Packed Bento Box Examples
Here are some examples of packed bento boxes. Use them as a starting point to create your own bentos!
Bento contents:
- 1 cup of Vegetarian Chili with kidney beans, 250 cal (recipe below)
- 4 mini pumpkin yogurt muffins, 300 cal
Total calories (approx): 550 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed: 5-10 minutes in the morning with pre-made components
Type: Vegetarian, not Japanese (Southwestern)
I've been working on a some recipes which work when I just throw them together, but aren't quite ready for prime time publishing here. So the meantime here are a couple of bentos that are too similar to other bentos already shown here, but may be of interest to look at anyway. Both feature chicken recipes from the recent chicken mini-marathon.
Bento contents:
- A bit more than 1 cup of carrot rice (microwave method) made with white rice, 220 cal
- Panfried chicken mini-burgers using about 80g of dark skinless chicken meat, 150 cal
- 2 Tbs. Cooked to death hot and sweet peppers, 40 cal
- 2 green shiso leaves for garnish (more about shiso)
Total calories (approx): 400 (how calories are calculated)
Bento contents:
- Approx. 1 cup of white rice, 200 cal, with a little furikake on top
- Stewed chicken dumplings and carrot using about 90g of dark skinless chicken meat, 120 cal
- Blanched green beans, 30 cal
- 2 cherry tomatoes, 5 cal (if that)
Total calories (approx): 355 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed: 5-10 minutes in the morning, just to pack everything in the bento box
Type: Japanese, chicken!
Bento contents:
Stir-fried noodles consisting of:
- 2 cups sliced mixed vegetables - sweet and chili peppers, cabbage, enoki (straw) mushrooms, snow peas, green onion, fresh ginger, celery, approx. 60 cal
- Shirataki or konnyaku noodles, 5-10 cal
1/2 Tbs. sesame oil, 60 cal
4 vegan shuumai dumplings, 120 cal
Total calories (approx): 245 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed: 10 minutes in the morning (can also be made ahead)
Type: Spicy Asian, vegan
- 1 cup (1 cup=220ml) white rice, 240 cal
- 1 cherry tomato and vegetable gratin with pesto, 110 cal
- Easy chili shrimp (4 med. shrimp), 60 cal
- Edamame, 10 cal
- Yukari (furikake made from umeboshi and red shiso leaves)
Total calories (approx): 420 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed in the morning: 10-15 minutes
Type: Japanese
Bento contents:
- 2 okowa with chicken onigiri, containing approx. 1 cup of cooked sticky rice and 1 oz. / 30g chicken - 320 cal
- Tamagoyaki with chopped green onions, 1 egg's worth - 100 cal
- Green beans with carrot and ginger, 40 cal
Total calories (approx): 460 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed: 10-15 minutes in the morning
Type: Japanese, omnivore (chicken, egg)
Bento contents:
- 2 onigiri with salted salmon filling, each onigiri with about 1/2 cup (1 cup = 220ml) white rice (300 cal)
- 1/2 cup spicy miso marinated asparagus, 40 cal
- 3/4 cup stir-fried red pepper, onion and zucchini with fried tofu (atsuage), 100 calories
- A couple of slices of nori seaweed to wrap the onigiri
- A couple of cherry tomatoes, mainly for color
Total calories (approx): 450 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed: 15-20 minutes in the morning
Type: Japanese, omnivore (salmon, miso, fried tofu)
Bento contents:
- 1 cup (1 cup = 220ml) bamboo shoot rice made with sprouted brown rice, 200 cal
- 1 1/2 cups asparagus, bamboo shoot and snow pea stir-fry, 70 cal
- 1 wiener cut into fish, 150 cal
Total calories (approx): 420 (how calories are calculated)
Time needed: 10 minutes in the morning
Type: Japanese, omnivore (wieners!)
Bento contents:
- Bite size shrimp and caper sushi, about 40 cal per piece
- Tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette), 3 eggs worth, cut into 12 pieces - about 30 cal per piece
- Cherry tomatoes
- Blanched snow peas or mangetout
- Carrot flowers
- Cherries (not shown)