Just Bento

Hello!

I live in NZ too! I'm in Wellington and have also been a lurker on Just Hungry and Just Bento for a while now. I'm hoping to join in with the challenge this week. My husband and I spend an insane amount of money on bought lunches, so bento'ing for me is about saving money and keeping healthy.

Its very cool to meet another NZ bento'er -there aren't that many of us it seems. I get so envious of all the cool bento accessories available overseas that never make it to NZ.

I promise not to be a troll during the NZ/Aussie time zone! haha.

Mel

Hi. I see from the other topic that you have also discovered Honeythief from Chch!. That makes three of us at least. We need someone from Auckland now - they actually have shops up there which sell bento boxes and things.

Hi Bronwyn - great to have you on board! :)

Hi guys, yes as mentioned I am here in Christchurch! We actually have quite a good showing here on this board for such a little country with so few bento supplies :)

I'm 34 and live in Christchurch with my hubby and our three chickens (mmm, fresh eggs every day). I work in an office in the city centre, and it costs me a fortune to buy my lunch every day so I am making bento lunches in order to save some cash. These days I am making delicious meals from scraps of leftovers that would previously have gone in the bin, so it's definitely making a difference.

BTW, there is a lovely lady called Sue who sells some bento supplies on TradeMe; I think she goes by the name of flatfrog. I bought a really cute lunchbox and some rice moulds from her last week. I have no affiliation with her other than as a happy customer, but she might be able to help us acquire a few supplies!

Cheers,
Jenny/Honeythief

I went there over the holidays too! I'm from Wellington, I'm a stay at home mum (and part time student of Japanese at VUW) with three year old bento-loving twins and a bento-friendly husband. If you're making one, you may as well make three or four.

I have also bought a bento box from Flatfrog, but have found some of the things she sells (like the sushi roll makers) are cheaper in $3 Japan or even in Woolworths.

I'm hoping to make a nice big order from Jbox this year, I really want the Hello Kitty bento making set. My daughter is a big Kitty fan, we had Kitty and Shinkansen for their birthday cakes this year.

Dorayaki, I thought I recognised your username! Should have known I might bump into you on here :)

I've searched everywhere I can think of in Chch for things like sushi roll makers and cannot find them anywhere. I've never heard of $3 Japan and can't remember seeing a Woolworths anywhere here (but being fairly new to the city myself it's possible that I just don't know where to look). Anyway, I figured it was easier to just buy from TradeMe than spend any more time traipsing around the city looking for specific items that might not even exist here :)

There is a weird sort of remnants shop very near my workplace in Christchurch and they often have things like wide elastic. I need some myself for my newest box and I had planned to check there this week. If they have something pretty I'll report back here and see if anybody wants some posted to them.

A wide ribbon with an elastic gusset would also work, of course. My mum used to make hairbands like that for me and my sisters when we were little.

The shop didn't have any interesting elastic this time around. Just the standard black, white, and navy, and one that was white and navy with some red bits. But I'll keep an eye open - they get new stock all the time.

Whoa! I had not discovered flatfrog! You guys are awesome.

Yay for lots of NZers - proportionally high if you think about it.

RE bento belts - I make my own with black elastic and either sewing on it in coloured thread or embroidering. Lately I've just been using Lock'n'Load type boxes so haven't needed the belts so much.

I find the Asian Grocery Stores have good things like sushi mold and generally awesome lunchbox supplies for quite cheap. Never seen bento boxes though.

**Off to look at flatfrogs listings...***

Hey Jenny! Nice to share a forum with you again.

I got some belts from $3 Japan in December, there was a whole packet of them in two different sized. They weren't all that nice though. I think Maki has a post around somewhere about how to make them, they would look nicer. I also have one belt that came with my daughter's Hello Kitty bento box, but have lost the one that came with my son's Shinkansen one.

Here's a photo of my haul from $3 Japan at Christmas. I'm hoping to make a trip up there in the next few months, and will be happy to post things down if we don't find an Auckland member by then.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Novalee/Christmas051.jpg[/IMG]

http://www.toowi.com/japanlife/index.html

This shop would be the best place for bento boxes and accessories - there is one in Mt Eden and one in Glenfield (Auckland), the $3 Japanese shop can be hit and miss with their product range but Japanese Lifestyle is awesome :)