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guitarnan
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| Posted: Sept 03 2012 at 5:45pm | IP Logged
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With dd dancing until late at night three nights a week, I thought bento boxes would give her a way to carry healthy dinners to the dance studio, which does not have a microwave.
I'm a bento box beginner...does anyone have tips, recipes and/or creative ideas to share?
(We do have portable bento boxes intended for work/school use - my husband brought them home from Japan last year.)
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Angi
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| Posted: Sept 03 2012 at 6:19pm | IP Logged
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We use tiffins mostly, rather than bentos. I use silicone cupcake cups to keep things separate (carrots/grapes/etc), not watery items. I try to make sure that the small containers for liquid items (aka the To-Go-Ware Sidekick) fit inside the tiffin that is being used. This seems to increase the likelihood of the smaller containers making it home  . Our tiffins are usually filled with leftovers (eaten at room temp), wraps, or homemade lunchables. For my littles, I cut the meats and cheeses with cookie cutters, but I am guessing your dd will not appreciate that. 
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Chris V
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| Posted: Sept 03 2012 at 6:59pm | IP Logged
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I didn't even know what a bento box was! (I had to google it  ) Turns out that's what my girls use for all of their dress-up jewelry. (somebody bought it for them at a garage sale).
And along those lines I had know idea what a tiffin was either! ...those are some pretty fancy lunch boxes, ladies 
(... If memory serves, when I was a kid I had a tin box, with a handle, with "He-Man" on it.
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JodieLyn
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what sort of things do you eat cold?
pasta
rice (sticky rice maybe?)
bread - rolls, tortillas, focaccia
fresh veggies (raw or lightly cooked and chilled)
- sticks, slices, diced
- carrots, cucumber, celery, tomato, zucchini lettuce, radishes, asparagus etc
grilled chicken - sliced or diced
fried chicken
roast or steak or pork chops etc (sliced or diced)
sausage or salami
cheese - sticks, cubes, shredded, sliced, many varieties
condiments
-chutney
-alfredo
-pesto
-mayo/mustard
-salsa
-dried cranberries
-sundried tomato
-marinara sauce
-ranch dressing
etc
Fruit - whole or as fruit salad or apple sauce and such
you can mix things together or pile them up (focaccia with slice tomatos, chicken and havarti on top with a mustard dill sauce)
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Angi
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| Posted: Sept 03 2012 at 7:10pm | IP Logged
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Chris - we bought our first To-Go-Ware when Ana was only allowed to eat handful of foods. We figured if she had to carry her food everywhere she went, she should get a cool lunch box lol. The other 3 were bought when a friend sold hers to me at a deep discount
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mathmama
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| Posted: Sept 04 2012 at 8:14pm | IP Logged
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Angi wrote:
| Chris - we bought our first To-Go-Ware when Ana was only allowed to eat handful of foods. We figured if she had to carry her food everywhere she went, she should get a cool lunch box lol. The other 3 were bought when a friend sold hers to me at a deep discount |
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My dd has tons of food allergies and must bring her food everywhere we go. I never thought to buy her a cool lunch box. Thanks for the great idea! She will be pleased to have something "cool" and I will be pleased to have something so convenient!
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Angi
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| Posted: Sept 04 2012 at 9:38pm | IP Logged
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mathmama wrote:
Angi wrote:
| Chris - we bought our first To-Go-Ware when Ana was only allowed to eat handful of foods. We figured if she had to carry her food everywhere she went, she should get a cool lunch box lol. The other 3 were bought when a friend sold hers to me at a deep discount |
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My dd has tons of food allergies and must bring her food everywhere we go. I never thought to buy her a cool lunch box. Thanks for the great idea! She will be pleased to have something "cool" and I will be pleased to have something so convenient! |
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Ana still has to take food most places, but there are now a couple places that she can eat.
She really enjoys fruit, wraps, and veggie sticks in her tiffin. Most restaurants do not even question when we bring food in, especially once I ask if they can accommodate her.
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guitarnan
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Our first bento box went well...teriyaki chicken and sticky rice. I'm glad dd can eat with chopsticks in a moving car...don't think I could pull that off.
I hope to get a bit more creative next week, now that we know the basic plan works reasonably well.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Sept 05 2012 at 8:50am | IP Logged
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Rice noodles with peanut sauce and chicken? I can't actually recall where the recipe is that I've used, but it is a yummy combination.
Also, with Fall upon us, winter squash can be a yummy, nourishing alternative to pasta. Roasted spaghetti squash is yummy with meatballs. You can also use a vegetable peeler to make fat "noodles" to saute. I like it with lots of butter or coconut oil.
You can also puree cauliflower in the processor to make "rice."
These are recipes you can find from paleo type diet sources, but while we aren't strictly following such a diet, I find them to be nice ways to serve Asian style sauces and stir fries and squeeze a few more veggies into the mix.
I've mentioned the paleo cookbook I really like Well Fed in other threads, I think. I know SallyT recommended it, too.
In addition to recipes like the above, she has a "weekly cook-up" outlined in the book where you pre-cook chicken breasts, ground beef, chopped veggies, etc..., and then she has different "skillet plates" organized by region or country where she shares combinations of meat and veggies and spices/sauces that will work well. The plates come together so fast (and her recommendations are tasty, too) when the prep work is done. I imagine that this strategy would work really well for what you describe, and you could even add that sticky rice or pasta underneath or on the side if you didn't want to be strictly paleo.
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stefoodie
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Don't forget sushi!! :)
Seaweed + rice + veggies/meat/fish. Crabmeat + avocado + mayo is yummy too. And then there's SPAM musubi, but of course Spam isn't healthy :)
And onigiri -- rice balls -- they can be plain and packed with meatballs or fish balls or veggie patties, or you can put wrap the rice around the meat/fish/veggie.
Lots of ideas at Just Bento.
We also like tiffin boxes for huge salads!!
But in the winter I like using the Zojirushi bento box because you can pack hot soup + other things.
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juliana147
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| Posted: Sept 14 2012 at 8:15pm | IP Logged
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I was at Target today, and saw two plastic set-ups that looked like they could be used for Bento meals. (Maybe they were Rubbermaid? I'm not sure of the brand.) One was for salads, and one was for sandwiches. They stacked nicely and had a blue-ice pack. Has anyone tried these? They were less expensive than the Bento kits I've seen, but I'm wondering how sturdy they are.
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juliana147
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| Posted: Sept 20 2012 at 7:29pm | IP Logged
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I broke down and got Rubbermaid lunch Bloxs today. It looks like the salad style can be used as a bento box.
The ones I got had coupons inside, so I may go back and get sandwich ones, too. 
I'm going to ask for a real Japanese box for my birthday, but these will do just fine for my family for now. They fit inside LLBean's insulated lunch bags. 
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- Juliana
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Topic: Bento boxes
