Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bento Booty

I'm participating in a Bento Challenge at Just Bento , so I decided to take a visual inventory of the boxes. I'd love to learn more about actually filling these things ... hence my participation in the challenge :)

^ My first bento! This cute little rabbit bento was my official reality check on the actual size of bento boxes. Typical American lunches are so huge, I was shocked to find out people in Asia actual find this bitty bento to be a normal lunch size. Capacity 250/250ml.

^ My favorite bento. I love Mink the Monkey! Yes, I'm an almost 32 year old pregnant lady who works in a professional setting, but I'll use my cute monkey bento and like it, dang it! The two-tiers collapse into one for storage. It's awesome for those of us with limited storage space. Capacity 330/250ml.


^ Cute Bunny Bento. Like me, this little bunny loves cherries and white cake. Another two-tier bento from Lube Sheep. Capacity 330/250ml.

^My attempt at a more adult looking bento. I'm not sure I impressed anyone with my maturity level, but it's a practical box minus a cartoon animal. My third two-tier Lube Sheep. Please ignore the fact that the box was upside down when I took this photo. The pregnant brain is a challenging one for a former perfectionist to deal with. Capacity 330/250ml.

^ Grape Bento. I always thought the puti-fresh boxes were adorable and the printed phrase hooked me, "Happy Fruits is very delicious. I will eat this and will become fortunate all together". It's hard to beat a bento with such a wonderful life message about happiness and harmony for all. My fourth two-tier Lube Sheep. Yes, I fully admit to being habitual and predictable. See more on this later. Capacity 330/250ml.

^ My first one-tier bento (also Puti-fresh from Lube Sheep). This is my designated salad bento and it gets used most every week. I need some more boxes like this one! Capacity 450ml.

^ My second bento ever. I purchased this little cutie about the time I got my first rabbit bento. Once again, I was shocked at the small size. The box is great for two-part snacks ... and I'm all about snacks these days. Capacity 350ml.

^ The Snack Bento Trio. I do love my Clickety Click bentos. I couldn't stop at just Mink the Monkey ... or Rhinda the Rabbit. Bobbin the Bear completed the crew. Mink is my favorite, of course, but I love all these guys for snacks or fruit sides. It's not usual for me to use all three of the boxes in one week. Capacity 320ml each.

^ Three-tier Metal Tiffin. I do branch out once in awhile. I admit to not using this tiffin very often, but it's perfect for those days when I have a big veggie salad, a bulky main course, and fruit. The little tin made a perfect cracker container for my first trimester queasies.

^ The Laptop Lunchboxes. My kitchen was graced with the presence of a laptop lunchbox long before I dreamed of owning a bento box. These boxes are so easy to use and make eating a meal with several food groups nearly inevitable. I guess you could fill the entire box with nothing but spaghetti , but why?! That would seem to go against human nature. Four lunchboxes? Yes, four! I'm not sure if I'm an addict, if I fear change, or if I'm just boring, but I'm happy to have all four of these lunchboxes.

^ Mini Cookie Cutters. I have a tin of bitty cookie cutters, but I haven't yet mastered how to use them. *scratches head*
My cabinet also contains a few bento belts and sauce containers, but as with the cutters I'm fairly lost as to how to use accessories. Hopefully, that will come with practice.
(Most of the sources for purchasing this stuff can be found on the sidebar here .)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

OMGoodness - I love the supply of bentos you have & I am SOOOO envious!

VegetusMaximus said...

Thank you :) There aren't any places to buy bentos here, so I've had to order everything online. It takes a lot of self control not to buy more!

Anonymous said...

I found your blog by searching for bento boxes in St. Louis, as I live here as well. Beautiful boxes! I'm just getting into bento and, like you, love getting lost in all the lovely photos of bento on the internet. I've heard that there is an asian market on Olive at FeeFee that carries bento boxes and supplies. I'll be checking it out soon and will let you know if I find anything promising. Glad I found you!