Have fun packing lunches with my comprehensive guide on How To Make Bento Boxes! Whether you’re making school lunches for your little ones or work lunches for yourself, bento boxes help you plan and pack a healthy and colorful meal. Plenty of tips and tools here for you to get started.
Many of Just One Cookbook readers have asked me to write a post about how to make bento since last year. I was hesitant at first because bento making is not something I specialized in, and there are so many great bento blogs out there that feature elaborate bentos that I wish to have for my lunch.
However, I continue to receive requests from readers so I’ve decided to share how I make everyday bentos (not a fancy one!) for my children.
I also included my very first video in this post! 🙂
Watch Video Tutorial on How to Make Bento (お弁当の作り方)
Here are some helpful tips and tools on how to make healthy and colorful Bento Boxes!
Useful Tips & Tools on Packing Bento Boxes
I grew up eating mom’s homemade bento in school, and I even help packed my brother’s and my own bento in the morning with my mom when I was in high school (I was actually a morning person decades ago). My mom taught me the basic bento rule of thumb and I still follow the same guideline, which I will show you in this post.
For your information, I make bento that can be all consumed in 10 minutes by my 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.
This bento post is to show you some ideas and tips that may be helpful for you to pack homemade lunches in a bento box. I’ll also talk about the food safety for bento packing and some of the side dishes you can pack for bento. Food does NOT have to be Japanese food. You can pack your own meals in the bento box based on the guidelines below. Also, please adjust your bento box size and amount of food you put according to your needs.
Now let’s begin!
What You Need:
1. Bento Box (Lunch Box)
It doesn’t have to be a Japanese bento box. You will need some sort of container or lunch box to put your food in. I use thermal lunch boxes for warm food like pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches.
I also find it convenient when an ice pack is already attached to the bento box lid to keep food safe (read more about food safety tips for bento here).
2. Silicone Cups
The silicone cups are great for keeping wet things away from dry things and holding loose items like blueberries in one place. Usually, silicone cups come in bright and cheerful colors which improves the presentation for bento. They are reusable and come in many different sizes and colors.
3. Dividers
The silicone dividers come in bright colors to improve the presentation for the bento and they help separate one food from the other without mixing up the flavors. You can also use edible separators such as lettuce, shiso leaves, cucumber slices, etc.
4. Colorful Picks
The picks come in many shapes, patterns, and colors and some picks are really playful and cute (like my little panda picks below)! They are helpful to put small foods together (like meatballs and berries) and also add extra color to your bento. Children are more likely to become interested in eating foods with those picks.
5. Sauce Containers
The sauce containers help you store the sauce separately so that the food will stay dry until lunchtime. It’s not so pleasant when the sauce ends up getting mixed up with foods it’s not meant for.
Bento Making Rules of Thumb:
Now that you have a bento box ready, let’s go over the basic rule of thumb on bento making!
Rule 1: Divide the Meal Proportionally
Dividing the meal proportionally will help you assemble a nutritiously balanced meal. It should at least have 4 types of food: carbs (carbohydrates), proteins, vegetables, and fruits. Be conscious about what types of foods to put in bento box when you are packing lunch.
My children’s bento ratio is 4 : 2 : 1 : 1 (4 parts carbs : 2 parts proteins : 1 part vegetables : 1 part fruits). I sometimes pack 2 parts of veggies inside the bento (skip fruit section) and prepare a separate container just for fruits.
Rule 2: Keep in Mind to Add Colors
When making choices of which foods to include in the bento box, choose bold colors to provide visual impact. Not only do colorful vegetables and fruits add beautiful colors, but they are often the healthiest.
If I have similarly colored dishes like broccoli and asparagus, I separate them and put other foods in between to make the bento more visually appealing. Sprinkling colorful furikake (rice seasonings) or garnishing with chopped parsley and green onion gives nice accents to the overall presentation.
1. Red
Tomato, carrot, red radish, bell pepper, apple, grapes, strawberries, plum, raspberries, nectarines, etc.
2. Yellow & Orange
Corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, bell pepper, orange, lemon, banana, etc.
3. Green
Lettuce, cucumber, green onion, edamame, broccoli, spinach, okra, shiso, snap peas, asparagus, parsley, bok choy, green beans, Brussels sprouts, green peas, kiwi, etc.
4. White, Black, and Brown
Daikon radish, potato, onion, lotus root, enoki mushroom, white sesame seeds, blueberries, shiitake mushroom, gobo (burdock root), wakame (dried seaweed), nori (dried seaweed sheet), hijiki (dried seaweed), black sesame seeds, etc.
Rule 3: Pack the Foods Tightly
It’s important to pack the foods tightly to prevent the food from shifting in the bento box. You don’t want to see messy bento when you (or your children) open the bento box at lunchtime. Try packing in the following order.
- Pack pre-shaped or bulky food first.
- Then put more flexible-shape food in remaining spaces.
- Finally, add some small accent food like cherry tomatoes and steamed broccoli to fill in the small gaps to prevent from shifting.
Now Let’s Pack Bento!
Step 1: Put Carbs
I usually fill 1/2 of the bento box with carbs. Of course, you can pack brown rice, pasta, wraps, sandwich, bread, etc instead of white rice.
Step 2: Put Proteins
Any kind of beef, chicken, pork, tofu, beans, eggs, or other protein sources can be packed in 1/4 of the bento box. If possible, add 2 kinds of protein dishes in the spot.
Step 3: Put Vegetables and Fruits
Vegetables and fruits should be filled up in the remaining 1/4 of the bento box. Packing at least 2 kinds of vegetable dishes is ideal. If you have more vegetable dishes, pack the fruits in a separate container.
5 Helpful Tips
Now how can you improve your bento making? Here are some helpful tips to make a tastier bento quickly!
Tip 1: Use Pre-Cooked Meals to Save Time
If you want to pack bento quickly, use leftovers from previous dinner and a stash of frozen precooked meals. When I make bento-friendly menus, I always make a big batch of food, reserve a portion or two for that week, then freeze individual portions for later use. All I need to do in the morning is to re-heat pre-portioned food and pack into the bento. If you really want to make things easy, you can also pre-cut fresh veggies and fruits, cook a big batch of rice, and make many other dishes ahead of time.
Tip 2: Keep Dry Foods Dry
To make sure not to spoil foods easily, separate wet foods from dry foods to keep them from getting soggy and unappetizing. Always drain sauce/dressing before packing into the bento box. If you like to add some sauce, put on top of shredded cabbage/lettuce and put the food on top to avoid from spilling. You can also use a sauce container and pour it at mealtime.
Tip 3: Use Different Texture and Flavors
Eating different texture and flavor of foods will increase more appetite. If the main dish is seasoned with a soy sauce base, avoid adding other similar flavor dish and try putting refreshing veggies instead.
Also, keep in mind that food at room temperature tastes better when the food has more flavor. Use extra seasoning for bento portion or make the sauce more concentrated before taking away for bento portion.
Tip 4: Reheat and Cool Down Food Completely
Food safety is especially important for bento. Always remember to wash your hands and use clean utensils when you touch food. I highly recommend you to re-heat the food before packing, and cool down the food completely before closing the bento. And don’t forget to keep ice packs in a lunch bag! To read more about Food Safety Tips for Bento, click HERE.
Tip 5: Plan Ahead
I know, for some people including myself, “planning ahead” can be hard. But once you get the hang of it, planning actually helps you save time and money, and you will always be more prepared despite your busy schedule.
You just need to take 15-30 minutes of your time during the week and figure out what you have in the refrigerator, what you will be cooking throughout the week, and what you will need from grocery stores.
A friend of mine in Japan uses a meal planner to organize her dinner and bento menus. I adapted hers and made a simplified Bento Calendar. With this calendar, you can visually plan out your weekly dinners and bento menus. If you would like a copy, please click HERE.
Final Thoughts
Honestly speaking, packing bento does take longer than packing a sandwich and it’s more work than eating out. Why do we go through extra steps when our life is already busy?
I believe bento is much healthier overall and it’s less expensive than eating out. But most of all, I want to brighten my children’s day with colorful, cute bento. They look forward to their lunchtime, just like how I used to look forward to my mom’s homemade bento. And it only requires a little bit of time and effort to make bento once you get used to making bento.
I also hope this Japanese bento culture and technique will improve your eating habit to stay healthy and make everyone’s lunchtime more fun. Thank you for reading!
Great post! Congrats on the new video-it was so helpful to visualize all the steps!
Thank you so much Kim! xoxo
Wow!! I think your children are sooooo lucky!! Great tutorial and more important great mum!
Thank you for your sweet comment, Lara! Hope they can make great bento for their children one day (or am I thinking too ahead? hehe). 🙂
I always like your recipes, they are very well explained and I get to learn new ideas and tricks everytime. I really like the useful bento resources this time, the tricks that I picked up for sure will make my life easier.
Thank you so much for following my blog, Denise! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this tutorial post. 🙂
Your bento meals look so cheerful, fresh and pretty. 🙂 What a contrast with the packaged foods, snacks and drinks the grocery stores advertise as proper fare for school children!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m happy to hear you like them. 🙂
I’m behind the curve with seeing this post, but wanted to drop a note and say that it’s fantastic!! The tips, photos, and video are wonderful. =) I know how long it can take to make videos, so I really appreciate you putting the time into helping us learn how to make beautiful bentos as you do.
Thank you so much for your kind words! It was a lot of work, but was also a great learning experience for future video making. 🙂 Have a nice day Kimmi! xo 🙂
Hi! I have a few questiosn, mainly regarding with timing and organization, my schedule is a bit hectic, usually my day goes from 7:00 am to 2:00/3:00 am, as you can see, there´s no much time for cooking in the morning, barely I can prepare myself for breakfast a sandwich, a bottle of yogurth, a small pack of juice, and sometimes half an apple (the whole apple is way too much for me), my concerning is dinner (for us, dinner, our strongest meal is around 2:00 pm), late last year I had a gallbladder surgery, the inflammation process (a very severe one) detonated in me diabethes mellitus type II, which I had a 75% chance to develop in case my health deteriorated, and it did, not the usual way (overweight), but it did, I have not (and I hadn´t) overweight, I don´t drink heavely, actually I drank too little, I don´t smoke, so my case is kind of particular; short story, I need to observe my meals for those two causes, digestion and DM II, specially dinner, in your experience how should organize myself in order to take bento to workplace?, a very healthy option as I can realize? how good is to prepare sushi in several hours anticipation? seaweed wouldn´t turn gummy? cooking and schedule don´t seem to get along too well, so I´ll appreciate your experience, thanks in advance! 🙂
Hi Sergio! First of all, sushi is not something you usually pack in lunch unless you know how to keep it cold and safe. If you don’t have much time to pack in the morning, you can pack your lunch before you go to bed (or after your dinner to pack the leftover). I usually pack leftover to save time, and don’t make something new unless I have to. However, you need to keep it in refregerator and need to pick the food that works. For example, soup may not be a good idea as you can’t keep it warm till your lunch time. Well, that also depends if you have a microwave at your work, etc. There are too many factors involved, and it’s a bit hard to discuss without knowing your lifestyle and health condition. If you want to discuss further, please email me. We can talk about it one topic at a time? 🙂
Hi Nami! of course I will email you, thanx for your comments!
Finally I have an idea, how to make bentos 🙂 Now I’m taking bento lunch with me to work, thank you very much!!!
Hi Lea! Glad this post was helpful. It’s just a guideline to start. if you have any question, let me know. 🙂
Love this guide! It’s so helpful. I hope to start to make my own colorful bentos soon! I just need a little practice. I have a few questions if you don’t mind me asking: would you recommend to reheat leftover rice before packing it? About how long does it usually take to completely cool down food? And I love eggs, but I’m most paranoid about leaving those unrefridgerated for tbat long… I swe that you also pack eggs for your children so it should be fine after cooking it and letting cool down?
Thanks so much!
Hi Mallory! Thank you so much. I wish I could put more information, but maybe next time… 🙂 With practice, it’ll get easier to pack bento for sure. Here’re my answers to your question.
1) I always do. Even though you have to let it cool again. It’s just my habit from making bento in Japan… we always reheat (except for some food). Most of time, I freeze rice on previous day (even though I use it the following day – it tastes much better and keep the moisture in!). So I have to reheat it. However, if you are going to keep your bento cool till lunch time, you can just pack cold rice into bento box and keep it cool till lunch time.
2) It depends on season and how I cool down… but maybe 30 minutes? I make bento first before preparing breakfast. I pack up everything right before I leave the house with kids. So it can be a little bit longer than 30. If I don’t have time, I use ice pack. I put bento on top of ice pack to let it cool quickly.
3) Egg is okay if it’s cooked. For example, I won’t let my kids eat leftover bento when they come home… the food should be consumed by lunch time, especially if it wasn’t refrigerated all the time. I include ice packs too, but I don’t think it’s VERY cold when they open their lunch bag…
Hope this helps! 🙂
This is such wonderful inspiration! I am a teacher and one of my students always has the most wonderful and delicious-looking bento lunches and I could never figure out what the foods were. This post helps tremendously in my search for more delicious and healthy lunches for myself! In the “Step 1: Put Carbs” picture, the seasoning on the rice looks incredibly scrumptious. What is it? Thank you for all these good tips!
Hi Jane! Thank you so much for your comment! Bento is great for a lot of good health reasons and I hope you find my bento posts helpful.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/categories/by-type/bento-lunch-box/
The things on top of rice is called “furikake” (Japanese rice seasoning) and most of Asian stores should carry several kinds.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/furikake-rice-seasonings/
Here are some available on Amazon.
http://goo.gl/4BpONB
Hope this helps! 🙂
Hey! I am considering trying my hand at bento making, again. The first time I didn’t have your specs on making it look so pretty! Thank you for that.
Also I wanted to ask what is the seasoning you put on the rice on the left side of the picture. A friend of mine brought a bento to school with something similar and said it was Asian seasoning….
Hi Ames! The sprinkles on the rice is called “Furikake” (Japanese rice seasonings) and it looks like this. HOpe this helps!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/furikake/
Good luck with bento making! 🙂
Your blog has some of the nicest Bento examples! Hope you keep it up with more ideas.
I just started making Bento boxes and I’m wondering what do you do with the excess food? For example, after you cut out a sandwich with a cookie cutter, what can one do with all those little bits leftover?
Hi Ella! Thank you so much for your kind words! Well, I usually eat leftover pieces if I can’t find any other use for bento or regular meals. I don’t normally make character bento so I rarely have extra food left. Hope that helps. Feel free to ask me if you have a specific food leftover for ideas. 🙂
This was really helpful. Thank you. I have a question, how would you pack soups or more liquid type meals?
Hi Bernadette! Thank you so much for reading my post! I sometimes pack miso soup in Thermos food jar. To keep it warm, I usually pour hot (boiling) water once and wait for 2 minutes. Discard and pour boiling water again and keep it for 2-3 minutes and discard. Immediately pour hot miso soup and close. My kids say it’s still warm at lunch time. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Thermos food jar: http://www.thermos.com/product_catalog.aspx?CatCode=FOOD
Thank you so much! I’ll put this information to good use!
Hello Nami,
I like your bento recipes. It gives me better direction in preparing bentos. Something my mum never taught me and something my children would appreciate in their lunchbox while in school … Looking forward to great recipes from you. Thumbs-up from me!
Iris
Hi Iris! Thank you for reading this post. I hope it was helpful to start making bento. 🙂 Thank you for your kind support!
Hi Nami-san,
I loved how you explained the bento-making process with all important tips! It will help me explain it to my friends here in the US.
Thank you!
Hi Junko-san! Thank you so much for your comment. I’m happy to hear you liked my tutorial and hope your friends find it helpful as well. Thank you!! 🙂
I really like to make gyudon for dinner but I’m nto sure what the best way to pack the left overs in my bento would be. I noticed above you mention keeping sauces and wet food away from dry food. Is it ok to just put my meat on my rice in the morning or should I place it on the rice once I go to eat it?
Hi Caitlin! Gyudon is great for bento! First of all, what kind of bento box are you using? If it’s like Thermos (thermal jar type), you can put hot rice and hot gyudon on top (I’d even pour a bit of sauce). If your bento box is a flat, typical bento box, then I’d avoid the sauce, especially if you have other ingredients packed inside. The sauce could move to other ingredients too. So You would put rice, then meat on top. Or, you could keep the rice separate from the meat. When you eat, you can eat separately or put it on top while you eat… It’s up to you how you like it. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hey Nami, this is really cool. I’ve always wanted to know how to make one of these mostly for myself though I can share this with my family. This is helpful to me so now I can make one of these for my niece. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Hi Jess! I’m so glad to hear this post was helpful! Thank you for reading my blog, and good luck with making bento! 🙂
Can I ask during the cooling down of food, do I leave it fully or partially exposed to air?
Hi Elaine! It depends – If I leave it out for a longer time, I usually cover half way and let it cool. I don’t want other foods to be dried out so that’s why I cover partially. However, I always remove the condensation from the lid before closing. Depending on your food/menu in the bento, you can remove the lid completely and let it cool down. 🙂
Good evening. I just came across this site. I love how you prepare the bento lunch boxes! I am new to this and was wondering where you purchased your bento box listed in the photos with the coordinating dividers as well as the accessories. I have a 4 year old little girl who will be going to pre-k in August and I am adamant about learning on how to prepare these delicious meals for her. Do you have toddler friendly recipes that do not contain any sort of nuts? Her school does not allow me to pack her any nuts, hot dogs, grapes.
Desperately seeking advise and directions on how to begin this journey.
Hi Aimee! Welcome to my blog! I hope your daughter will enjoy bringing bento box! Most of my recipes don’t include nuts and I hope you find some recipes for making bento! Will continue making and sharing bento recipes in the future. 🙂
I have a question regarding the Packing of the bento boxes, say my boxes do not have sections it is just stackable “single serve” how would I pack these.. for example should I pack the “hot”/ “room temp” foods on the bottom and “cold” foods on top or vice versa. thanks..
Hi Angela! Yes, I recommend to separate cold items from warm ones. Ideally, you want to pack into the bento when the food is cooler – you can put the hot food in silicone mold, and keep it out until it cools down (plus, cool faster). I still keep it far away from the cold food. In between, you can put cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli, or something that doesn’t go bad by the heat. Hope this helps!
Wow! This is so helpful! I’ve been wanting to prepare my own lunches to save time and money (so I don’t have to get take-out at work) and this system you have looks very good! I’m going to try this for myself! ^-^
May I ask you a question about bento boxes? I was thinking of getting either a steel or wooden one for myself (I don’t like plastic), but was concerned about how they wear over time. Do you have any insights about this? Have you used a wooden bento box? Or steel? Please let me know what you think, as I don’t have any experience with bento boxes, so I really don’t know which would be better.
Thank you very much! ^-^
HI Oleander! If you don’t like plastic, then I’d use stainless steel one like LunchBots. You can wash in a dishwasher too! 🙂
http://www.lunchbots.com/
Hi,
loving your share!!!
I’m from Singapore and I learning prepare lunch box for my children. our culture love to eat foods hot.
can I put my prepared bento in thermal lunch bag instead of keep it cold?
if ok to keep the food in thermal bag to keep warm, when should I pack my food in lunch box (warm or hot)?
thanks in advance.
Thank you Lynette! You can use thermal lunch jar, BUT my children always say the food is lukewarm or “warm” instead of hot in the jar. I guess that’s the best I could do as I prepare in the morning before they go to school. I put hot water in the jar right before I put hot food, too, but it just doesn’t keep hot that long… 🙂
Hi there Nami,
I’d like to thank you for this wonderful post. I’m really having a hard time on making my sister eat healthy foods and perhaps I should consider making her Bento everyday. I am pretty sure this will work for her. Thank you again!
Hi Gean! Thank you for reading this post! Bento is a wonderful way to control the portion of food and to see what goes into the meal as you see everything in the little box. More conscious about what goes into the box. 🙂 Hope your sister will enjoy your bento! 🙂
Hi, I’ve just got to find your website and it’s amazing;beautiful pictures,good and step by step recipes.
Hi Sera! Thank you! I hope you enjoy cooking from my recipes. 🙂
Can I put Curry and rice in the carbs section? And can I pour the curry on top of the rice before I go to school?
Hi ユスラー! You definitely can. If you prefer to eat hot or warm curry, you might need to consider the option of putting curry rice. Can you microwave before eating? Does your thermo keep the food warm enough (if not microwaving the food) etc. Some Japanese pack curry rice for lunch, but sometimes depending on fat content of the curry, it might become solidified and you may want to microwave so it becomes nice sauce instead of solid. So it really depends how you bring the bento and how you heat it. For example, my curry loving kids prefer not to bring curry to school because their thermo can’t keep it hot or warm enough till their lunch time. I hope this helps!
I have a question about the rice. I make a bento the night before and then went on a picnic the next day. How do I make sure the rice isn’t hard? The same for onigiri? Thank you!
Hi Veronica! Rice always gets hard when you put in the refrigerator. One tip I can suggest is to wrap with towels so the bento doesn’t get too cold but still safe temperature for food. Same for Onigiri. I always heat up rice in the morning and then pack… 🙂
thank you for these ideas. My youngest daughter and I saw a show about bento and she was very excited. She wants bento box lunches for school now. She has only been interested in sandwiches until now.
Hi Fawn! Thank you for reading my post! Hope you enjoy making bento for your daughter! 🙂
I usually bring my own lunch but my food is hard to make into bento because I’m eating low carb style. Would it still be possible to make it into bento style? It’s true that bento always makes the food looks more delicious because of the presentation 🙂
Hi Jos! Sure, I’m pretty sure you can. 🙂 I’m not sure what type of foods you normally eat (or would like to pack), but use a bento box with dividers or silicone mold to make a few divisions so everything won’t mixed up. Tightly pack is another trick so you won’t be disappointed when you open the bento at lunch (and see everything mixed up). 🙂
Hi Nami-san,
As for my low carb food, for sure the ratio would be veggies | protein | carb 4: 2: 1 LOL..it’s a total opposite of the traditional Japanese bento which majority of the food group is carb 😀
Hi Jos! Yes, the rice gets the biggest part in bento usually. 🙂
Do you have any links for some of the bento boxes and where to purchase them. I have a hard time finding them around where I live. Thank you!
Hi Stevie! I know some….
https://en.bentoandco.com/
https://www.bentousa.com/
https://www.lunchaporter.com/en/
This looks great and very healthy, but I’ll never make one. I’m too lazy. If I had a chef, I’d eat this every day and lose 200 pounds.
Hi RockyHeart! Haha, yeah it requires some time to make. Japanese grocery stores sell bento if you live nearby one. 🙂
Made my first bento for my husband using this guide last week. Great tips! I’m now going to try to make one once a week. Yay for Bento Thursdays!
Hi Missy! That’s wonderful! I love your Bento Thursdays! I’d love to keep sharing more bento recipes on the blog in the future (even though I make bento everyday for the kids). Your weekly bento decision inspired me! 🙂
This is super adorable! I’m not a good cook but I think I can do it if I follow these instructions because the picture is very clear and easy to follow.
Thank you so much for your kind words. Start making changes slowly so it’s not overwhelming. 🙂 Having many colors in bento helps the look (instead of all one color or few colors). 🙂
I’m living in Japan but my kanji reading skills are a little lacking, which makes recipes and shopping a stressful experience! Your English recipes for traditional Japanese cuisine have made a huge difference in how I live here! It means a lot to me to be able to cook and eat like my coworkers and friends. I’m also living on a budget, so the fact you use all the ingredients that are in season and in my nearest grocery store makes things infinitely easier. Lastly, the fact this repository of Japanese cooking is free online absolutely blows my mind. It means everything to me, so thank you so much! Me and my bento box thank you!
おつかれさまです！
Hi Mellie! Thank you so much for your kind words and I’m really happy to hear JOC has been very helpful. Hope you continue to enjoy cooking Japanese food in Japan! 🙂 どうもありがとう！！
I’m going to be making bento instead of eating the schools food for the upcoming school year so this was really helpful!
My only question is what if you don’t have a asian grocer in your area?
Hi Emma! I’m glad this was helpful! Well, it depends on what you want to cook and pack… it doesn’t have to be Japanese food. These days Amazon is great for shopping for some Asian ingredients, too. 🙂