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Bento Box Basics
THE BENEFITS OF MAKING BENTO BOX LUNCHES
THEY’RE FUN! Making decorative bentos is an enjoyable creative outlet. Mornings can be hectic and full of chores, but taking a few minutes to make a beautiful bento box starts the day off on a positive note.
THEY’RE ECONOMICAL. Packing lunches at home to bring to school or work saves money. You don’t have to pay for a restaurant lunch and you also save money by reinventing a leftover chicken breast, tucking in the remaining berries from breakfast, or using the last few vegetables in the crisper.
THEY GENERATE LESS WASTE. Fast-food meals and school lunches generate a great deal of packaging waste, and traditional sack lunches with their plastic bags and single serving snacks aren’t much better. Packing food into a reusable box with reusable accessories generates no waste at all.
YOU HAVE BETTER CONTROL OVER INGREDIENTS. The only way to know exactly what food you or your child is eating is to make it yourself. With bento boxes you are free to choose organic fruits and vegetables, nitrite-free meats, and foods that are lower in sodium. You can also indulge in the occasional not-so-healthy treat if you like, but the choice is yours.
Basic Techniques
BALANCE
An important goal when making a bento is to balance the types of foods in the box—proteins, produce, grains—and also to achieve a variety of flavors and textures. Shoot for packing at least five different colors into your bentos. This helps to ensure that you’re getting lots of healthy fruits and veggies in your bento box.
PACK THE BOX TIGHTLY
When you’re packing a bento it is important to fill the box completely. If the food isn’t packed snugly and filled up to the top rim of the box, everything will mix together and the little bit of extra time you spent to make your meal attractive will have been wasted. When you pack a bento tightly, there’s no extra space in the box and if there aren’t any extra spaces, the food will stay in place when the box is tilted because it won’t have anywhere to go. After you pack the main components, look for any extra spaces. If you find some, plug them up with smaller bites. Grapes, cubes of cheese, berries, and cherry tomatoes are wonderful for filling these little gaps. If you are using a box with a lot of dividers, this is less of a concern because the dividers will keep things from moving around.
PACK THE BOX NEATLY
One of the easiest ways to make a bento look attractive is simply to pack it neatly. Think about where each item will go before you put it in the box. When items are added, take a few seconds to decide on the best way to present them— crackers can be stacked, vegetable sticks lined up, and any marred pieces of fruit can be tucked under prettier ones.
ENJOY IT!
Most importantly, have fun! Enjoy the beauty of colorful fruit and vegetables and think of creative ways to use your supplies. Add something that will make the person you’re packing the lunch for smile, or if you’re packing for yourself, put in a favorite treat to make your lunch extra special.
Equipment
BOXES
The most important item to get when you start packing bento lunches is a box. Bento boxes come in all sorts of shapes, materials, configurations, and prices. They range in size from small snack boxes to large thermal systems and they can be purchased for as little as a few dollars for a small plastic box or as much as $70 for a large stainless steel kit. It can be difficult to decide which kind of box to buy and, unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem. Some of the factors one should consider when choosing a box are how much food the box needs to hold, the material it’s made from, the cost, and how durable it is.
Single-tier Bento Boxes Single-tier boxes are one of the most plentiful types of boxes. They are usually about 1½ inches (4 cm) deep, but their other dimensions vary widely. These boxes usually seal with a tight-fitting hinged lid, but self-sealing lids are also common. If you have a hard time finding a bento box you like, or you’re not ready to invest in one yet, food storage containers are often well suited for bento packing.
Multi-tier Bento Boxes Stacking or multi-tier boxes are also quite common. Typically they have at least three parts—a lid and two tiers that hold food. They may also have a third or fourth tier to hold food, an inner lid for each tier, and a tier designed to hold silverware or chopsticks. These boxes often require an additional elastic band or “belt” to hold the tiers closed, though some models are sealed with a hinged lid.
Tools
The list of tools and accessories you can use to make decorative bento box meals is truly endless. Here are just a few examples of the items I used to make the lunches in this book.
Knives and scissors A good, sharp paring knife is the most important tool you’ll need to make bento lunches. Use it to slice fruits and vegetables, cube cheese, cut sandwiches into strips or triangles, just as a start. Even if a knife is the only tool you have, you can make a beautiful bento. Kitchen shears or fine-tipped scissors perform many of the same tasks as knives, but they give you an extra level of control. Use them to cut bread or cheese into shapes using a template or for more free-form designs.
Toothpicks and skewers The tips of toothpicks and bamboo skewers can be used to precisely place small elements in a design or reach into places where fingers don’t fit. The blunt end of a pick is great for dabbing mayonnaise onto small pieces of food when you’re “gluing” a decoration down. Toothpicks can also be used to make kebabs or decorative picks.
Silicone cups Silicone cups are used in most of the bento boxes in this book and for good reason! They can separate dry items from juicy ones, or keep small items like peas or berries from rolling all over the bento box. They are flexible enough to conform to the space available and because they’re made from silicone they’re almost indestructible. These cups also add a bright spot of color to a lunch and shaped ones can be used to emphasize a theme. Round cups intended for cupcakes are a good shape to start with.
Lidded containers Use small, lidded containers to pack dips and salad dressing. Larger ones can be used for kid-sized portions of yogurt or applesauce.
Lunch box systems Many manufacturers sell lunch box systems that are designed to include everything you need to pack a lunch and send it to school, day care, or the office. All of
