came from my parents garden. There's onion, capsicum and carrot that was added to the couscous.
IMO this is the correct way for couscous
Exactly! My mom always thought it felt a bit like sand until I showed her she was cooking it wrong. Although I'm a big fan of the Israeli cous cous vs the standard "Mediterranean" kind.
No bento again today, just a pretty salad. We're on vacation next week, so we're trying to use up all the fresh fruits and veggies.
I was just about to say that I don't even like the regular couscous. I love the pearled/Iraeli couscous! Oiiishiiii!!!!
I like both, but when time's a factor the normal one always wins. That, and I find the Israeli couscous so much more expensive.
No Friday bento for me. I was tired when i got home, and my husband tempted me onto the couch woth a movie. How dare he!
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Friday bento...I forgot how much I LOVE sweet potato.
This is not a huge portion for lunch, is it?
What worries me about salads is that I always feel like I'm "making too much" -.-
(But that could be my carb phobia lol)
Also not sure why sometimes my phone does that thing to pics...
But yeah...looking forward for tomorrow:
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Friday bento...I forgot how much I LOVE sweet potato.
This is not a huge portion for lunch, is it?
What worries me about salads is that I always feel like I'm "making too much" -.-
(But that could be my carb phobia lol)
Also not sure why sometimes my phone does that thing to pics...
But yeah...looking forward for tomorrow:
No such thing as too big of a salad!!
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No friday bento, colleague getting married next week so we went out for her "last day at work as a single woman" lunch :-)0
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Very nice. I had leftovers again. While leftovers are nice, after about a week of the roast and the curry attempt, it's getting a little old. Almost out of leftovers so time to make different things soon. Today was the curry attempt with lentils, egg that had a little gouda cooked with it then a snack of cinnamon roll protein bar and turkey stick. Lots of protein today.
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That looks delicious! Not sure if it's available in the US but a way I ditched the protein bars (they are super expensive and most of the time full of sugars...) is to replace it with The Food Dr's roasted soybeans! They're delicious and make a great treat...25 g a serving and some healthy fats too! I treat them like a crisps substitute! They've also started selling vegetable crisps in my local supermarket, they're delicious! Sweet Potato!DawnEmbers wrote: »Very nice. I had leftovers again. While leftovers are nice, after about a week of the roast and the curry attempt, it's getting a little old. Almost out of leftovers so time to make different things soon. Today was the curry attempt with lentils, egg that had a little gouda cooked with it then a snack of cinnamon roll protein bar and turkey stick. Lots of protein today.
I can't find an image, but I did find the recipe!
http://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/baked-beetroot-and-sweet-potato-crisps.htmlSpecialKitty7 wrote: »No such thing as too big of a salad!!
Hahaha I hope you're right!
I just worry that I'm trying to make it a healthy meal and then end up consuming more than I'm expecting/accounting for0 -
SpecialKitty7 wrote: »No such thing as too big of a salad!!
Hahaha I hope you're right!
I just worry that I'm trying to make it a healthy meal and then end up consuming more than I'm expecting/accounting for
As long as you're not overloading your salad with dressing, cheese or avocado, its probably hard to overdo a salad in a bento box. What you could do is make the biggest salad you would normally make, weigh and log every single ingredient, then try and shove it in the box. That way you'll know the max calories you can get in there. Every other salad you make providing the ingredients are similar (and if you always measure your dressing) should be under that max value.0 -
That looks delicious! Not sure if it's available in the US but a way I ditched the protein bars (they are super expensive and most of the time full of sugars...) is to replace it with The Food Dr's roasted soybeans! They're delicious and make a great treat...25 g a serving and some healthy fats too! I treat them like a crisps substitute! They've also started selling vegetable crisps in my local supermarket, they're delicious! Sweet Potato!
We do have those here in the US. I haven't seen that brand, but I have at least two different brands of roasted soybeans in my cabinet right now. I like them as a crisps substitute or in my salads for crunchy stuff. I'll even have them as a stand alone snack.
I don't have bento again, but since I had to clean my kitchen I made a "bento station" where I put all things bento so I have everything in one spot to make them. The bucket has all my little bits like the belts, cutters, silicone dividers, mini pots, etc.
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SpecialKitty7 wrote: »That looks delicious! Not sure if it's available in the US but a way I ditched the protein bars (they are super expensive and most of the time full of sugars...) is to replace it with The Food Dr's roasted soybeans! They're delicious and make a great treat...25 g a serving and some healthy fats too! I treat them like a crisps substitute! They've also started selling vegetable crisps in my local supermarket, they're delicious! Sweet Potato!
We do have those here in the US. I haven't seen that brand, but I have at least two different brands of roasted soybeans in my cabinet right now. I like them as a crisps substitute or in my salads for crunchy stuff. I'll even have them as a stand alone snack.
I don't have bento again, but since I had to clean my kitchen I made a "bento station" where I put all things bento so I have everything in one spot to make them. The bucket has all my little bits like the belts, cutters, silicone dividers, mini pots, etc.
hehe, US power points always look like they're making an =O face.
You're starting to get an impressive collection there missy. I should re-do my photo on the kitchen bench with all of my new ones. Maybe more than the kitchen bench this time.0 -
mangrothian wrote: »SpecialKitty7 wrote: »That looks delicious! Not sure if it's available in the US but a way I ditched the protein bars (they are super expensive and most of the time full of sugars...) is to replace it with The Food Dr's roasted soybeans! They're delicious and make a great treat...25 g a serving and some healthy fats too! I treat them like a crisps substitute! They've also started selling vegetable crisps in my local supermarket, they're delicious! Sweet Potato!
We do have those here in the US. I haven't seen that brand, but I have at least two different brands of roasted soybeans in my cabinet right now. I like them as a crisps substitute or in my salads for crunchy stuff. I'll even have them as a stand alone snack.
I don't have bento again, but since I had to clean my kitchen I made a "bento station" where I put all things bento so I have everything in one spot to make them. The bucket has all my little bits like the belts, cutters, silicone dividers, mini pots, etc.
hehe, US power points always look like they're making an =O face.
You're starting to get an impressive collection there missy. I should re-do my photo on the kitchen bench with all of my new ones. Maybe more than the kitchen bench this time.
It's because they are shocked! Sorry, totally bad, totally intentional pun. I've always wanted these in my kitchen:
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@andyluvv - mmm I do like anything sweet potato so far. I don't mind the protein bars, however. I can only have them once or twice a week since I have to limit anything dairy related from an allergy. And I kind of like the ones I buy. *shrugs* But I do like sweet potato snacks and such. Thanks for the information.
Will post bento after work as the better lighting is not at home.0 -
Hello~
Sorry for writing a book... ^^; I tend to be a pretty private person, and I generally don’t like to post (this is actually my first one ever), but I’ve found this thread so inspiring that I felt like I needed to share my story about how it has changed my life!
I found and read this thread for a little while soon after it was started. I’ve always enjoyed Japanese culture so I thought this thread was great. I loved looking at all pretty bento lunch pictures, but I always thought that I didn't have the time or patience to try making them myself. Back then, I usually bought my lunch at the cafeteria here where I work. I was generally pretty good about choosing healthy options, but recently I realized that I was spending way too much money buying my lunch every day. I also disliked that I could never be sure of exactly how many calories I was eating (I like to weigh everything I eat at home with my food scale, but I couldn’t weigh what I bought at work). At the same time, I hated making my own lunch because I felt like whatever I would bring was boring and would never taste as good as what I could buy at the cafeteria.
I took a break from MFP for a couple of months over the summer (didn’t gain during that time, yay!) and have been back on track since late August. Part of getting back on track was focusing on eating healthy lunches again. For me, that meant I either had to buy healthy food at work or make my own boring lunches. Before my break I was good about buying salads every day, but now I was tired of them and couldn’t bring myself to eat them. I would also sometimes buy pre-packaged sushi instead, but now I realized that it was too expensive to buy it as often as I used to. I felt discouraged.
I needed simple, tasty lunch ideas I could make myself, so I went and browsed the mfp forums to look for some. I wasn’t having much luck, but while I was searching I managed to stumble upon this thread again. I had forgotten about it over my break, so it was fun to look over the pictures I had seen before along with all the new ones. As I was browsing the thread, I began to realize what I needed to do. If the usual lunches I brought from home were boring, I needed to make lunch fun – and all I needed to do to make lunch fun was to make it pretty, colorful, and delicious. I needed to try making bento!
I started my attempts to make them that very next day. I used my plastic tupperware containers to begin with, but I ordered a real bento box shortly and have used that ever since (it’s so pretty, it makes my lunches prettier!). It was challenging to figure out what to make and how to prep it at first, but I’ve been making bento lunches for myself for about a month now – and I’m totally hooked! I love how pretty and tasty my lunches are, I don’t even consider going to the cafeteria anymore! I’m saving money by making my own lunch, and I really appreciate that I can weigh out what I pack so I know more accurately how many calories I’m eating too. I feel like I’ve been getting better at thinking of good combinations of food and at packing my box more beautifully. I wake up earlier than I used to in order to make them fresh every morning, but I don’t mind because my lunches are so awesome and fun to make! And I can tell that I’ve been getting more efficient at making them too. More than anything, I feel proud of myself for trying something new and for discovering that I am really capable of doing this!
I’ve taken pictures of my bento almost every time I’ve made one, so I’d like to share some of my favorites. I think my bento box holds about 600ml (it’s this one on Amazon if you’re interested!):
August 25th:
Zucchini, broccoli and carrots on a bed of brown rice and sprinkled with chia seeds in the lower container. Three teriyaki-pineapple chicken meatballs (pre-packaged, no preservatives) and half of a golden delicious apple on top. 372 kCal.
August 31st:
Brown rice mix (with corn, carrots and peas) sprinkled with chia seeds, with broccoli and carrots below. Teriyaki-pineapple chicken meatballs with Mandarin orange slices and unsweetened strawberries on top. 418 kCal.
September 22nd:
My favorite-looking lunch so far! I think this is the most colorful one I’ve made yet.
Brown rice sprinkled with chia seeds, ground ginger and sage, with carrots and broccoli on the bottom. Teriyaki-pineapple chicken meatballs, 1/4 of a red apple, and light vanilla yogurt with blueberries on top. 377 kCal.
So these lunches all happened to have meatballs, but I usually bring tamagoyaki for my main protein. Here’s a picture of one of the prettier rolls I’ve made:
I’m really grateful to @mangrothian for starting this thread – I would have never thought to try this myself if I hadn’t found and read it. Thanks to everyone else who posts their pictures every day as well – it’s been great to see what other people make for their lunches to get ideas for my own. Like I said at the beginning, I don’t really like to post, but I really felt that you should all know how special this thread is and I wanted to let you all know how much you’re helping and inspiring people every day. I really appreciate what’s happening here and I hope this thread lives forever!
TL;DR: I used to buy my lunch all the time and didn’t think I could make bento. Discovered this thread and decided to give it a try, and have been pleasantly surprised at what I’m capable of. My lunches are pretty, delicious and healthy now, and it’s all thanks to this inspiring thread and the people who post here! Thank you everyone!!0 -
@eclaire8511 those lunches look awesome! Well done and welcome!
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@eclaire8511 I'm glad you made your first post here! @mangrothian will be so proud when she sees this. Your lunches look great, and I read your entire post
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Not the best today. The last of the leftover roast beef stuff and some ribbon sweet potatoes. Also had a small turkey stick as well. Will be cooking more/different food soon.
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*sniff* Only Kyouko chan can express....
@eclaire8511 they're so prettyful and well balanced. Plus, you're one more minion soldier in my plans for bento domination. *muhahahahhackcoughsplutter*
On another note, I'm making Spring bento's for my mother in law and I for tomorrow. We're going to dogapalooza; a dog friendly festival. My wolfhound is freshly washed an ready to go! I'm planning tuna filled onigiri, tamagoyaki, crumbed chicken, beef, vegetables, strawberries, grapes, cookies.0 -
Happy Sunday everyone!
Here we are! A picnic bento that took me way too long to make (I'll never admit how long to my MIL!), but is worth it nonetheless. I even used my musical note picks which have been in the packet for about 10 months.
In the main tier there's 1 tuna filled and 1 umeboshi (sour plum) onigiri, marinated and crumbed chicken, beef marinated in bulgogi sauce (spice korean bbq), tamagoyaki, sweet potato in honey, veg (broccoli, golden squash, snow peas, carrot & daikon).
The small tier has steamed matcha cakes, home made raspberry & cocoa sugar cookies, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, a mini babybel, and some cream. The lunches are in cooler bags with frozen icepack thingies to keep everything edible.
There's also some extra strawberries because I know they'll get eaten. My dog Borric likes them too, so we have to...0 -
mangrothian wrote: »Happy Sunday everyone!
Here we are! A picnic bento that took me way too long to make (I'll never admit how long to my MIL!), but is worth it nonetheless. I even used my musical note picks which have been in the packet for about 10 months.
In the main tier there's 1 tuna filled and 1 umeboshi (sour plum) onigiri, marinated and crumbed chicken, beef marinated in bulgogi sauce (spice korean bbq), tamagoyaki, sweet potato in honey, veg (broccoli, golden squash, snow peas, carrot & daikon).
The small tier has steamed matcha cakes, home made raspberry & cocoa sugar cookies, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, a mini babybel, and some cream. The lunches are in cooler bags with frozen icepack thingies to keep everything edible.
There's also some extra strawberries because I know they'll get eaten. My dog Borric likes them too, so we have to...
OK those are gorgeous!!!
and Welcome @eclaire8511 I think your lunches are beautiful as well!
Ok, time for my lame bentos to be added (^_^)v
Two lunches and two dinner boxes (hubby comes home late two nights a week)
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@eclaire8511 your bento lunches are so beautiful~I can't wait to see more of your work.
@mangrothian I am tempted to ask how long it took because those lunches look sooooo yummy. I hope they were just as delicious as they look (although I'm sure they were)!
@HanamiDango your bento aren't lame, they're awesome ^__^0 -
mmm food
I had something different this time. Green chili pork loin, spinach noodles and sweet potato ribbons. Not bad though the noodles don't have much flavor to them and are a bit soft. The green chili from the pork helped with the noodles flavor wise.
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@mangrothian they look amazing! Did your mother in law enjoy?
Lunch for tomorrow is broccoli, roti bread, rice and rogan josh curry.
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My mother in law greatly enjoyed it, my sister in law lamented that she said no when I offered to make her one as well, and my nephew told me off for not making onigiri for him (not that I knew he was coming....)
Picnic bento in the sun, and sharing strawberries with my four-legged bestie listening to music and getting lots of pats from random strangers (Borric, not me. People seem to have an obsession with patting giant breed dogs). Also, myself and Borric wearing my hat as a bonnet:
I either had the choice of a pic where the sun wasn't flaring, but he wasn't looking at the camera, or this one. I picked this one because he rarely ever looks where I want him too.
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More green chili pork today. Also has some of the sweet potato ribbons and pork/spinach dumplings.
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I dreamt of egg cups last night. So this morning, I woke up to make bregg cups for my lunchbox. What are bregg cups? It's my lovechild of a bread pudding & an egg cup.
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I spent the weekend in the mountains at the opposite corner of the state, so no bento for me today. But I do have leftover rice from dinner last night, so I should be able to make some meat and veggies tonight for later this week.
And welcome to the cult club, eclaire!!0 -
PixieGoddess wrote: »I spent the weekend in the mountains at the opposite corner of the state, so no bento for me today. But I do have leftover rice from dinner last night, so I should be able to make some meat and veggies tonight for later this week.
And welcome to the cult club, eclaire!!
I'm glad you corrected cult. Cults don't allow you to leave (you can leave this place, but you must leave your egg shapers and vegetable cutters behind as penance
)
No bento for me today; I worked late last night and went to bed early, then got up early. Yesterday's was curry rice and dumplings, which doesn't make for an attractive picture.0 -
Finally managed to find something to use my Bento for! Leftover Eggplant Parmigiana, roasted cauliflower and green beans. Can't wait for lunch tomorrow!
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I don't think I will be able to hold off until lunch time to eat this bento. I made homemade slaw last night, and it is oh-so-freaking-good.
Homemade slaw, raisins, turkey, cheddar cheese, homemade peanut butter, pretzel crisps.0
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