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Home » Recipes » Lunch » 2 Fun And Easy Bento Lunches

2 Fun And Easy Bento Lunches

December 21, 2017 by Crystal McClean

2 fun and easy bento box lunches at Castle View Academy homeschool

Bento box lunches don’t have to be time consuming and difficult: we’ve put together two fun and easy lunches for you to try.  Many thanks to Sous Chef who kindly sent us some fun items to keep everyone in the family happy.

2 fun and easy bento lunches at Castle View Academy homeschool

Hinomaru Bento

Hinomaru is the name of the Japanese flag, and this lunch is the easiest ever to make!  Traditionally, the Hinomaru bento is a bed of rice topped in the centre with a red pickled plum, called umeboshi.  However, umeboshi are not always easy to find, and not always to everyone’s liking.  We like to use what we have on hand when we can, so we’ve come up with an easy alternative!  Instead of an umeboshi, simply top your rice with a plum tomato.  You don’t even need to slice it; just simply nestle it into a dip in the centre of your cold Japanese rice.

Japan flag bento at Castle View Academy homeschool

One can’t live on rice alone, so we’ve added in some extra veggies: more plum tomatoes, some snap peas, and a nice helping of tinned sweet corn brings some lovely colour to this box.  I’ve used some silicon muffin cups to hold the veggies, but you can purchase some beautiful bento liners or leave your veggies loose if you so desire.

Emoji Bento

Some days all you need is a little smile to put you in a good mood; an emoji bento could be just the thing!

Emoji Bento at Castle View Academy homeschool

We filled one layer of the bento box with rice, then used okazu food cutters to cut some fun shapes from bell peppers; an oval and a shrimp shape.  Then using the little face cutters, we cut some features from cheese for the shrimp, and a pepper for the oval and arranged them into little cheeky characters.  How could you not smile when you open this cute lunch box?  The second layer of the box we filled with plum tomatoes, snap peas, and more bell peppers cut into strips.  We added a little soy sauce and salad dressing in some bento condiment containers.

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Enjoying a fun bento lunch at Castle View Academy homeschool

These bento lunches hardly took any time to make; I just made up the rice the night before, making extra when cooking dinner.  Then the kids helped cut up the veggies; they feel very special helping to make a lunch for Daddy to take to work!  But today, Kalllista enjoyed the emoji bento!

Sous Chef

Bento box on the go with Castle View Academy homeschool

Sous Chef has just about everything you could think of when it comes to cooking supplies, particularly Japanese bento boxes in all shapes, designs, and sizes!  Our bento box is a Sakeya, a  sake shop!  It’s a fun shape, and adult enough for adults to use for work; and if the kids use it no one is likely to know specifically what type of shop it is unless they can read Japanese.  This bento box has two full-sized layers, and in the ‘attic space’ you can either add something small, or use the included cool pack.  Hold everything together with the elastic band that comes with it.  Doesn’t it look beautiful by the sea?

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Fun Sous Chef products at Castle View Academy homeschool

The okazu food cutters we used are in the photo above; still in their package so you can see them all neat and tidy (We now keep them in a plastic box so they stay tidy in our kitchen cupboard).  You can create lots of different characters with this set!  And the tweezers come in very handy for picking up some of those small facial features.

Sous Chef also has some fun accessories that aren’t specifically for the kitchen….like these kids sushi socks.  They come all nicely rolled up looking like sushi, but unroll them and the kids can wear some groovy socks!  Pay attention to how you’ve unrolled them and they can be re-rolled again to sit lovely in the dresser drawer, too.  Don’t worry, it isn’t very difficult; my children are able to do it!  I wish I had smaller feet so I could wear these!  One pair is shrimp, and the other futomaki.

Fun sushi socks from Sous Chef at Castle View Academy homeschool

 

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CVA Disclaimer

Filed Under: Asian Cultures, Fun Food, Homeschool Reviews, Lunch Tagged With: Bento, Japan, Japanese Food, Rice, Vegetables

About Crystal McClean

I am a Mom, Wife, Home Educator, and Virtual Assistant. We love to have fun together while learning and exploring our environment.

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Comments

  1. Leila Benhamida says

    December 21, 2017 at 10:05 am

    I love the The okazu food cutters. Very practical.

  2. Lisa Williams says

    December 21, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    I have never tried a Bento box item but I absolutely love those cute kids socks!

  3. Linda Szymoniak says

    December 26, 2017 at 4:11 am

    I love the various shaped molds available for making onigiri. I have the basic shapes, plus hearts, and even a panda face (with a cutter for making nori sheets into the face design)

  4. Mia White says

    December 29, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    Okay, these are SOOOO darling– what a cute idea! I especially like how you used the silicone cupcake holders as separators, quite clever. My kids love Bento boxes, and these types of foods are basically what my son takes along for lunch in Kindergarten each day. Thanks for the inspiration in making them a little more fun!

  5. Helga says

    January 2, 2018 at 4:19 pm

    We had bento boxes on the trains in Japan and I liked the ones with sushi the best!

  6. Karley Moore says

    January 6, 2018 at 1:52 pm

    I love Bento boxes! I love all the cookie cutters and animal shaped containers that make lunch so much fun!

  7. Abby Allen says

    January 6, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    I’ve never tried a bento box but I’d be excited to try!

  8. Stacey says

    January 7, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    I love the bent o box.

  9. Sarah P says

    January 8, 2018 at 2:03 pm

    My favorite bento box items are the rice & pickled veggies.

    • Crystal McClean says

      January 8, 2018 at 8:20 pm

      Pickled veg are great in a bento!

  10. Darlene Owen says

    January 8, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    I love the 14″ Deep Roasting Dish

  11. Rhonda Fuller says

    January 9, 2018 at 3:06 am

    I have never tried this but i would love to!

  12. Darcy L Koch says

    January 9, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    I like the sushi socks. I wear different socks that aren’t well known.

  13. LeAnn Harbert says

    January 10, 2018 at 12:53 am

    I like the lunch Bento Box.

  14. debbie wilson says

    January 10, 2018 at 4:35 am

    Deep Roasting Pan Cook About 5 Days A Week More Healthy Cooking The New YEAR THANKS 4 The Opportunity 2 Win 111

  15. Natalie says

    January 10, 2018 at 10:59 am

    I love the little containers for portion control .and the cute animal prints .

  16. Fiona N says

    January 10, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    I love the double-stacked bento box 🙂
    Thank You for the chance!

  17. Ashley F says

    January 10, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    I love the food cutters! Anything to make eating more fun and appealing to the kids!!

  18. Dawn Monroe says

    January 10, 2018 at 4:51 pm

    Im new to Bento but Ive heard great things from my sister in law and now your post.

  19. Trisha Carlson says

    January 10, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    I have never tried, I have always wanted to!

  20. jenny says

    January 10, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    I love the cupcake liner holders- perfect for fruit and keeping everything else dry!

  21. Jennifer Keating says

    January 10, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    I’ve never tried a Bento box item!

  22. Vikki Billings says

    January 11, 2018 at 12:32 am

    I have never tried a Bento box, so I do not have a favorite, but would love to try one.

  23. Renee Rousseau says

    January 11, 2018 at 12:41 am

    My favorite Bento box item is Shrimp Fried Rice.

  24. renee says

    January 11, 2018 at 1:53 am

    I have never had/made a bento box meal. I love the cute shapes though, and I love avocado sushi rolls, so I guess I could put some of those in there if I won!

 
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