Bento lunch possibility

[winter]

Between murasaki99's recent laptop-lunch blogging and the recent kerfuffle on bentolunch reported on Fandom_Wank, I'm eyeing packing bento to work as a distinct possibility.

Pros: There are usually leftovers in the fridge at home. I can pack as many vegetables as I like (something bought-lunches are usually too short on for my taste). Cheaper than lunching out. I have a fridge and microwave at work, so I could pack any type of food.

Cons: Preparation time (though I get up an hour and a half before going out to work, anyway). Planning ahead with shopping.

I think I might have to have a look-see in the food-boxes isle at Carrefour tomorrow :) If I manage to drag myself out at all, that is. Fetching newspapers and some water from the kiosk downstairs left me winded this morning, so I'm afraid the infection's not as beaten as I'd like it to be.

Recipe links for safekeeping: mini-quiches, omuraisu, mini-fritattas and fried onigiri

Wraps.

And just in case - blog/site/lj recommendations, anyone? I think I saw several mentions on the f-list :) Especially if it's affordable bento-sets for sale in Europe, preferably Poland...

Comments

[carmentalis.livejournal.com]

So that's the proper word for the kind of lunch combinations I've lived on for years!

If you have an Ikea nearby, they have a very practical set of well-sealing plastic boxes in all sizes, something like 20 boxes for three euros. That's served me well - I just take one of the bigger boxes and put the smaller ones in at need. And they even hold liquids without spillage. Not quite a proper bento, it seems, but at times practicality beats style.

Yay for bento!

[murasaki99.livejournal.com]

There was a kerfuffle about bento? It's just food, how could...? Guess I'll have to check it out. :D If they have a community just for bento, I think I'll join.

Any container works for bento - in Japan, bento could be packed in anything from wood boxes, split bamboo, and fine laquerware in the old days, and in modern times, it can be in plastic 'laquerware' specialty bento boxes, and even good old styrene. So don't feel constrained, the Japanese sure didn't. If it looked good and held the food nicely, they would use it.

My current bento are all plastic of various sorts, one 'offical' plastic bento bought in Seattle at Uwajimaya, a wonderful huge Japanese grocery store, one Laptop Lunch box set bought online in the US, and a cheap set of nesting plastic for lunches bought on Amazon.com that is basically the plain modern bento set for westerners. Made in China, of course. :p
Fit
and Fresh is what I bought, only $7 US and your Carrefour may supply something very similar/same.

For salad dressing and sauces, while you're in Carrefour, check the camping section if the plasticware section doesn't have anything useful. Camping gear will supply small squeeze bottles and little contains just right for sauces.

I hope you feel better soon, too.

[sukeban.livejournal.com]

Tips: Pasta needs only a half-hour of mostly unsupervised cooking. With a vinaigrette and some toppings like sweet corn or shredded carrots it holds very well, although normal tomato sauce is an option if you've got a microwave oven at work. More or less the same for rice, although sometimes I also buy pre-cooked "curry" (that's what it says in the box) rice.

Hard eggs give lots of proteins and, if kept unshelled, hold three or four days in the fridge, so you can boil a batch and eat them through half the week. Canned tuna is another option for pasta or rice.

I buy one-use small packets of Jerez vinegar and olive oil (yay Spain) at the supermarket for the salads, and a co-worker gifted me with some salt and pepper thingies from McDonald's and airlines. Supermarkets here also have small packets of cocktail or salad sauces.

I wish I knew how to make onigiri and things like that, but I'm not too good at cooking. Anyway, I compiled a list of bento sites at the blog: http://gramarie.net/log/?p=1149

[kyrre.livejournal.com]

Now I can come out and admit that murasaki99 addicted me too. While I currently haven't many opportunities to take a bento box with me the link she provided to cookingcute.com led me to go hunting for sushi molds.

I lust after sushi. Alas, it's quite pricey and my attempt at homemade sushi wasn't that successful so far. Forming the nigiri and maki by hand ended in rather pitiful shapes and took much, much time. I hope that doing it with the molds that arrived yesterday will be easier and faster.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

How can bento lunches trigger a kerfluffle? That would seem as innocuous a topic as one could find!