Mar 17 2008
Bento Bites
On the theory that food is more enjoyable when it’s a) attractive and b) has a variety of flavors, I’ve decided to try the Bento Box idea for lunch.
According to Wikipedia, BentÅ is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish.. But as sites like Lunch In A Box show, that idea can be extended to all sorts of foods.
Going to the grocery store this weekend, I looked for foods and equipment that would lend themselves to little bites and tastes. I bought myself a nice sectioned box to allow for flexible packing options. I got some little silicone baking cups to help separate individual foods. And I got some snack-size zippered plastic bags, just in case.
For foods I looked for small fresh fruits and veggies, single serve cheeses, ingredients for wrap sandwiches, and so forth. I also got small drink options, juices and such, so I can pack a drink in the box too. Keeping in mind the Points values for things all the while - I am, afterall, still doing Weight Watchers.
So here’s my first “bento box” lunch
:
- Minute Maid Apple Juice
- Roast Beef and Garlic Herb Cheese Wrap (rolled and cut like a sushi roll for presentation)
- Seedless Green Grapes
- Sliced Strawberries
- Small orange tomato
- Keeblers Fudge Stripe mini cookies (from a 100 calorie pack, which I opened and poured into a baking cup, again for presentation)
For those who are keeping score, that’s a 7 point lunch for all those goodies. (And 5 of those points were just in the apple juice and the cookies, just so you know.)
We’ll see if I manage to stick with this, but so far, I’m pretty pleased with the results.
Post-lunch Verdict: Since I was careful not to tip it around, it was still all pretty when I sat down to eat. The food was all quite tasty. And the little multi-colored cups are kind of fun to eat out of. I feel like I had a nice, filling, satisfying lunch. The real test will be whether I’m hungry again in a few hours… I’ll report back on that as time reveals.
What a great idea! I especially like the little silicone baking cups for easy and pretty presentation, though personally I’d get tired of having to make sure it doesn’t tip over… I think I could go for those little “disposable” tupperware cups, and then draw pretty flowers and designs on the outsides of them with Sharpies.
And if you have room in your fridge, you could probably do quite a bit of the prep for a week’s worth of boxes at one time, without taking too much longer than the time to make one box — portioning out and washing the fruits and veggies, maybe making a bunch of wraps all at one time, hard-boiling a batch of eggs, etc.
I’m curious to find out how this experiment goes for you!