Hello, I'm Amy and I live in Columbus Ohio, and I've been lurking around this site for a while, but now I decided to try and join the forum. I hope I get a lot of nice ideas for more interesting lunches. I was out of work for a good part of the year last year, and when I finally started working again, I didn't feel comfortable spending money on lunch. I'm in "training" mode, so my lunch is only 45 minutes, not enough time to go very far.

Hello all! I am new to making bento, and first thought about it after reading one of my favorite webcomics, where his wife starts making bento for him (http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/090202.html). A friend of mine referred me to this site, and I have since been poring over its contents to gather as much information as I can possibly absorb. I am interested in it partially as a tool for weight loss, but also because I really like the idea of having a *real* lunch that tastes incredible, rather than Spaghettios or something of that nature. Also, veggies.

Hi people! I've been a really long-time lurker to Maki's sites and now I've decided to finally go into bento on a regular basis. So... I hope we'll be friends! Next week I'll start my bento routine! yay!

Hello everyone on Just Bento! I'm a 21 year old student from Singapore, and am looking forward to picking up a cooking tip or two here. Really not trying to be modest here, but my cooking skills have been really non-existent before I came upon JustHungry.com and JustBento.com, have even burnt some of my Mom's pots and nearly the kitchen on one occasion. But i'm determined to learn. Cooking is a fun experience!

hey there, im emily, im a 24 year old student at teesside university in the north east of england. i'm also a trained chef although we didn't really cover international foods at college (or anywhere i've worked in the past 7 years) i've been interested in bento making for a while now and when i moved to student digs i found myself in the middle of an asian/indian community and discovered that the corner shop sells japanese ingredients amongst other stuff you wouldn't normally find in supermarkets :)

Hello, my name is Naoto and I'm a 22 year old female student living in the northern part of the US. (The cold part.) I found this site a few weeks ago and got some great ideas for lunches. I cook for my boyfriend (lovingly dubbed "Teddie" cause, well, he's my big teddy bear) and myself and I'd really appreciate any tips anyone has for me, especially on how to get a kinda of picky eater to eat more veggies! Thanks and I hope to talk to everyone soon! Naoto

Hi everyone, I just stumbled across this wonderful website and thought about giving it a shot ^_^. I`m a 27 year old student (computer science) from Germany. I`ve visited Japan for the third time this summer and I just loooooove the food and especially bento. I want to start making my own bento - but due to my part time job i think it will be once or twice a week (I`m having lunch with my co-workers most of the time and don`t want to separate that much ^_^;;). So, I hope I`m keeping up in making wonderful and delicious bentos. Greetings from Germany, ninakind

Hello all, Just as the Challenge was gearing up, we had to leave town for a family emergency. We've only been back for a couple of days, so today was my first chance to get back into it. I spent time today getting ready for the work week, making lunch food. Blanched a huge container of baby spinach and formed it into easy to pack balls. Boiled a few eggs. Made spam musubi (half went into the freezer). Also made a container of carrot salad. Dinner leftovers, green salad and frozen veggies make up the rest of menu for the week.