Bento Contents:
Breakfast:
- 1/2 cup muesli, 150 cal
- About 2 Tbs. dried cranberries, 60 cal
- 1/2 container (90g) Greek yogurt, 75 cal
Total calories for breakfast (approx): 285
Lunch:
- 6 Spicy Lentil Snacks [1], 270 cal
- Carrot sticks from 1 medium carrot, 30 cal
- 1/2 container (90g) Greek yogurt with spices, 75 cal
- Some greens, 5 cal
Total calories for lunch (approx): 380 (how calories are calculated) [2]
Time needed: 5-10 minutes in the morning - mainly just packing things up (You could pack the whole bento the night before; this bento will not suffer much in quality.)
Type: Vegetarian, not Japanese, 2-in-1
If you have to pack breakfast and lunch, or even lunch and a snack, this sort of 2-in-1 bento is one idea. This is my bento, or bentos, from Tuesday, when I had a very early morning start.
The main container has the lentil snacks (pre-made), carrot sticks and greenery (mostly arugula/rucola, some mâche (lamb’s lettuce). (Note the little twist of seasoning in the plastic wrap - it’s chutney podina masala described here [3].) I brought the Greek yogurt along in its container. In the small plastic side-container is about 1/2 cup of muesli (Swiss breakfast cereal). I added a few dried cranberries for extra sweetness.
Muesli is often eaten here in Switzerland with yogurt. I added about 1/2 of the Greek yogurt container, mixed it up, and - voilà, a quick and easy breakfast.
The rest of the yogurt was saved for the dipping sauce for lunch. I just mixed in the spice mix I packed. (I had to use the carrot sticks to spread the sauce on the lentil snacks, but that worked ok.)
You could make this a vegan bento by just substituting soy yogurt for the Greek yogurt, since everything else is vegan anyway.