| | Welcome to the Bentolunch Livejournal community! If you are new to the group, please take a few moments to look at this group's posting guidelines. Briefly: - All entries must present bento boxes that were prepared by or for the person posting.
- Please keep one representative photo of your lunch outside the cut and any other pictures behind a cut.
- Photos of closed or empty bento boxes, multiple pictures of the same lunch, and recipes must be behind a cut.
- Entries are tagged by user name. If you want a tag, please post a link to one of your posts in this community in the can I have a tag? thread.
There are also tags for general use, such as vegetarian, gluten-free, recipes, and so on. A complete list is in the posting guidelines.
- Please only suggest stores to be added to the online bento shopping guide if you have shopped with them before and had a good experience with them.
- Have other questions? Please check out this community's Frequently Asked Questions.
| Hai guys! 8D So, after lurking for a few weeks, I decided to photograph the next bento I made. I don't make bento lunches very often because I am able to come home and eat 3 out of the 5 week days (I practically live a minute walk from the University buildings), but those other two days are bento days. Fo' cereal, foo.  Right Tier: imitation crab & goat cheese rolls* and some roasted wasabi covered peas. Middle Tier: two onigiri filled with tuna; some corn, potatoes, red beans, garlic & onions; and a piece of honey candy to sweeten the whole deal. And last but not least: a slice of bread (helps to clean up after the leftover dinner). *This was basically me fooling around; it's getting close to grocery day and I'm stretching my rations thin (yes my rations include goat cheese). I didn't have any imitation crab meat, but luckily a friend did and she was already going to stop by, so she brought me some (yay!). The combination is quite tastier, definitely better than I'd initially thought it would be. w00t! | |
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| First post for me, but most certainly will not be my last.
Lizard made bentos for both her sister and herself for the first day of school back in August.  These were made the night before so parts were put in plastic bags to sit out until placed lovingly into their prospective boxes. Included are from top to bottom: cheetos, cut up baby carrots, cucumber hearts, and kiwi hearts, and empty space for the cheetos, a silicone cup of heart shaped peanut butter and grape jelly sammiches, and in the lid we have bear friends cookies. I think she did an awesome job. I was unable to be there for their first day or to help then with their very first bento as I was out of town working. She took this picture with her cellphone and sent it to me. ( Read more... ) | |
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| A Lunch in a Box round-up of bento shopping inventory around the SF Bay Area: - Kawaii Corner: Selection of cute kids’ character boxes, lunchbox with attitude from the Angry Little Girls line, plus an online store with international shipping (SF Richmond Dist.)
- Kamei: Tiger thermal bento kits and Asvel bento boxes (SF Richmond Dist.)
- Ichiban Kan: New branch of Japanese-style discount store to open March 2009 in Tanforan Mall (San Bruno)
- Kukje: Tiger thermal bento kits, Asvel bento boxes, and Lock & Lock boxes (Daly City)
- Katachi: Touristy sword & knife store in Japantown with Hakoya boxes (SF Japantown)
- Nijiya: Some men’s Asvel boxes in stock (SF Japantown)
- Sanko: Depleted bento stock, more due in December (SF Japantown)
- Target: 5-packs of silicone baking cups for US$1 (U.S. nationwide)
Click for the full details about each store's bento inventory. (I have no commercial affiliations with these stores.) (Alert: Due to ongoing issues with my hosting provider, I’m going to be changing web hosts for Lunch in a Box over the next few days to reduce site downtime and speed up loading time. The transition *should* be seamless to readers, but some of the latest reader comments might appear to go temporarily missing in the transition. I’ll do my best to move any stray comments to the new server — rest assured that they’re important to me, and haven’t disappeared into the ether! -- Biggie) | |
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| I just ordered a BUNCH of things to make my Bento boxes Kuwter!!!
LOL
Can't wait for them to arrive and show off my handy work.
<3
so excited I paid the extra $25 for express shipping....I am addicted! | |
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| I too work a 2nd job, but I was so excited to get home and put together my Bento Box from leftover dinner salmon. Here it is:  top left is apple and orange slices, bottom left is the rest of the apple w/checkboard pattern, cheese waves and pepperoni roses. The right is brown rice and salmon, seperated by steamed green beans and carrots. I tried to make the celery look like fans, but it didn't work out so well. I can't wait till lunch time!!! Suggestions? comments? | |
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| So the photo is not the best but here it is:  Still waiting on the bentobox I ordered. In this divided dish there is cheese in the shape of bats with peppercorn crackers, stirfried rice and veggies and my attempt at a flower shape with red pepper. and a turkey, spinach and cucumber roll up. with red pepper and cucumber slices. | |
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|  Here is my second bento! Yay! Top: A robot made out of cheese and broken chow mein noodles, next to it I have my rice. Left: Pita chips and Caramel Quaker Oat Bites Right: Grapes and checkered Apples | |
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|  So here it is, I have ordered an actual bento box I will use as soon as it is delivered. but I had this divided container aleady. Tell me what you think It is shrimp salad, apples and star fruit and my first attempt at rice balls. | |
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|  This is my first attempt at a bento box. It's not very fancy but I am really excited about it! =) I made it small because I won't have much time to eat it today. It has chicken curry and rice with tomatoes. The curry is made with two whole onions and many peppers; it is very spicy, so the rice adds a nice counter. My bento next week should be more intricate! ^_^ If anyone would like the recipe, just send me a message; this is the best curry in the world! | |
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| Hello! My name is Bo, and I just wanted to introduce myself and thank everyone here for all the delicious inspiration. I love food, including Japanese food, and as a dancer, hypoglycemic, and generally health-conscious person I am always looking for fun ways to eat well. ( I have made little box lunches before, but I just got my first bento! Here it is. )I am lucky to live in Sacramento, which has a ton of fresh, local food available at farmer's markets throughout the week. I favor things like hard-boiled eggs, fresh raw fruit and veggies, carrots and peanut butter, tofu (I'm not veggie, I just really like tofu), sauteed mushroms, and cheeses. I tend to not eat a lot of carbs because of my blood sugar issues. I do love brown rice. I look forward to getting more tips, recipes and inspiration from you folks. Who knows, maybe someday my bento will be picturesque enough to include! I also have a quick question: I am a student who also works part time. I go to school at 8:00 AM and then straight from there to work at 2:00 PM. I typically eat fresh fruit as snacks, but I'm curious how other bento-folks deal with an extra-hectic schedule and their bento box. How many people successfully use ice packs to keep their bento cool? I am able to park my car in a covered lot that keeps the interior quite cool, even on the hottest Sacramento days, but I'm concerned about my beloved cheese products. If all else fails, I can take soft cheeses that keep better at "outside" temps. Thanks! | |
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| Zojirushi and Ajinomoto are giving away a super high-end rice cooker (5.5-cup model, US$300 value) and twenty-four Ms. Bento thermal lunch jars (US$40 value) in a Lunchbox Photo Contest for U.S. residents. I wrote it up here at Lunch in a Box with a reminder of my own Mr. Bento giveaway (ends October 5, 2008), the Zojirushi/Ajinomoto contest itself is here. | |
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|  Top: Rice w/ furikake, broken up chipotle black bean burger w/organic white corn Bottom: Gyouza, sausage flowers w/ corn center, organic rasins, carrots, and a little piggy of soy sauce for the gyouza Lid: Instant miso soup My own bento looks identical. I figured one pic would be enough. | |
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| I recently found a two-tier Keroppi bento box with a collapsible sandwich case and lid on top, and a regular bento box and inner lid on the bottom. This lets me pack a sandwich and moist food in reusable food cups together without worrying about where things will go when the sandwich case is folded up. Full review is here at Lunch in a Box.
Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Dinosaur-shaped sandwich of cream cheese and sugar-free strawberry jam on wheat bread, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, kiwifruit, Concord grapes, orange slices, and a raspberry. No peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches for Bug because of the peanut ban at his school.
Morning prep time: 10 minutes. In the morning I made the simple sandwich and cut it into two dinosaur shapes with the DynoBytes sandwich cutter I described earlier. Slice the fruit, and we’re done. Full box and lunch details, plus two additional sandwich lunches are here at Lunch in a Box.
( Keroppi combo bento box/sandwich case )</div> | |
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| I'm giving away a free Zojirushi Mr. Bento thermal lunch jar at my blog. I reviewed it in depth alongside the Nissan Thermos JLN1200X and a no-name Chinese knockoff; the full review is here at Lunch in a Box. | |
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Hi evewryone! This is my first time posting here my own bento box, but It's been 2 years since I started making my lunch every morning n_n I always eat at university and I love food, so I thought it would be a good idea to make enjoyable meals like a little compensation for the studying hours. This bento box contains rice with furikake, tamagoyaki, salad, gyoza, sausages, ham, yakitori chiken, round breads with meat inside. I added the soy sauce-lion, maching hashii and then wrapped it with my bunny-furoshiki. Ittadakimasu~~ I don't have a good level of english but I'll do my best
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| Okay, last post and I'm all caught up with my backlog. There's no collective grouping to these except "the ones that didn't fit in the other two groups." But at least that broke them into manageable chunks. These were all for my daughter, since the last post was all of my son's bento.  Here's what she had yesterday. Down the middle is a skewer with turkey/cheese pinwheels on it; not terribly attractive, as the turkey was cut a little thin and sort of came apart when I cut the roll into pinwheels, but it was still tasty. Then there are toast bites (toasted bread nice and crispy, then cut it into strips, then into shorter strips, placed endwise in box), and strawberry cream cheese for dipping; sugar snap peas and carrot balls and ranch. I think I need some of the triangular silicon cups -- I hadn't bought any because the others will squash, but wouldn't they behave more nicely here? In all, this box was kind of an aesthetic "meh" -- but she ate practically everything, so that's all right. Oh, and this is the box with the flatware compartment; she had chocolate-almond mini-Pocky in that. ( 3 more bento back here ) | |
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| I hope you'll excuse my being slightly spammy today; I just got a bunch of photos off my camera and uploaded. Here's my first bento lunch, which was made earlier this week for my 6th-grader son.  ( More nattering and some close-ups back here. ) | |
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Here's another lunchbox I made. The melonpan on the side (don't worry, I didn't eat them all ;) ) are made by my sister. They taste great ^-^
Inside my bentobox:
Rice mixed with soy and peas
spinach in soysouce
raw veggies, boiled carrot flowers
brockolie
Thanx for everyone who leaves a comment or helpful tipps ^-^
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| Send along a single cupcake in a specialized container to keep frosting intact. Great for parent of food-allergic kids to send along a single safe cupcake to birthday parties without mangling the decorative frosting. Full info here at Lunch in a Box with a photo recap of BlogHer '08, including a lunch with celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, Sesame Street cupcakes, and a food blogger lunch meet-up. | |
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These are leftovers from my husband's birthday dinner. I just packed the box as I was putting stuff away. The Citrus Marinated Shrimp Cocktail is really yummy. I got the recipe on Epicurious. I tucked some corn in next to the shrimp. On the bottom are bread slices with Dubliner and Maytag blue cheeses. I gave him a do-it-yourself strawberry shortcake with pound cake in the silicone cup and sweetened cherries and cream in the little containers. BTW - the pound cake is supposed to be Elvis Presley's favorite pound cake.
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Today was my husband's birthday. I made him a mini-layer cake by cutting out two tiny circles of cake. I filled it with apricot preserves. It's hard to see, but the cheese hearts spell out HAPPY BIRTHDAY. He got his favorite peanut butter celery, some pickled cucumber, and some nice big shrimp with cocktail sauce. I nestled a little frozen fruit custard in between the shrimp to keep them extra cool.
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I will figure out how to take nicer pictures some day. This is kind of a rushed bento because I didn't realize my husband was leaving so early. Left-over lemon bulgur and chicken from last night. The mini-loaf is a zucchini bread. I made him a single deviled egg for variety. It's very easy to make just one deviled egg and it is always a welcome treat. I usually sprinkle it with paprika, but in my sleepiness I grabbed the wrong rectangular container. So this one is sprinkled with Old Bay Seasoning. It might work. I also gave him some baby carrots and celery sticks with a packet of ranch dressing. Oh... and of course tiny grapes.
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My husband's bento for the day. I went out into the garden and after hunting through the tomato forest managed to find a few ripe ones. It's going to be tomato city around here soon, so expect to see lots of those. I quartered up a few of those pickled onions he likes so much. The rest is a fish-shaped egg missing his tail, grapes, cherries, and lemon cucumber. I tucked in a little container of salt. Oh, and there's a pretty pretty nasturtium because I saw someone else do that and thought it was a great idea. I doubt he'll eat it, though.
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My first time posting here. This is my husband's lunch since I'm still off for the summer. Chicken salad, lemon cucumber, tiny grapes, sourdough toast, pickled onion (quartered), and a fruit custard. The grapes, cucumber, lettuce, parsley, and tomatoes all came from our backyard garden. You know I was thinking bento when I planted those cherry tomatoes! The grapes just came with the house. I am not sure if they are supposed to be tiny. | |
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| Kamei in San Francisco now stocks ten different kinds of high-quality Hakoya-brand bento boxes. All are priced at US$10.50, regardless of size or design. (I have no commercial affiliations with Kamei or Hakoya.) Full details with additional photos and box info are here at Lunch in a Box. | |
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