New Bento Boxes - Zebra lunchbox set

I'm growing ever increasingly disillusioned with the SG50 La Gourmet set from last year. I only realised recently that the gap in the top lid where the gasket fits, leads to the inside of the hollow lid, which there is absolutely no way to clean, especially if oily soup or sauces get into it. Yuck!

So, when I saw this on sale at the supermarket last week, I couldn't help myself.

Stainless steel round lunch bowls with leakproof, airtight lids and seals, yes please! The bowls stack up and fit (with room to spare for ice packs I suppose) inside the thermal lunch bag.

Each bowl has a plastic lid, with a blue silicone gasket and a colourless silicone seal, both detachable for thorough cleaning. The lids are really tight because of the seal, and airtight so that even if you turn the bowl over, the lids do not budge at all. The kids have reported that to get the lid off, they have to first open the blue gasket to let air into the container. Awesome!

There is a mesh pocket on the outside back of the lunch bag to hold cutlery. I haven't used the bag yet, as the bowls usually go separate ways (haha), but DH has started to bring very occasional bentos to work (so far only sandwiches) and these two bowls (12cm in diameter and approximately 500ml capacity each), should be just right for him. 

Meantime, as long as I'm packing oily foods for the kids, read - noodles, rice with gravy, it's these boxes I'm turning to. Hurray for stainless steel!

Inarizushi Lunch

I went out for lunch at a Japanese restaurant with some old colleagues to celebrate someone's birthday, so to make up to RM who loves Japanese food, I left him a lunch bento of Jap foods. Oh, there was some leftover for Takoyaki as well.

What a beautiful box! I finally got to use this lovely Ojyu Picnic box I'd bought a few months back.

Now to get my hands on a furoshiki (cloth for wrapping a bento box) AND to get myself invited to a potluck so I can bring this gorgeous baby out for a trip!

Long Time No See Urara Boxes

I have not brought these two out to see the light of day for... at least a year? I just skimmed through my blog and the last picture I found that contains one of these boxes was on 28 Oct 2014, so it's really about a year ago!

To think I was once so crazy over these Urara boxes (I made a big fuss about them on FaceBook), and scrambled all over Singapore looking for the matching chopsticks, bag and any other paraphernalia I could find (I didn't find a single one except for the boxes). Ahh... those were the days of bento hunting and shopping.

The truth is, these low cost China-made, two-tiered slim bento boxes by the Japanese company Nakano Co. are not very leakproof unless they are kept upright and secured with a tight band. The hermetic lids for each tier aren't very... er... hermetic. 

From the way my kids dump their bags on the floor and wherever else they have to bring them, I sincerely doubt any gravy I provide will contentedly stay inside the box instead of leaking out all over the bag. I guess I have come to rely on the leakproof ones such as the Korean-made Lock&Lock for bentos with gravies or drippings, metal-walled bentos for oily, non-saucy foods, and our Totoro/Kiki boxes for practically everything.

However, last night as I was packing up the food for today, they seemed to call out to me with forlornness and I couldn't resist picking them up and including them in my plans.

After assuring the kids that minimal gravy would be present (except what is already on the chicken), I set forth to give them (the boxes, not the children!) some TLC.

Menu:
Honey soy sauce chicken, deboned
Blanched broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Steamed rice with furikake

Everything is either leftover from dinner or else just washed if necessary and added to fill up the space and increase flavour. A very traditional bento.

Unfortunately, Roast Meat woke up ill this morning so he had his for lunch at home.

What My New Bento Drawer Looks Like

One of the most serendipitous things about our latest move is that I am able to dedicate part of my kitchen to bento supplies. I planned ahead when I was designing my kitchen cabinets (after moving house about once every 3 years in the last 13 years I've more or less learnt what to do and what not to do) and was rewarded with at least two full drawers to house my bento supplies. 

Yes, AT LEAST two full drawers because some stuff is spilling out into nearby shelves due to my still-inefficient organisation. For now, the drawer that houses the bento boxes is neatly packed and a pleasure to behold (to me). Here it is.

Bento boxes organisation

Everything is available at a glance and can be easily pulled out, compared with my previous place where the boxes were stacked on a shelf and I had to remove the top ones to access the lower ones. And don't get me started on the boxes at the back! Those I barely touched because they were so hard to reach.

I'm thinking this drawer can still be further organised with the strategic placing of some drawer dividers but that will have to wait as I still have junk around the house to declutter and unpack. I also intend to give some of these boxes away as I doubt I will ever use them again, due to their shape or size.

The drawer above this one houses my bento tools and other supplies. It's not done yet so I haven't taken a pic but I hope to soon, after I find a couple of baskets to fit the designated space.

Viva la Bento!

Chirashi Don + Review of Kago Onigiri Box

Is a great way to pack the ingredients for a bento if you're running out of time.

RM's chirashizushi don

I knew if I'd tried to push the rice into sushi moulds we'd be late for school, so instead I just packed a bed of sushi rice and quickly arranged the toppings. Roast Meat will be having some aburaage (sweet deepfried beancurd skin), surimi crabstick, arctic surf clams and Japanese cucumber. Oops! I forgot to pack him some soy sauce d:/

Takoyaki doesn't eat any of the seafood (fusspot) so I just gave her inarizushi plus some ham to up the protein factor.

And this one... is lunch for me and Mouse (the tot) in my new Kago Onigiri Box from Bento&Co. I have decidedly more toppings d:P including pork floss tamagoyaki, edamame and seaweed chicken (for Mouse).

Chirashi Bento in my new Kago Onigiri Box

I love love love this box! Just the sight of it fills me with indescribable happiness. The natural smell of the bamboo is calming and adds fragrance to the rice. Ok my rice is sushi rice but I'm entitled to think what I want, yes? d:)

Review of Kago Onigiri Box

The box itself is very sturdy because it has reinforced corners and bottom. I had expected it to be rather soft but it's quite the opposite. This box is as strong as my other plastic bento boxes any day! The food will not be squashed in it. And it's as light as a feather - this is a decided plus. Only thing left is to see how well it washes, but according to Just Bento, all I will have to do is use a non-abrasive sponge to scrub it, then let it dry completely.

(Update: Because I used wax paper to line the box, washing was a breeze with my 3M sponge. I just left it on the dish drainer overnight to dry out completely and back it went into the cardboard box it arrived in - it's own "home", so sweet.)

To hold onigiris is it's original intended function, but here I've packed a bed of rice (on a layer of wax paper to prevent sticking), and I can see myself packing sandwiches sometime soon. It's certainly spacious enough. You can pack a full bowl of rice in for an adult AND still have lots of room left to add sides and fruits. The height is adequate for medium to long picks to stand upright. Since it's porous, it is not advisable to put foods with a lot of gravy or sauce, not even with silicone cups. You will have to put any wet stuff in a small box with a tight-fitting lid, such as the smallest box in my One Piece, Matryoshka or Cowboy sets. The box requires a bento band or furoshiki to keep it closed and secure in transit.

The price is not cheap, but to me the quality is worth every cent. I got it shipped free to me so I certainly saved a bit there!

This box is NEVER going to school with the children.

It's the weekend, yay!

Cold Steamed Chicken Bento + Review of Style Lunch Nature

We had steamed chicken again last night, and it's really easy to just set aside one of its breasts for today's overnight bentos.

Roast Meat has his with some udon tossed with black pepper sauce (he likes it, even though it's spicy).

RM's Cold Steamed Chicken Bento

Takoyaki will have hers with rice and lots of fruits and vegetables. She is using, for the first time, her new Style Lunch Nature Bento from Bento&Co in its entirety. I love the way this box stacks - each tier screws on tightly to the one below and there's a pretty lid to cover it all up. I can even just use 1 or 2 tiers and it still works and look attractive.

This bento box has really solved some problems I had in the past when wanting to pack food in three tiers for Takoyaki. The other 3 tier thermal set I have (Mr Bento Style) is heavy and I don't always want the food to be kept hot. So this fills a bento niche of mine. The tiers are just right for the amount of food an older kid would eat for lunch - 650ml in total.

Bento&Co is having a storewide 20% discount till 15 July! Oh I should have held off my purchase! d:/

Takoyaki's Cold Steamed Chicken Bento

Overnight Angel Hair Spaghetti

Equals more sleep for Day 2 of Term 3. A very quick bento because the sausages were cooked during dinner prep, and angel hair spaghetti takes only a few minutes to cook. Roast Meat loves my pesto and can eat it anytime, with lots of parmesan cheese on top. 

I used another new bento box from my recent bento purchase from Bento&Co, and I love that the round shape makes it easier to wash compared to boxes which have corners. Round boxes are always my preferred choice for packing greasy foods such as pasta and fried rice. And breaking out a new box is always fun d:)

New Bento Boxes (again)

Bento&Co had a promotion sometime earlier this month which provided free shipping worldwide, so I grabbed the chance to buy a few bento boxes which I had set my eyes on. It took about 15 days to reach me, of which part of the delay was caused by the terrible haze we had in June. I salute the postal service and their commitment to delivering all our mail on time!

From top left, going clockwise: 

- Brown wax paper with newspaper print for onigiri days and oily food, I'd wanted another design but it was sold out d:(

- A kawaii elephant-shaped oshibori (wet napkin holder) which is for Mouse when we go out

- A practically matching food bowl for the oshibori

- A 3-tier round bento for Takoyaki, specifically requested

- A Totoro themed rectangular box for Roast Meat

Can't wait to use them!

Pocket sandwich in a new Snoopy box

Cute new Snoopy box

The evils of advertising... A box like this comes free with every purchase of two boxes of Darlie toothpaste. We got two boxes d:)

It's a good size, 600ml, one which I've been wanting to get from Daiso for quite some time, for packing bigger stuff such as pocket sandwiches and toast. Love the headroom on this one, same as my Lock&Lock boxes, which means longer picks can stand upright. There's a steam vent for microwave reheating (which we won't use, of course), but there's no silicone or rubber seal, so the box is not watertight.

Roast Meat brought a Nutella-filled pocket sandwich, some seaweed chicken, cherry tomatoes and grapes to school this morning.

Friday of the longest week ever Bento

This week seemed more like a month, mostly because I was waiting for some results to happen, and we all know what it's like to wait for something that takes quite some time but you can't do anything to hasten it.

Takoyaki's long day again (poor girl, three times a week now she's in P6), and I hope this box will keep her in good cheer - some rather peppery chicken fingers with mayo to take the heat off, pineapple pies (another CNY goody), strawberries and longans.

Roast Meat didn't eat the beef stew yesterday, so he's having it over rice for recess. What a sad-looking picture after his sister's bright, colourful box.

Imitation Tiger thermal bento set

This bento is my cheapskate, low class version of the Tiger Thermal Bento Set (below).

Magewappa box (Urushi or lacquered)

Here is one of my "precious" boxes, although strictly speaking, all my boxes and tools are really precious to me. This box was brought back by a Japanese acquaintance of a close friend and mentor of mine. She refused to accept any payment, so I will never know how much it really costs.

 

And this is the box with the cover off. There is one removable divider made of solid wood. The whole thing is lacquered, which makes me very afraid to wash it. It's really light though. I have used the box only once, in this post. The capacity is about 450ml.

Matryoshkas on display

Here is the full set of the Matryoshka nested boxes my friend Diane helped me to get from Cash Converters. If I recall correctly it's only $3.50 for the entire set. A few details: they are made of polypropylene aka PP, food safe but preferably do not fill with hot food (same goes for all other plastics) to prevent leaching of plastic into the food. The lids are tight-fitting, which is a big plus, since I have another nested set (part of which I used in this bento) where the biggest lid is loose. And they are Made In China.

The capacities of the boxes are, from biggest to smallest: 500ml, 350ml, 200ml and 120ml. These boxes are a joy to pack; they always make me smile! Takoyaki loves them too, especially when I use my Matryoshka picks (bought separately) in them. The smallest box can also be used as an inner container in the biggest one - great for when I want to put something with sauce or that is wet eg. fruits.