Packed with ham flower, fruits, crab salad, egg, and broccoli, this colorful Chicken meatball bento will get your kids to enjoy their lunches without fail. Read on to learn more on how to pack bento boxes.
Lunch doesn’t end when the school year does. For many of us, even when the school year is over we are still packing lunch for summer camps, daycare, and work. To kick off the summer break, I want to introduce my recent favorite lunch box and a menu my children enjoyed throughout this past school year.
First, I want to share this cute and stylish bento box from monbento. This high-quality designer bento boxes is actually not Japanese, but designed and made in France! I am typically not very into bento boxes but this futuristic double-decker bento box with matching sauce containers and cutlery set definitely caught my attention.
Very modern, clean, sleek, and practical! I just adore the design. What I like about monbento is that the bento box is very well thought out and uses high quality materials. This is one of the best bento boxes that I own, and I know I’ll be using this bento box happily for many years.
I choose this light blue/white color combination because I wanted it to be neutral color and anyone in my family can use it, but there are about 10 colors to choose from Amazon!
Monbento also offer square bento box, stylish bowl for noodles maybe, cool chopsticks, well-designed cutlery, sauce cups, molds, bags and other cool bento accessories!
Now that you got your bento box covered, what do you put in the lunch box? If you are new to bento making, I highly recommend you to read this post and watch this video to get a quick tutorial on how to make bento. I offer some useful tricks and tips on how to pack bento. You can make great looking bento using previous night’s leftovers; you just need to follow some basic and simple steps.
The number one food my children enjoyed having in their lunch box this past school year was Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs (豆腐ハンバーグ). Remember the fluffy meatballs with tofu as a secret ingredient? Yeah that one.
You can pack anything you like of course. Just remember the 3 rules of thumb for bento packing. Divide the meal proportionally, keep in mind the colors, and pack tightly!
How to Pack Bento Boxes
So what’s in this bento?
Carbohydrate:
- Steamed rice (leftover – defrosted)
Protein:
- Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs (leftover – heated)
- Ham flower (made in the morning)
- Boiled egg (made previous night)
Veggies:
- Crab Salad (leftover)
- Steamed broccoli (parboiled previous night)
- Cherry tomatoes (washed in the morning)
Fruits:
- Mandarin orange (peeled in the morning)
- Strawberries (washed in the morning)
See? Simply keep your focus on colors and good proportion and the result will be super yummy. When kids are at camp or daycare during the day, they want lunches that look appetizing and nutritious which will fuel them for their activity-filled day. For more bento ideas, visit my Bento Recipe Index.
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- cooked Japanese short grain rice
- Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs (leftover)
- Ham Flower
- Japanese Crab Salad (leftover)
- soft/hard-boiled egg (made previous night)
- broccoli (steamed, parboiled previous night)
- Cherry tomatoes
- Strawberries
- Mandarin orange
- Pack steamed rice in ½ of bento box and let it cool.
- Reheat Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs in a frying pan till heated through. Transfer them to a small plate and let them cool.
- Meanwhile, make Ham Flower and set aside.
- When rice and meatballs are cool, pack all the food into the bento box.
- Cool down completely before closing the bento box.
Please read FOOD SAFETY TIPS.
To buy this bento box, click here.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
If you are new to packing lunches and interested in making bento-style lunch, check out my short video below on How To Make Bento.
Yum!! This looks really good :D)! I wish I could have this for lunch! And the new bento box from Mon Bento indeed looks cool, most of my bento boxes tend to be more traditional looking, but this one from Mon Bento looks really chic :).
Every time you post a bento meal I wish I was a little kid and my mom was making this for me to take to school. I envy your little ones for the treats they get every time they open their lunch boxes.
Ah! Another fab bento box. You are a magician mother 🙂
Can’t wait to order the boxes for my young grandsons….Have a super trip..keep in touch …can’t wait to learn and experience new Japanese goodies..:)
Hi Lyn! Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you check my Instagram/Facebook for updates from Japan! 🙂
Oh my gosh, I just love all the work in those pictures, BEAUTIFUL with writing as well. Have a great time. All will be missed. Stay Safe and Enjoy.
Hi LP! Thank you very much! I’ll be posting regularly from Japan, so don’t worry! 😉
Love, love, love these bento lunch ideas. I also pack bento lunches for my daughter and she loves them. Can’t wait to make your teriyaki chicken meatballs. Pinned!
Your kids must be very happy that you make them such nice bentos.My kids get their meals provided by the school so I’ve never made them a lunch box before, but I love the idea of it.
look at the colours in this! unreal! i’d love to have a bento like this prepared for me too Nami
I agree with you – these bento boxes are both practical and SO goodlooking! Just have to give the kids a few ‘packing up’ lessons not to leave any of the loose parts on the ground in the playground 🙂 ! All the best for your trip: hope it is not too wet or stormy! This is always my favourite part of the year reading your blog as I DO travel with you along the highways and byways of your home country!
Hi Eha! Thank you so much for your sweet comment! TOTALLY! I had to teach them in the beginning they need to put everything back into the lunch bag.. LOL. I hope to keep up sharing pictures while my kids are besides me ALL THE TIME…. he he he… Thanks again Eha xoxo
I love those bento boxes and I love everything you put into them. Makes me want to pack a lunch now even if I have nowhere to go. Everything looks so pretty and appetizing. Is it that time of year already? Good for you. I’m sure you’ll have a lovely 5-week stay in Japan. Looking forward to your stories and photos. Safe travels, Nami!
Delicious looking meatballs and pretty bento!
Cheers,
Rosa
豆腐チキンハンバーグの念押しどうもありがとう。本当に作りたいです。たんぱくたっぷりで美味しいでしょう。。。弁当箱も素敵です。
hi Nami, I want one, and I don’t even do bento! Awww, Japan!! have a wonderful time!!!
Thanks Jenny! Is your son still here? I thought of you walking in my neighborhood. 🙂
hi Nami! my son is there for only 2 more weeks! He’s coming home for July, then he’s off to Vancouver to start a new life in Canada ..still so far away! He is very sad to be leaving.
Oh no, just 2 more weeks! Hope he had an amazing time in Japan, and good luck to his new life in Canada! 🙂
Hi Nami! The bento lunch box from Mon Bento is so chic! I love the cutlery that goes with it too! Have a wonderful trip to Japan! I love Yokohama and Kanagawa ken and I am very jealous that you will enjoy five weeks there! I will look forward to hearing about all your adventures there; it will warm me up as it is cold here in Melbourne (Australia). Safe travels to you and your family ^_^
Hi Maybelle! Thank you so much for your kind words! So happy to hear you like Yokohoama and Kanagawa-ken. This last two days have been very nice weather here. Hope you stay warm in Melbourne! 🙂
Oh I wish someone would me preparing such bento for me every day.. 😀 these meatballs sound very yummy!
Packing school lunch is one thing I am glad I won’t have to do in a few weeks when school is over. I don’t know why I find it such a task… maybe because my kids can be so picky and I don’t like when they bring their half eaten lunch home. Of course, if I did these meatballs… I would be the clean plate lunchbox club for my kids. I need try some of your bento strategies next year. I see half of it is being prepared the night before… I’m unusually working it out last minute in the morning. 🙂
Dear Nami, wanted to wish you and your family a wonderful time in Japan – I will be looking at your postings on FB. How wonderful that you are going back home for the summer to visit family and friends!
Onto the bento box – the MonBento line is very sleek, indeed, a very clean and practical design. And I certainly would not mind bringing one of these very lovely bento boxes to work! You do an outstanding job with this series!
Take care, safe travels, lots of great food and a ton of inspiration for future posts!
Great boxes and I really appreciate your attention to detail…the ham flower looks so pretty, the leaf picks are such a nice touch, and that egg is cooked to perfection. How can you not feel the love made from these! Your children are so lucky and I know they will appreciate it even more and more as they grow up and look back at all this. And the chicken meatballs look delicious, as well!
i want that bento box! It could not be cuter and who could resist those meatballs! They look so moist and that sauce! WOW!
Yummy! Am loving you to bits right now – I simply loved the chicken meatballs when I made them and now this lovely lunch! 🙂
Thank you so much for trying the meatball recipe, Sandy! Make a lot and enjoy them next day in lunch box. 🙂
I love the colors! And the ham flower is a super cute touch. =) Now that summer is getting into swing, I bet that there are a lot of vibrant veggies and fruits to brighten up a bento.
Hope you have a wonderful and fun trip—can’t wait to see your posts from Japan!
Hi Kimmi! Thank you so much! The ham flowers are easy to make and they are very cute! As long as you have several colors (of food) to play, the bento will look very nice! 🙂
You certainly inspire me. I must remember this when Asher is older and wanting lunch boxes!
What a cute bento box, I love the colors. This looks delicious!
I love your bento boxes! So colorful and artistically arranged. And I know the contents taste great because you made them! Those meatballs looks terrific — I’d certainly feast on them. Fun post — thanks.
Wow! Love the color combination. No child can resist such a lunch box!
I love bento! O-bento 🙂 Your bento box look very nice and functional. Did you buy those ‘cups'(The wavy divider cups? in the white box.)somewhere else? I didn’t see those at the monbento site. They are not made with paper are they? Reusable, I imagine?
My favorite food for the bento was also the meatball(ハンバーグ）. It was the best!
Well, I would love to be your kids and take those yummy bento box to school!
Wish you have a wonderful trip to Japan! Say ‘Hi’ to Yokohama for me… I miss you, Yokohama~ !!
Hi Ayako! I got those silicone cups from Lunch a Porter and I have these sets.
http://www.lunchaporter.com/products/Silicone-Cups-Oval.html
http://www.lunchaporter.com/products/Silicon-Cups-Flower.html
Thank you so much for your kind words!
A French bento box? Who would have thought. It’s so true that no matter the season, we always seem to be packing lunch boxes. I love the little leaves you poke into your bento boxes. I wouldn’t mind a few of those teriyaki chicken balls right now! xx
Those bento boxes look so cool and cute! I love the blue color you chose, since I would have picked the same thing! Haha. I wish I had some chicken meatball bento for lunch!
I love your Bento posts and pictures, they look so cute, and always make me want to be a kid again.
Have a great week ahead 🙂
I’m planning on picnics and other fun outings once my granddaughter is out of school this year and this is perfect for her. I love how sleek and stylish these bento boxes are. I’d like one for myself!!
Absolutely in love with these gorgeous flavorful bites of glorious chicken! I so need to try this!
Such an adorable and modern bento box, and the fillings look great. Got to try this meatball recipe.
So cute the bento…I can imagine opening it and all the eyes around would be devouring it…great pictures as always.
Hope you are having wonderful week Nami 😀
I love bento box meals – perfect for picnics all summer long!
Nami-san, you always make the most beautiful bento boxes. These monbento boxes look like they hold quite a bit of food and that is a good thing when teenagers are involved. Your teriyaki meatballs make such a delicious addition to their lunches. Enjoy your trip back home and looking forward to seeing some of your instagram photos of your journey. Ja Mata, BAM
Fantastic idea! I love the way you made it look so appealing and delicious, Nami! Wonderful bento for anybody really!
Good-looking bento box, for one. Plus a yummy, healthy and colourful bento meal. i would eat everything in this box!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Hi Nami!
Im back in Italy and my fiancé just got a job in the center of the city which costs a lot for a lunch! Time for me to get bento skills! And I knew just where to go for bento skills!! 😉
Thank u so much!!
Catt xxx
Hi Catt! Congratulations on your fiance’s job and good luck on making bento for him! 🙂
Now that’s a fancy bento box Nami! 🙂 Love all of your boxes and the delicious contents and this one is no exception. Those chicken meatballs looks quite yummy!
why we need to reheat the left over chicken teriyaki meat ball before put in the bento since we need to cool down it before cover?
I discuss about this topic on this post (https://www.justonecookbook.com/food-safety-tips-for-bento/). Basically, you need to reheat the food to kill possible germs (that you don’t see). But you have to let them cool before adding to lunch box because you don’t want to create condensation, which will cause bacteria to grow. Hope that makes sense. 🙂