Does anybody bento?

[lucille]

I'm curious if anyone else does forms of bento box type lunches? We have been looking at lots of blogs and such of people who do bento style lunches to help break up the monotony of brown bagging it.

[Heisenberg]

Hey Lucille, I do sometimes! There is a pretty active group of bento-ers on Flickr if you are looking for inspiration.

[spencer]

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a "bento lunch"?

[amyschiff]

Bento is a Japanese style boxed lunch

I've never made one before, but it sounds like a great idea. I had been bringing in the same boring turkey sandwich to work for many weeks in a row and one day i just couldn't eat anymore! I definitely need to spice things up a little.

There's even a brand of bento box called Mr. Bento that supposedly is awesome (there's a whole Flickr group devoted to it).

[purplefdu]

I've never looked into doing this but I regularly browse the pics on FLickr and drool on my monitor They just look too cute to eat.

[Heisenberg]

School lunch programs in our area are nutrition nightmare. The schools frequently dump extra cookies and chips on a table for the kids to take free of charge.

Bento makes a packed lunch competitive with commercial food and makes an otherwise mundane task entertaining.

[Megan]

I try to bento lunch every few days, just for the fun of it. I have a few small bento boxes that are perfect snack sizes, and it's fun to cut up fruits and veggies to fill it. I also like the idea of using reusable packaging, as I'm trying to reduce my waste as much as possible. It's hard to keep myself from buying a bunch of fancy boxes though!

[spencer]

Originally Posted by amyschiff

Bento is a Japanese style boxed lunch

Thanks Amy

[kickchk]

I don't have a 'bento' box, but I do use my To-Go Ware Stainless Steel lunch box, that will let me pack two different containers, and they stack nicely on top of each other (locking in place). There is even a small plate that separates the compartments.

[lucille]

I found some plastic rectangular containers at the local Dollar Tree that have a gasket that seals them shut and the lid locks to the sides. They make great cheap bento boxes and don't leak. I also found an Indian lunch container at World Market for hauling snacks around in the car.