Ooooh, I love the blue box! Where is the Japan Centre in London? I used to live in Shepherd's Bush. Is that the one down Piccadilly? Did you get all food, or did you get accessories as well?

I'm off today to go back to our Daiso store, I want to poke around some more and see what I find. I'd love to find some of the sauce bottles pointed out by Operator265.

OMG---cute, cute...I have gotta get these...I wonder can kids do okay with these too...I know my girls would love them

I'd really love to do them but living in Cornwall there's nowhere to buy the boxes or any asian foods Plus I'm probably too lazy to do that everyday!

It's the big one on Piccadilly! The Rice Wine Shop and the other Japanese supermarket are on Brewer Street about a 2 minute walk from there!

The box was all I got bento wise, although after having inspected it, I now want the chopsticks to go with it in the lid, and it needs a band to hold the 2 tiers together, but they are both cheap so that's fine!


LucyFM - You could always buy a tupperware box and fill that, I have friends that do it that way and it's working really well for them. As for time it's always good to have a rough idea of what you are going to put in it before you start, dinners leftovers are always a good start!

I think bentos are great for kids, the best website for you I think would be lunchinabox, the woman makes bentos for herself and her kid!

I swear I'll get bento photos up this coming Saturday (week from today). My family will be out then and they'll think I'm weird if I start taking pics of my bentos...

I just got a couple of boxes by SnapWare that are basically "Plastic Bento" at the grocery store a few weeks ago. That is why I got interested and lurking this thread. They are about 6" round. One is divided in half. They snap together and have a lid for the top. I bought two sets and could continue to stack them if needed. The tabs on the sides snap the boxes and the lid together.



I work in a mine and lunch bag it to work, so I don't need anything fancy. I'm loving the food ideas and if I get a job in an office or such, I would love to get some of the ones here.

Sidhe-I had also considered getting some of the mini travel shampoo bottles to use for salad dressing. But, like I said, I'm keeping it simple.

I went down to our Daiso store (I live in San Diego, California) and got a bag of fish-shaped sauce bottles and a bag of 'large' (comparatively) paper-cup-type things for dividing foods. I'll give the fishies a shot--I don't like creamy dressings, so I figure the ones I use should be fine. If not, I'll try others, but I liked the fun of the fish.

Operator, those look great! I'd like to find some like that cheap, but all I've been able to locate around here are expensive! How much were they?

I think they were about $7 at Albertson's. If you found them at Target or Kmart they would probably be cheaper. I'm going grocery shopping in a bit. I'll check then.

Edited to add-They boxes were $5.49 at Albertson's. They also had "sandwich boxes" which were square, about the same size just flatter but didn't have a divided box. I also got a set of 3-3 oz pour and 1-3 oz squirt travel bottles at WalGreen's for $3.

That box looks great, I love the fact that you can add or take away as many tiers as you like!

No bentos for me at the moment, on the weekend I have no use for making them unless it's a special occasion, and today I have had the day off. I'll be making one for tomorrow though, most like tonight because I won't have time in the morning!

I'll update with a picture!

Ooh I am so excited to show you tomorrows lunch, I have to say I think I am the happiest I have ever been with my bentos, this is definitely my best!

Ok so in the usual box for tomorrow we have:



On the top shelf (in the picture!) - the left is a small bit of leek and potato bake, healthy and yummy, with steamed carrots and broccoli, raw yellow peppers cut out over the top!

Bottom shelf - dried mango and dried cherries (so yummy!), paprika tofu and lettuce leaves to fill gaps!

I am so unbelievably happy with how it turned out! Hope you guys like it!

oh my gosh, cuteeeeeeeeee ~
it looks yummy too ~~
And your yellow box is cute ~ everytime i look at it i think it's too cute XD

the past 3 days had been day-off so there was no use to make bentou for me ~ hehe. I'll try to get something up today. Uhm, altho that i think i might have noodle since there's no rice left ^^ (yesterday i ate them all) ~ But we'll see.

*this is my lunch box today. There's pretty much nothing left in my fridge, so that's all i can make
*noodle - instant kind - emergency one haha since yes, there's nothing left T_T
*roll eggs (2 eggs) mixed with meat
*tomatoes sliced into pieces.
*1 hot dog (like usual)
There's no other color besides yellow and red. T__________T"

These might be useful too

http://www.japancentre.com/?cmd=cat&cid=522

http://www.bentobusiness.co.uk/page4.htm

http://www.japanesekitchen.co.uk/bentobox.html

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=697861

Living here in Japan, Bento boxes are almost the norm for the boys and I. I buy the boxes at the 100 yen shop. My boys could never eat PB&J again...