Bentos (2009-)

[Shelby]

Bento box dinner.

Not shown are sashimi (2 pieces tuna, 2 pieces salmon, 2 pieces yellowtail, 1 piece sweet shrimp, shiso leaf); miso soup; onigiri (seaweed-wrapped Japanese rice) with ume plum.

Clockwise from top left: takiawase (simmered vegetables -- carrot, mountain yam, snow peas, eggplant, bean curd, kabocha squash); tamago (egg cooked with mirin), broiled salmon, hijiki (a type of Japanese seaweed), simmered beef and onion, potato salad, pickled ginger; chicken tatsuta-age (chicken marinated in soy sauce, then deep-fried and served with lemon); Japanese rice.

Not bad for $25.

I would love to have access to something like this. Looks SO good. I love the variety.

[Fat Guy]

The 2011-12 school year has started here in New York. There were actually two adjustment days last week, but they were half days with no lunch. So, first lunch of first grade:

Clockwise from bottom left: Avocado maki with soy sauce in a little plastic fish, cantaloupe chunks, cucumber slices, salty-oat cookie, dried mango.

[slkinsey]

The soy sauce fish is awesome.

[Fat Guy]

They sell them on Amazon in 12 packs, 6 in the shape of fish and 6 in the shape of little bottles, for $3.99. I think in Asia they go for about a dollar for a gross of them. They're meant to be disposable but I clean and reuse them (I try not to use any disposable packaging in PJ's lunches, for various reasons -- though I have gone back to paper napkins because I write him a note every day on his napkin as part of the whole learning-to-read thing).

Sauce Container Fish and Bottle, from Amazon.

[Kouign Aman]

Why do you cut the grapes in half?

What is in the avocado sushi? Do you vinegar the rice or use it plain? Anything beside avocado?

[Fat Guy]

Why do you cut the grapes in half?

Two reasons.

1. Whole grapes are a choking hazard. The standard recommendation is no whole grapes until age 6. The photos of cut-in-half grapes are from when he was 5. See, e.g., this article from the BabyCenter website: "Grapes – whole grapes are a choking hazard. Children should not eat whole grapes until they are well over the age of 5. Grapes should be cut when served to children."

2. He is particularly fond of red-globe grapes, which have seeds, but he doesn't like the seeds. So I take them out, which requires bisection. So he may continue to get cut grapes for a while longer, though it hasn't come up this year yet.

What is in the avocado sushi?

Whatever Fairway puts in it. I have occasionally made my own but I usually buy it. When I make it, there is seasoned vinegar mixed in with the rice, and just avocado inside. I wrap nori on the outside, but the professionals sometimes do inside-out. They also typically put sesame seeds on the outside.

[Fat Guy]

Second day of school. Dried mango, salty-oat cookie, potato chips, hard-cooked egg, mozzarella and tomato, cucumber slices.

[ambra]

Your boxes are amazing. I'm going ot have to send my son with snacks, I can totally pull from this thread for ideas!

[Kouign Aman]

Wouldnt grape and cherry tomatoes likewise be considered choking hazards?

[Fat Guy]

For some reason the sources that say no grapes until after age 5 say that cherry tomatoes are okay after age 2. Go figure.

[Fat Guy]

This is yesterday's lunch (no lunch today; sick day)

Red and orange peppers with hummus, challah roll with cheese, pita chips, wheat crackers, cucumber slices. I didn't pack a sweet item because this lunch almost exceeded the capacity of the tote we use.

[Jason Perlow]

Doesn't PJ lose the little boxes? Hell, I'm almost 43 and I would lose at least one a week. They don't have larger, multi compartment plastic containers?

[Fat Guy]

He hasn't lost one yet. A couple have been destroyed: the way they pile up and abuse the lunches at a NYC elementary school is reminiscent of how that same process would happen in prison. But since all the containers go in his vinyl lunch sack every day, they all come back every day -- so far.

I love the multi-compartment ones but they lack flexibility. With different types of individual containers, I can choose the shapes and sizes that work for a given meal. It also makes it easier for him to do something like hold the pretzels as a snack for after school.

[blbst36]

I just found this thread.  And now I want to do bentos again.  Unfortunately, I don't think my nutrition plan is going to fit in the boxes.  I'm going to have to drag mine out and see what I can use.  Maybe I could use them hiking or for snacks.

 

Is anyone still doing bentos?

[Shelby]

Aw, I used to love looking at Steven's bentos for PJ.