Bento Box Fever!

[SterlingAcres]

Quote:
Is that one of yours? I am TOTALLY stealing this whole idea. Brilliant!

Oh gosh no. I wish. No, I was going through people's flickr albums a few months ago and stumbled on bento. I was like what the heck is this garbage? LOL After seeing it over and over and over again, I'm really getting into it. That chicken sandwich, really is a chicken salad sandwich on sourdough bread. It's on photo bucket or flickr, one of the two. You can always scope them for ideas

I've seen a few others like piggy face bbq sandwiches made with bologna and monkey shaped sandwiches. Really fun. Ian works just about everyday 14 hr shifts and he'd probably enjoy opening something fun like that. I think I'm buying bento boxes

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Oh, man, my daughter would LOVE that Hello Kitty box. I haven't gotten her any Sanrio stuff yet because it's so expensive compared to the other stuff. I am DYING for some of the animal-shaped Clickety-Click boxes, which are only like $4.50 on Ebay...but if you can get to an Ichiban Kan store you can get the same thing for $1.50!

 

[asher]

I love Bento! My kids love bento (though my almost 11yr old is "too cool" for the shaped things now

). My only "issue" is that you can fit so dang much in there and the kids never eat it all!

I haven't made them in a while. My almost 9yr old just saw the pics and said OHHH! Bentos! so it looks like I might be making some again soon! heh

You can find lots of supplies at dollar trees, too. I heard they had some of the hello kitty stuff, but ours don't.

 

[lurky]

I'm still a bit confused

It looks as if you would make it all picture perfect here, and if you closed the top and carried it like it would seem, all the food would slide/flop/smoosh all over and the liquid juice from the fruit would run into other bins and stuff

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Oh my do I feel old (but I'm only 43!)...Thank you Miss P for explaining because I had no clue either. I guess nobody throws together a PB&J sandwich (except PBJmaker!!), chips, and an apple anymore, huh? I'm too tired to even be that creative for dinner!

My hat is off to all of you for spending the time to make your kids such creative and healthy lunches!!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
That's what I thought at first, too. When I got my Laptop Lunchboxes , the first thing I did was to fill all the containers with uncooked rice, then toss the box around, turning it upside down, sideways, etc. When I opened it back up, not one grain of rice had escaped. Most bento boxes are designed this way--so that, when the main lid is closed, it serves as the lid for all the individual boxes. Does that make sense?

Also, in the Laptop Lunch system, they include two containers with lids. In my pictures that I've posted so far, that would be the red rectangular box--I just left the lid off for the picture. There is also that tiny little dip/sauce container, that has a lid. So if you're packing anything "wet," you need to put it in a lidded box, because liquids would definitely leak out if the box were upturned. The lidded boxes are a little shorter than the others, so they'll still fit with the main lid shut. And you have to pack the oblong lidded box in that rear spot with the tab on the front for a good fit.

When people are doing cutesy "food art" you will usually see either decorative (plastic, reusable) food picks holding it together, or they'll pack it all really tightly so that everything stays in place. There are also tiny little reusable sauce bottles that you can use for soy sauce, tamari, hoisin, whatever, so you can apply it when you're ready to eat.

If you pack a lot of wet stuff, I'd go with a jar system, like Mr./Mrs. Bento .

 

[lurky]

NinjaPoodles, Yes that helps make sense of it. I was thinking why would someone go to all that trouble if its not going to look so pretty after its travels. I just still cannot believe i never heard of it til now. Its really interesting. I am glad my kids is grown because that would just be too much to have to live up to

 

[SterlingAcres]

Can I find a bento cheaper on ebay than I can with Reusablebags.com? The whole set there is $35 without shipping. Ugh.

I'm cheap.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Does that include the thermal carrying case and water bottle? You may not need those things, if you have a fridge at work. The "basic" system is just the box, inner containers, and a recipe/idea book, and is $21 direct from the company. We have three LL boxes, but only one carrying case, for when Bella has lunches that need to stay cold.

We have a refrigerator and microwave and our office, so we can just carry the box by itself, and put it in the fridge until lunchtime.

There are a bunch on Ebay, but prices look pretty much the same from what I can tell.

If you can get hold of a "Lock & Lock" system, it's really inexpensive.

 

[SterlingAcres]

I'd want the whole set.

But dangit, they don't have the red and black instock!! Where else can I find them?!?!?