Bento Boxes for Nutrition and Help Weight Loss?

Murdroc
Murdroc Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have always loved the way that bento boxes are colorful and works on trying to keep a well balanced meal that is healthy AND appealing.

Has anyone tried using bento boxes to help with keeping portions, eating healthy, and that lead to losing weight (when paired with moderate exercise)? I've love to know your experiences and any advice you can give!

Replies

  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
    I've tried the fancy little bento boxes but after a week I get lazy.

    As an alternative, albeit less pretty, I do meal-prep every Sunday. I bought 150 basic microwaveable tupperwares from Amazon, so every Sunday I'll make anywhere from 10-30 meals for my fiancee and I to eat. Half of them get thrown in the freezer, half in the fridge. Way fewer dishes to do and nice and quick to prepare after a long workday.

    I carefully log my meal-prep using the MFP Recipe tool, so I know approximately how many calories are in each tupperware. It makes tracking very easy.
  • Penthesilea514
    Penthesilea514 Posts: 1,189 Member
    I love how Bento lunches look but I am super lazy so I don't have any experience making them.

    However, I like the Youtube channel Mind Over Munch, and she does healthy bento lunches AND has some meal prep ideas. I am sure there are probably others, but she is the first that comes to mind.
  • Murdroc
    Murdroc Posts: 6 Member
    toxikon wrote: »
    I've tried the fancy little bento boxes but after a week I get lazy.

    As an alternative, albeit less pretty, I do meal-prep every Sunday. I bought 150 basic microwaveable tupperwares from Amazon, so every Sunday I'll make anywhere from 10-30 meals for my fiancee and I to eat. Half of them get thrown in the freezer, half in the fridge. Way fewer dishes to do and nice and quick to prepare after a long workday.

    I carefully log my meal-prep using the MFP Recipe tool, so I know approximately how many calories are in each tupperware. It makes tracking very easy.

    I want to be healthier, but not necessarily make it super fancy - or do all those cute characters (though it would be delicious). I love the idea of having everything prepared and ready to go for the week. How long does it take you every Sunday to put all of them together? And how do you cook everything to give yourself variety? Just curious!
  • Murdroc
    Murdroc Posts: 6 Member
    Penthesilea514 wrote: »
    I love how Bento lunches look but I am super lazy so I don't have any experience making them.

    However, I like the Youtube channel Mind Over Munch, and she does healthy bento lunches AND has some meal prep ideas. I am sure there are probably others, but she is the first that comes to mind.

    Thank you so much for sending that! I'll definitely have to check it out. Just need to keep healthy and hopefully allow me to lose some weight for the wedding. Ideas are always welcome!
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    edited May 2017
    I use a Bento box when I'm eating a meal on the run. I love it...so convenient. Be sure to get one that has compartments that completely separate from each other when the lid is on, so if you have a sauce or something like hummus in there it won't get all over everything else. I don't make a special bento box meal, I just use it as a convenient way to take my food with me when I'm not eating at home.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
    I use bento boxes off and on. It depends on how much meal prep time I have. They are good for portion control, but can still end up high calorie if you use too much calorie dense foods, or too big of a box.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
    Murdroc wrote: »
    toxikon wrote: »
    I've tried the fancy little bento boxes but after a week I get lazy.

    As an alternative, albeit less pretty, I do meal-prep every Sunday. I bought 150 basic microwaveable tupperwares from Amazon, so every Sunday I'll make anywhere from 10-30 meals for my fiancee and I to eat. Half of them get thrown in the freezer, half in the fridge. Way fewer dishes to do and nice and quick to prepare after a long workday.

    I carefully log my meal-prep using the MFP Recipe tool, so I know approximately how many calories are in each tupperware. It makes tracking very easy.

    I want to be healthier, but not necessarily make it super fancy - or do all those cute characters (though it would be delicious). I love the idea of having everything prepared and ready to go for the week. How long does it take you every Sunday to put all of them together? And how do you cook everything to give yourself variety? Just curious!

    Usually I'll spend the morning till later afternoon cooking. I just put on the TV and grab a break when I can, it's actually pretty pleasant.

    I do 2-3 meals per week and my fiancee doesn't mind the lack of variety. If I'm wanting variety I'll just pop by the store and make a fresh salad for dinner or something quick. There's always some options in the freezer from previous meal preps too - most frozen dishes should last 3-6 weeks.

    Foods with sauces tend to work well. I make lots of things like: quiches, casseroles, soups, pasta dishes, curries, roasted veggies, mashed potato/cauliflower, breakfast burritos, chili, rice, etc.

    I tend to avoid raw fruit and veggies since they don't tend to reheat well - those can just be prepared on the fly.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    There's 114 pages of ideas and discussion of bento boxes in this thread:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10043413/using-bento-boxes-for-lunches/p1

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