Have you heard of bento boxes? A normal part of Japanese life, they’re becoming more and more popular in the United States as well – for their creativity, for their convenience and for encouraging healthy eating habits.
Online galleries such as the Flickr Bento Boxes group include everyday bentos as well as amazing food creations.
While many Japanese bento makers spend considerable time and energy on their bento boxes, I’ll admit that they appeal to me because of their convenience and novelty, which encourages my children to eat better.
As a mom of three littles, I often want to “just get lunch over with” by the time it rolls around. Despite my best intentions, I usually end up just throwing together whatever I can find that’s fast and easy.
For me, the solution is to prepare lunch earlier in the day or even the night before. Although I’ve been doing this for a while, I hated filling my refrigerator with tons of containers that I then had to empty onto individual plates or, alternatively, having to use a ton of plastic wrap to cover lunch in the refrigerator. Bento boxes have provide the perfect solution to this, as I can store and serve lunch in the same containers.
They’re fun all by themselves, but there are also many bento accessories available, such as egg molds, onigiri molds (for shaped rice), food picks, cookie cutters, etc.
I plan to use some of the ideas from Hawaii’s Bento Box Cookbook: Fun Lunches for Kids from time-to-time to make our lunches more fun as well.
If you’re new to bento boxes, here are some great resources to get you started:
- Lunch in a Box – including a forum and list of other online resources
- Ichiban Kan – the dollar store of bento boxes, and where we get all of our stuff
- Cooking for Monkeys – specifically geared for todders
Mandi Ehman is a WAHM to three little girls (4, almost-3 and 1). She can be found sharing her organizational and time management tips at Organizing Your Way and making the most of every moment with her girls at Doodles’ Place.
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