Itoh - The just bento cookbook 2: make-ahead, time-saving, and healthy lunches to go

Everyday bento meals are meant to be delicious, filling, healthy, and appetizingand they also need to be practical. In other words, theyre just like any other meal should be, with some adjustments to account for the fact that they need to be easily portable and taste good a few hours after theyre assembled. I try to make my bentos colorful and attractiveafter all, we want our meals to appeal to the eye as well as our taste buds. However, I dont like to fuss with my food either.

So with that in mind, here are my top rules for making delicious, healthy bentos on a regular basis with a minimum amount of bother. My rules have gotten simpler over the years, because Ive gotten lazier!

Make as many items in advance as possible.

Have as many items as you can ready to heat (if needed), pack, and go. This really is the key to painless bento-making, and is the philosophy that underpins this book. Even if you dont have the time to cook and stock things in advance, getting things ready so that you can just cook them will make things so much easier in the morning. I hate pulling out my cutting board in the morning, so I try to at least chop up the vegetables for bento-making the night before. An efficient way to do prep for your bento the night before is to do it while youre making dinner.

Keep things healthy.

The beauty of making and packing your own lunch is that you have total control over what goes in it. It makes the work you put into it all worthwhile.

Pack bentos with foods you or your family like.

I dont think a packed lunch is the place to start experimenting with unfamiliar foods. If youre intrigued by some of the recipes in this book that use ingredients that arent familiar to you, such as the Japanese ones I use sometimes, try serving them for dinner or lunch at home first to see if your family likes them.

Add plenty of flavor to each dish in your bento.

When food gets cold the flavors tend to get muted, so you need to season them a bit more than usual so that they dont taste too bland. That doesnt mean just salting them more thoughthe recipes here include lots of ideas for adding flavor without making things too high in sodium.

Know which cooking equipment to use.

Keep the equipment you use daily close at hand. I always use the same cooking utensils (see Bento-Making Equipment, ) for making my bentos, and have them on standby so I can hit the ground running. Ideally you want them out on your kitchen counter or cooktop ready to grab and use. If thats not possible, at least know where they are so you can pull them out quickly.

Make your bento colorful and attractive.

You dont have to spend a long time fussing with fiddly decorations. I believe that attractively arranged food is a visual feast unto itself, and doesnt need a whole lot of embellishment. While I do still add a flower-shaped cut-out carrot now and then, I find that the more years Ive spent making bentos, the more I tend to skip the frills and let the bento speak for itself.

Do some advance planning.

If you are new to bento-making, planning a weeks worth of bento menus in advance is a good way to get organized. Ive been making bentos for many years, so these days I just put together a quick list in my agenda, together with a shopping list. As you become more experienced, its also a good idea to keep your kitchen stocked with a selection of ingredients that can be used to make what I call fallback bentosbentos that you can put together quickly that are surefire favorites.