Packed with ham flowers, 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.
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 the previous night’s leftovers; you just need to follow some basic and simple steps.
How to Pack Bento Boxes
So what do you put in the lunch box?
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!
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.
If you are new to packing lunches and interested in making bento-style lunch, check out How To Make Bento.
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Chicken Meatball Bento
Ingredients
- cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- teriyaki chicken meatballs (leftover)
- flower-shaped ham
- Japanese kani salad (leftover)
- soft or hard-boiled egg (made previous night)
- broccoli (steamed, parboiled previous night)
- cherry tomatoes
- strawberries
- mandarin orange
Instructions
- 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.
