I’m no expert when it comes to preparing lunchboxes or bentos for my kids, and I don’t make fanciful ones like some of the amazing bento makers out there. My bento ideas are usually practical, fuss-free and quick, and involves no dyeing of rice or cutting of nori sheets into different characters, etc. The reason is simple: I am a full-time working mom, and I don’t have the luxury of time (or energy) to create super pretty bentos of Doraemon or Disney princesses. All I have is 15-30 minutes in the morning before I whisk the kids off to their school bus. Top on my priorities is to be able to create lunch boxes that are enticing enough to my kids appearance-wise, healthy and stuff they would actually eat and not throw away. Thankfully, I have interest in this area, otherwise I would never sacrifice 30 minutes of my precious sleep to do all that everyday. Many of my friends ask how early I have to wake up everyday and are surprised to know that I can complete the lunchboxes AND get ready for work myself within such a short time (yes, with makeup and all done too!). Hopefully, these 4 tips I’m going to share with you from my own experience can help you become more efficient too. :)
TIP #1. PLAN, PLAN & PLAN!
I am not going to lie that I wake up every morning and decide on-the-spur what to pack for that day. It’s not possible and not practical. My mind is not even working properly when I wake up at 5.45am! What I do is I plan out my bento meals on a weekly basis, so that I know what food items I need to stock up at home. The night before, I go through in my mind step-by-step what I need to do the next morning once I wake up, so that I waste no time. I plan out which item goes into which appliance, so that everything is cooking concurrently. When the food is being cooked, I cut the fruits, or assemble the nuts and biscuits, etc. Such multi-tasking is only possible with prior detailed planning.
TIP #2: THREE-ITEM FORMULA
I always go for maximum of three items for the bento boxes because the kids don’t have the luxury of time when it comes to meal breaks. Three items cover one main dish (usually carbo – Rice, pasta, noodles etc), a side dish (meat,vegetables, nuts, etc) and fruit or dessert. My kids can usually finish everything in the bento box in 10 minutes, which is the amount of time given to them for meal breaks. I always tell my kids to start with the main dish first, because in case they run out of time, they can always finish up the side dish or fruit/dessert at the end of the school day.
TIP #3: CHOOSE ITEMS THAT CAN BE EATEN COLD
The number one concern of most parents when it comes to packing bento boxes for their kids is whether the food is still edible after a few hours. The truth is, the bento boxes are packed by 6am in the morning, but the kids won’t get to eat it until 3–5 hours later. Not only must the food still be appetizing after that amount of time, it must not turn bad and potentially cause stomach upsets or worse still, food poisoning. This is especially important for Singapore, where the weather is hot and humid, and food tends to go bad easier. I try not to use cheese most of the time, as that’s just about the only item I think has the danger of turning bad, but so far, the kids’ feedback has been positive for dishes with cheese in them. Still, I’ll only use it moderately.
TIP #4: MAKE IT LOOK PRETTY & INTERESTING!
The truth is, most kids are visionary creatures. They get attracted by things that look pretty, colorful and interesting. So, if you want to entice your kids to eat more, beautify your bento by adding colorful picks, animal plastic dividers, nice-looking holders, etc. I started off decorating my kids’ bento boxes because I enjoy doing so. But a week into the school term, Joey came home one day to tell me that her classmates crowd around her every meal break, just to see what her bento looks like that day. It’s sort of something that everyone looks forward to seeing everyday. That of course makes me feel really happy but I was a little concerned whether Joey felt embarrassed by that, so I asked her. She said that she felt really, really proud because of that. In fact, she has been named, “Queen of Lunchbox” by her classmates, which is just hilarious. =P
TIP #5: SAY NO TO WET ITEMS
This might be quite a common-sensical thing, but you’ll be surprised how common this mistake is. Many kids prefer to have sauce or soup in their meals, so dry food items are actually quite tough sometimes. For practical reasons of preventing spillages, either pack only dry items (dry noodles vs soup noodles; rice vs porridge) or make sure that items that have sauces are placed in separate containers covered in cling wrap. I also put my kids’ bento boxes into bento carrier bags I got from Daiso, so that spillages can be minimized. My kids’ bento boxes are kept inside their school bags where all the books are, so this is a very important factor for me. Items with no sauce or soup will also create lesser mess when the kids are eating them.
20 Bento Ideas!
So, at the beginning of this year, I set out to challenge myself to prepare 20 different bentos for my kids, so that I will have a month-long bento menu to repeat every month (There are 20 school days in a month). Having said that, while I try not to repeat the ingredients and items at all, I found myself repeating on some days, though with different configurations, simply because of the many restrictions mentioned in the 4 tips above. Everything must be food that my kids eat, will not turn bad even after several hours and can still look nice and appetizing after some time. It was really a challenge brainstorming every weekend for the new week ahead, but I am glad I did it!
What made it easier for me was all the tools I had at home. I bought 99% of them from Daiso, so you know where to head to when you need to get your bento tools!
Here goes the 20 bentos I made in the first month of school 2016!
Day 1: Spiral pasta in tomato sauce, grapes, cashew nuts, mini snickers bar, oreo wafer, bak kwa
Day 2: Ham & Cheese Toast, mini MILO pack, grapes, oreo wafer
Day 3: Japanese udon tossed in sesame oil, mixed veggies, mushrooms & carrots, cashew nuts, oreo wafer
Day 4: Mini rice balls with nuggets and golden kiwifruits
Day 5: Mushroom omelette, rolled-up ham, boiled prawn dumplings, broccoli & golden kiwifruit
Day 6: Roast chicken pasta aglio olio style, steamed broccoli, cauliflower & carrots and strawberries
Day 7: Angel hair tossed in olive oil, shrimps, cocktail hotdogs with cucumbers, strawberries and mango pudding
Day 8: Hawaiian pizza, bak kwa, cashew nuts, cucumbers & strawberry
Day 9: Stir-fried Mee Tai Mak with prawns and mixed veggies, pineapple tarts & golden kiwifruit
Day 10: Fried rice, steamed prawn dumplings, cucmbers & apple slices
Day 11: Angel hair pasta with ham & prawns, bak kwa & cheese crackers
Day 12: Stir-fried yellow noodles with fishcakes, cherry apples, dried raisins and cranberries
Day 13: Ham & egg sandwich pockets, cookies & ice gems
Day 14: Stir-fried Tang Hoon with prawns, chicken, chinese mushooms & wolfberries, dragonfruit
Day 15: Boiled colorful fusilli, Xiao Long Bao, mandarin oranges and grapes
Day 16: French toasts & dragonfruit
Day 17: Carbonara pasta with prawns, chicken nuggets, guava slices & pistachio nuts
Day 18: Macaroni with prawns and mixed veggies, mini MILO pack & grapes
Day 19: Onigiri with furikake, stir-fried mushrooms with wolfberries & chicken cubes, dragonfruit & mini snickers
Day 20: Pasta in tomato sauce, chicken nuggets & jellybeans
I hope this list of 20 ideas give you some inspiration on what to make for your next bento. Most importantly of all, have lots of fun! :)
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