pack bento lunches

I’ve been making bentos pretty constantly since this semester started, so I’m going to consider this done. I have a nice routine established, and I’ve seen the ridiculous amounts of money it’s saving me, so I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon. I only wish it was summer so I could put some interesting fruit in my bento without having to sell a kidney for it.

I’ve been making bento lunches everyday that I can’t make it home to eat! The food is delicious, inexpensive, and a lot healthier than what I would eat normally, so I’m pretty happy. If I can keep this up for a few more weeks, I’ll consider this goal accomplished.

I must admit, though, that my bentos have been kind of ugly (I blame it on only being able to pack food that doesn’t have to be microwaved). Maybe next week I’ll experiment with onigiri and something else that looks more cute than just a sandwich.

The bento in the picture has a ham sandwich, a plum, a homemade dark chocolate brownie, homemade applesauce, pretzels, and dried cranberries (like I said, not very pretty, but at least it’s functional).

I made a bento every day last week that I couldn’t be home for lunch (which was really only 3 days, but it’s a start, right?). Next week I might get to try some dinner bentos, but I still can’t make anything hot, which sucks (no microwave)!

So, this bento definitely doesn’t top my cute bentos list (in fact, it probably doesn’t even make it on there at all), but it is functional, and it’ll keep me full while I go to class and work in the lab all day.

It has a ham sandwich and grapes, spinach salad and salad dressing, and cheese pretzels, pomegranate seeds, and homemade dark chocolate cocoa brownies (from scratch!).

I’m pretty excited to eat this.

I gave up on this goal a while ago because I was eating at home every day, BUT I’ve been spending all day at the lab recently, so I really want to try doing this again. My biggest obstacle is that I don’t have access to a microwave, but I’ll manage somehow (I guess).

As inspiration, here’s a picture of a breakfast/snack bento I made for a trip I took to Philly a couple of weeks ago.

• strawberry Koala March and some other chocolate-filled snack thing
• berry yogurt
• star-shaped kiwi slices
• checkered apple slices
• a banana! :D

Ok, so I realized that I don’t really need to make bentos because I just eat at home every day. I really want to make bentos, but it looks like I’ll just be saving them for special occasions. I also think it’d be a lot more fun if I had someone to make bentos for besides myself.

I think I’ll have to save this goal for another time.

I made another bento for today (but forgot to get pictures), but I might have to rethink this goal. I’m in college, and I realized that my schedule is such that I can just come home and eat everyday. I guess a better goal than making bentos everyday would be to make sure I make them on the days I know I won’t make it home for lunch. I’m at least glad I’m still into it even though I’m back at school!

I’m going to take a break from this for a little bit while I move from Seattle, WA to Reading, PA and from Reading, PA to State College, PA (all in one week T_T), but I’ll resume once classes get started! :D

I think I’m getting a little better at this :)

I made my first bento last night (for lunch today)!!! Here’s what I have in it:

tier 1
vegetable soup (homemade! :) )

tier 2
heart-shaped ham and cheddar sandwich
3 fruit cups with cherry, mango, and heart-shaped kiwi

tier 3
spinach salad with tomato, carrots, and dressing bottles

tier 4
pokey and slices from my leftover birthday cookie-cake

I can’t wait to eat it XD