Tips for Making a Kid’s Bento Box Lunch

Miss T wasn’t eating her brown bag lunch at preschool. So, every Friday for the past three years, I volunteered to make a kid’s bento box lunch to whet her appetite.

My strategy: make the food look appealing, pack small portions, and keep it cute! Then, cross your fingers….

Consumption results were mixed. Sometimes Miss T cleaned out her bento box and at other times, she left behind a discouraging amount of food.

Taking it to Instagram

To document the lunches, I began photographing the bentos and posting the photos on Instagram. (Miss T’s preschool teacher was posting them on Facebook.)

Cookbook author friends, on seeing the posts, encouraged me to write a bento book. Although flattered, I always demurred because my lunches were simply variations on a few themes, tailored to Miss T’s narrow tastes as a picky eater.

While not sufficiently cookbook material, it occurred to me that busy parents might use these simple techniques for making a kid’s bento box lunch. So, here are some tips:

My Go-to Bento Box Lunch Choices

Mostly, I rotate just three different menu options: grilled cheese, lightning-fast Japanese noodles with a dipping sauce, and omusubi or onigiri (rice balls) with side dishes.

• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches: I use my panini press but you could also make them in a skillet. Grill the bread until nice and crunchy, cool, and cut into shapes. Sourdough is a good choice.
• Cold Somen Noodles: Boil these almost-instant Japanese noodles about 3 1/2 minutes. Then rinse in cold water, drain, and accompany with readymade Tsuyu dipping sauce (there are several brands), available at Asian markets or online.
• Omusubi or onigiri (rice balls): First, start cooking the Japanese short grain rice on the fast cycle of a rice cooker (about 30 minutes). Meanwhile, get the side dishes ready. When cooked, shape the rice using one of the many adorable molds for rice available.

Cheater’s Tips

Here’s how I create the bento box variations:

• Instead of slices or sticks, use vegetable cutters to cut carrots and cheese slices into flowers, leaves, or other shapes. Use different shapes each time.
• You can turn any food into a personality by sticking on some plastic eye picks.
• Cut grilled cheese sandwiches into interesting pieces, for example, soldiers (strips), or triangles, or use a cookie cutter for hearts, leaves, and other shapes.
• Thread bites of food on skewers—cherry tomatoes, cheese cubes, and ham strips are more inviting when presented as kabobs.
• Use garnishes for appetite appeal, such as a sprig of parsley, an arugula leaf or a flowering herb. Or decorate your bento box with inexpensive Japanese sushi grass.
• Add food picks to dress up the bento box. Animals, flowers, dinosaurs, trains–choose the images that appeal to your child.
• For more kid’s bento box lunch ideas, check out some of my past lunches.

Search for cute kids bento box accessories online or at Japanese import stores. I also check out novelty and gift shops and cookware stores as I travel.

The Bento Lunch Lady is now Retired

This year, Miss T has moved on to another school, where it’s not convenient to stop by at grandma’s to pick up a bento lunch. So, this lunch lady is retired until Master N starts the same preschool next year.

However, for the first day of school, first-grader Miss T, with help from her dad and the book, Cooking Class, made her own bento lunch, so the tradition continues.

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