This is your ultimate guide to bento box Lunch! Whether you’re making school lunches for your little ones or work lunches for yourself, this guide will help you plan and pack a healthy and colorful bento. Plenty of tips and tools for you to get started.
These days, bento boxes have become synonymous with lunch boxes. I have seen so many wonderful bento lunch boxes filled with all kinds of food – from American comfort food, Tex-Mex, Indian, Italian to fusion – and it makes me really happy that the bento culture has gone global.
As a Japanese mother, packing bento boxes for my two children is the ultimate act of love. And I believe it is the same no matter your background. In this post, I will share how I make bentos for my children.
Table of Contents
What is Bento?
In Japanese, bento (弁当 bentō) or obento (お弁当 obentō) refers to a compact, nutritiously balanced, visually appealing meal served in a box. We call the bento container “bento-bako” (弁当箱).
Did you know that Japanese bentos are meant to be eaten at room temperature? Because of it, we slightly modified the way we prepare food for bento. Examples include:
- The food tends to be more heavily seasoned with salt or sauce when prepared for bento so it tastes better at room temperature.
- Avoid dishes that may not taste good at room temperature such as Japanese Curry and very fatty meats like pork belly slices. If the food cools and a lot of fat solidifies, it’s not ideal for bento.
- Deep-fried food is reheated in the toaster oven in the morning and allowed to cool completely before being packed into the lunch box. Deep-fried food such as karaage, tempura, and wings are very popular on bento menus and are enjoyed even at room temperature.
Why Should We Make Bento?
There are some great benefits to bringing a bento to school or the office.
- Healthy – If you follow the rule of thumb for bento packing, you naturally have a good portion of carbs, proteins, vegetables, and fruits in your lunch box. As the bento comes in compartmentalized containers, they serve as a helpful reminder of the portion sizes for your meal.
- Economical – Bringing food, or even leftovers, from home is always more economical than spending money at restaurants. In another words, it will save you a lot of money!
- Eco-Friendly – Bento boxes are reusable, which means you can reduce the amount of plastic bags, disposable containers, and waste.
Chapter 1: Bento Boxes and Accessories
In this chapter, we’ll go over different bento box options and helpful tools for bento making.
1. Bento Boxes (Lunch Boxes)
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.
- Japanese character lunch boxes: I brought them back from Japan but you can probably find some on Amazon or online. Bento&Co sells a variety of bento boxes and ships internationally.
- Thermal food jars: I used them for hot food like pasta and grilled cheese sandwiches. After trying several jars over the years, I think Zojirushi jars keep the food warmer than Thermos.
- Zojirushi lunch jars: Kids have used Ms. Bento® Stainless Lunch Jar SL-MEE07 (2 inner bowls) and Ms. Bento® Stainless Lunch Jar SL-NCE09 (3 inner bowls) until they became too busy to eat a full lunch during a short lunch break.
- Stainless steel lunch boxes: Kids still use these Lunchbots containers to bring sandwiches.
- Utensil sets: The sets like this and this are pretty convenient.
- Magewappa (曲げわっぱ): I do not use these wooden bento boxes for my children, but the traditional wooden box makes it a popular choice among adults. You can get it on Amazon and Bento&Co.
2. Bento Accessories
- Silicone cups: The silicone cups are great for keeping wet things away from dry foods and holding loose items like blueberries in one place. Usually, silicone cups come in bright and cheerful colors, which improve the presentation of the bento. They are reusable and come in many different sizes and colors.
- 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.
- Food picks: These picks come in many shapes, patterns, and colors and some are really playful and cute (like my little panda picks)! They are helpful to put small foods together (like meatballs and berries) and also add extra color to your bento. Children are gravitated to eating foods with those picks.
- 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 with foods it’s not meant for.
- After trying different containers, I prefer jar-style containers like this and this with a twist lid so it’s easy to wash.
- For those who prefer a cute soy sauce container, here are animal containers and fish-shaped containers.
Chapter 2: Plan Bento Menus
First, use your creativity to visualize how a bento should look. Bento making doesn’t have to be complicated, and you can start with simple dishes that you are familiar with.
Since I mostly cook Japanese food at home, I mainly focus on packing Japanese dishes.
Tip #1: Prepare 5 Types of Foods
For a Japanese-style bento, we commonly include 5 types of food in the lunch box:
- Carb – Fill up tummy! (rice, yakisoba, yaki udon, fried rice, or mixed rice like the classic takikomi gohan or Japanese corn rice)
- Main (Protein)– Meat, fish, and seafood (karaage, gyoza, bulgogi, teriyaki salmon)
- Sides (Vegetables) – Also, tofu, egg, or mushroom dishes (potato salad, tamagoyaki, green bean gomaae)
- Fillers – Simple yet colorful ingredients to brighten the bento (edamame, blanched broccoli, cherry tomatoes, boiled egg)
- Fruits – In the bento box or in a separate container (berries, grapes, apples)
This will help you assemble a nutritiously balanced meal.
Tip #2: Keep Rainbow Colors in Mind
When making choices about which foods to include in the bento box, choose bold colors to provide visual impact. Echoing doctors’ advice to ‘eat your colors’, colorful vegetables and fruits are often high in nutrients.
If I have similarly colored dishes like broccoli and asparagus, I separate them and place other foods in between to make the bento more visually appealing. Sprinkling colorful furikake (rice seasonings) or garnishing with chopped parsley and green onion adds a nice accent to the overall presentation.
- Red: Tomato, carrot, red radish, bell pepper, apple, grapes, strawberries, plum, raspberries, nectarines, etc.
- Yellow and orange: Corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, bell pepper, orange, lemon, banana, etc.
- Green: Lettuce, cucumber, green onion, edamame, broccoli, spinach, okra, shiso, snap peas, asparagus, parsley, bok choy, green beans, Brussels sprouts, green peas, kiwi, etc.
- 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.
Chapter 3: Meal Prep for Your Bento
Meal prepping can potentially save a lot of time and energy and you can do that with bento-making too. For me, I don’t want to wake up early, so here’s what I do.
Tip #1: Make extra portion (main or side dishes)
I double up the portion especially when I’m making a freezer-friendly dish for dinner. The extras can be reheated and packed in the bento the next day, OR freeze for later use.
Tip #2: Stock up on bento dishes in the freezer and fridge
Whenever I have leftovers, I always freeze them and use them in the bento later. And if I have an extra 5 minutes in the kitchen, I blanch vegetables and freeze them (like broccoli), which I will use as bento fillers.
👉🏻 Here is the tutorial on How to Freeze Food for Bento.
- You can purchase these silicone cups and mini ones, and I also use these meal-prep glass containers and love them!
- Make sure to date the container so you can keep track of which food to use sooner. In general, food lasts 2-4 weeks in the freezer.
👉🏻 I have a list of Freezer-Friendly Bento Dishes that you can bookmark. 🔖
If you don’t have a big freezer space, you can also use your fridge to store some of the meal prep-friendly dishes and leftovers.
Tip #3: Plan Ahead
I know, for some people including myself, “planning ahead” can be hard. But trust me, planning actually helps you save time and money in the long run, and you will always be more prepared despite the busy schedule.
Allocate 15-30 minutes of your time during the week; figure out what you have in the refrigerator, what you will be cooking throughout the week, and what you will need from the 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.
Chapter 4: Pack Bento in the Morning
When you wake up in the morning, here’s what we do:
- Reheat the frozen food and prepare the food you were planning to cook (read Chapter 5 below if you are not sure why we reheat the food).
- Hot food should be packed immediately if you’re using a thermal lunch jar.
- Otherwise, let the hot food cool and then pack it into a non-thermal bento box.
- Add the fillers and do the rainbow color check!
How To Pack Food in the Bento Box
- Put carbs: I usually fill 1/2 of the bento box with carbs. Of course, you can pack brown rice, pasta, wraps, sandwiches, bread, etc instead of white rice.
- Put main dish (protein): 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.
- Put side dishes (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.
Bento Packing Tips
- Pack from big to small dishes: The main dish tends to be bulky, so pack that first in the bento box. Then, add smaller and flexible-shaped side dishes in a silicone cup in the remaining spaces. Any gap can be filled with vegetable “fillers” such as a cherry tomato and blanched broccoli. These fillers prevent the food from shifting inside the box.
- Pack the food tightly: It helps 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 from bulky food and in the following order.
- Remove cooking liquid: Always drain sauce/dressing before packing it into the bento box. If you like to add some sauce, put it on top of shredded cabbage/lettuce and put food on top to avoid spilling. You can also use a sauce container and pour it at mealtime. Also, the liquid could spoil the food faster, so it’s best for food safety as well.
Watch the Video Tutorial on How to Pack Bento
Chapter 5: Food Safety Tips
Food safety is important when it comes to bento making. Remember to wash your hands and use clean utensils when you handle the food. I highly recommend re-heating the food before packing and cooling down the food completely before closing the bento. And don’t forget to keep ice packs in a lunch bag!
I have a blog post on Food Safety Tips for Bento. And if you’re new to making bento, I highly encourage you to check out this post.
Chapter 6: 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 more economical than eating out. But above all, I want to brighten my children’s day with colorful and cheerful bento. They look forward to their lunchtime, just like how I used to look forward to my mom’s homemade bento. It only requires a little bit of time and effort to make the bento once you get used to making the bento.
I also hope this Japanese bento culture and technique will improve your eating habits to stay healthy and make everyone’s lunchtime more fun. Good luck!
Useful Bento Resources on JOC
Basics
- The Ultimate Guide to Bento Box Lunch
- Food Safety Tips For Bento
- Frequently Asked Questions About Bento – Check this post if your question hasn’t been answered.
Helpful Tips
- How to Pack Bento in 15 Minutes
- How To Freeze Food for Bento
- Meal Prep Freezer-Friendly Bento Dishes
- Meal Prep Bento Recipes Ideas: 3 Dollar Bento Challenge
Menu Ideas
- Bento Menus for Inspiration
- Back to School Easy Bento Box Ideas
- Back to School Easy Bento Ideas & Recipes
- How to Make Cute Bento (Video)
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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!
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!! 🙂
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!
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!
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. 🙂
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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. 🙂
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!
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 🙂
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 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. 🙂
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). 🙂
Great post! Congrats on the new video-it was so helpful to visualize all the steps!
Thank you so much Kim! xoxo