Whether it's to reduce plastic waste, save money or eat healthier, more and more people are starting to embrace the bento lifestyle.
But that first step of choosing the right bento box can be a daunting one.
Tongqi are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.
You don't want to spend your hard-earned cash on a bento only to find that your stomach is growling by 2pm because your box only fits half a sandwich, or that your kid's new lunchbox is too big for their school bag. '
With that in mind we've compiled our best tips so you can pick the perfect bento box for you and your kids!
FIrst let's consider the size of the bento box. Choosing a Japanese style bento box can be confusing especially as they tend to be smaller than Western-style lunch boxes. It's easy to underestimate how much food will actually fit into the box! The key with Japanese-stye bento boxes is that food is meant to be packed in fairly densely (to prevent foods from moving around) and to make it look visually appealing. This way you can actually fit quite a lot of food into a surprisingly petite-looking container
Here at Bento&co we've divided our boxes into Small, Medium, and Large categories.
Small bento boxes are perfect for younger kids or adults with very small appetites. These boxes can also be used as a convenient container for side dishes, snacks or dessert!
The adorable Jiji Round Two Tier Lunch Bowl (500mL) has two tiers, and a built in fork. Perfect for little ones.
Medium boxes are great for older kids, and adults with small to medium appetites. If you are unsure what bento box to choose, medium sized boxes are a great place to start.
The 640mL capacity Fuku Usagi Bento Box can fit all this much food inside.
Large boxes are for adults and growing teenagers who need a hearty lunch! This is also a good choice if you want to pack a fluffy salad or bulky sandwiches that you don't want to smush inside a small box.
The Original Karakusa Bento holds a lot while still staying compact.
Looking for something larger?
The choice for when you want a VERY generous lunch, or want to share. Includes our picnic boxes.
If you are still unsure what size is best for you, refer to the general guide below which shows suggested bento capacity (400mL to 900mL) based on age bracket and appetite. For those with more sedentary lifestyles, you can subtract 100mL from these suggested bento sizes and similarly for those who have active lifestyles, you can add on 100mL.
Age
Large Appetite
Small Appetite
3-5 years
400ml
400ml
6-8 years
500ml
500ml
9-11 years
600ml
600ml
12-20 years
900ml
700ml
20-40 years
900ml
600ml
50-60 years
800ml
600ml
70 years600ml
500ml
Bento boxes come in all kinds of shapes and each one comes with its own unique benefits and disadvantages. Here we've broken it down shape by shape so you can figure out which one will serve you best.
Oval and round boxes: Easy to wash! Can be difficult to fill up without creating gaps. Perfect for 'nokke' or 'donburi' style bentos where you put your main dishes on top of rice.
Square boxes: Easy to place foods inside without gaps. Corners may be tricky to wash.
Slim/Narrow style boxes: Easy to put food in without gaps. Fits nicely into backpacks and work bags without taking up much space. Corners may be tricky to wash. May need to cut up larger pieces of food to be able to fit.
Are you interested in learning more about Square Bento Box? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
Related to the shape of bento is the question of tiers. Most boxes come in one or two tiers (with some picnic boxes coming in 3 or more tiers).
1 Tier boxes: Less components to the box so cleanup is easy. Flavors of food may seep into the rice or mix with other foods. Usually more room for foods to move around during transport.
2 Tier boxes: Easily separate rice from your side dishes. Packs a lot of food. More parts to wash. Not meant for 'nokke' or 'donburi' style bento.
For kids and bento beginners, we recommend a one-tier oval shaped bento as it's easy to pack, looks great and is easy to clean! These MAGE-wappa boxes are a great option that have a traditional wood-like look but are durable, microwave and dishwasher safe!
Next is the question of material, specifically whether to choose plastic, metal, or wood. Each has its benefits and advantages!
Bento boxes made from BPA-free plastic are perfect for everyday use. Most are dishwasher and microwave-safe. Comes in all kinds of fun designs and colors and at a reasonable price point.
Nothing beats the warm look and feel of a wooden bento box. These boxes are handmade, with many of them carefully crafted by Japanese artisans, like our Magewappa ('bent wood' bento boxes made with sustainably sourced cedar from Akita preferecture) and Miyama boxes, made by a single artisan, Mr. Hasehira. There is a price to pay for the beauty of wooden boxes however in that they are not microwave or dishwasher safe, require more care and tend to be more expensive.
A Miyama masterpiece
An increasingly popular choice, Stainless Steel boxes are lightweight, don't transfer smells and flavors, and have a classic aesthetic. They are easy to clean and durable. Of course they can't be microwaved, so they are better suited for foods meant to be eaten at room temperature although the Seagull Tiffin can be placed over an open flame!
Lastly, decide on any specific features you would like. Want a bento box with inner dividers built in to organize your food? The perfect box for you exists. Are you concerned about forgetting an icepack for your bento in the hotter months? Check out our Gel Cool collection.
Welcome back to the 3rd lesson in Bento 101: Getting Into the Bento Making Habit. If you've been following along, by now you should have a list of foods you like to eat that you consider to be packable for lunch, as well as experimented with putting a meal in a box. If you're just joining us, there's still plenty of time to catch up!
In Part 2b we're going to continue thinking about the all important question of the container or containers we want to bring our lunches in. The type of container that is ideal for you depends primarily on the types of foods you want to bring for lunch. This is one of the main reasons why I had you make a list of foods that you'd like to pack for lunch in Assignment 1. The food you want to pack should dictate the type and size of container you need, not the other way around.
So let's look at the container types to consider.
Japanese and Japanese-style (since not all boxes of this time are actually made or designed in Japan these days) bento boxes are a marvel of compactness and portability, and are available in a wide variety of designs, colors, materials and price ranges. And let's face it, they are the most fun to collect. (Take a look at my visit to Hakoya, the largest bento box maker in Japan for example, to see the care they take in making even mundane plastic boxes.) Japanese style bento boxes are available in sizes ranging from around 250ml capacity (about 1 US cup) to ml for single-person use. Most bento accessories such as silicone cups for dividing up your food inside the box are sized for Japanese bento boxes.
One third to one half of a typical Japanese bento box is packed tightly with rice. Besides the rice there are usually various other foods called okazu that go with the rice, also packed in tightly so that the food doesn't shift around when the box is in transit.
This is a classic Japanese style bento (how-to here):
If you like Japanese style bentos anyway, naturally the bento boxes designed to hold them are ideal for you. They're also well suited for any kind of meal that's based on some sort of cooked grain or beans, not just rice. Think of couscous, quinoa, barley, lentils, whole wheat berries, a mixed bean salad...the list goes on. The larger sizes are great for pasta salads that use short pasta, as well as potato salad and so on.
Here's a fairly small bento box filled with quinoa and beans (how-to here):
Here's a pasta salad in a larger-size (around 700ml) Japanese-style (but not actually Japanese) box (how-to here):
Most of my boxes are Japanese bento boxes, since most of the bentos I pack (as well as the ones featured on this site) are based around cooked grains or legumes of some sort.
The bento size guide is especially useful for this style of box. In most cases you'll be packing your lunches tightly using the 'third dimension' as we covered in the previous lesson, so if you haven't done that assignment yet I'd encourage you to do so before going shopping for the bento box that's right for you.
One thing to note about Japanese style bento boxes is that they are designed to be carried upright in your bag, with the lid facing up. There are even 'slimline' boxes that can be packed upright in a briefcase. This means that your lunch will not leak out in most cases, especially if you choose a box with a sealing lid. Most modern bento boxes have sealing lids, but a few don't, such as traditional wooden boxes. These just need to be carried with extra care if you pack something leaky in them. Furoshiki or square cloth wrappers are traditionally used to wrap around such bento boxes tightly. (If you're crafty, take a look here for long time JustBento friend Bronwyn Carlisle's instructions for making your own furoshiki.) An American box like the LunchBots line which have non-sealing lids can also be used like this with leaky foods. There are also dedicated bento box bags, some of which are insulated.
Thermal containers are great if you like the idea of a hot stew or soup for lunch, and don't have access to a microwave at lunchtime. I took an in-depth look at themal containers here.
Personally I am not the biggest fan of the large, bulky thermal lunch jars like Mr. Bento, just because they're rather heavy and bulky. I prefer to use small thermal lunch jars for the hot/liquid stuff, paired with a regular bento box for the other things. But The Guy (aka my husband) loves his Mr. Bento, and I know that the all-in-one solution has a lot of fans.
This is a meatball stew bento that The Guy made using a thermal lunch jar set. (how-to here).
By "fluffy food", I mean food that needs quite a lot of space and air around them, that would suffer if pressed into a compact container - in other words, things like salads and sandwiches. There are two approaches to this type of lunch packing situation: to choose large, roomy containers, or to use multiple containers.
For sandwiches, I often make a 'deconstructed' version, where the bread is packed separately from the fillings and are assembled just before eating, like the deconstructed bahn mi bento, where I've used a regular Japanese style bento box to pack the fillings plus extra salad:
For this even simpler deconstructed sandwich I also used a regular Japanese-style box for the fixings:
Here's another deconstructed sandwich, where I used a bento box that is way too small (at around 350ml capacity) for a regular bento, but works great to hold the fillings for a sandwich plus fruit
If you'd rather bring an assembled sandwich though, there are plenty of sandwich containers out there, from the plain plastic bag plus brown bag combination on up.
If you like eating leafy salads and the like you will need a larger container, and the sizing guidelines listed above won't really apply to you. While there are dedicated 'lunch containers' for this purpose, you'll find the a much bigger choice by looking at regular food containers. The larger, deeper size of Ikea 365 container for instance is not too bulky, but is deep enough to hold a good amount of salad - and you can use the smaller capacity models in the same line as side boxes.
You could also pack a salad lunch in multiple smaller boxes as Idid here - the leafy greens in one box, a potato salad in the smaller box.
There's another category of lunch container that I haven't discussed too much on these pages, and that's the large, multi-compartment type of carrier, such as the Goodbyn Lunchbox or the PlanetBox. The advantage to these containers is that initially they seem easy to use since the compartments are so well defined. I am not sure if any were inspired by the muffin tin lunch movement, but I wouldn't be surprised since the concept is similar.
The drawbacks that all of these containers share is that they are quite large and bulky, and can only logically be carried vertically unless you have a shopping bag or something with a very big bottom. If you have food a very 'wet' food with sauce or something in there, if you carry it vertically there are good chances it's going to leak, no matter how leakproof the manufacturers claim their carriers are. They usually try to prevent leaking by fitting these containers with tightly fitting lids that may or may not be hinged, but it's hard to fight against the laws of gravity. Most Japanese style bento boxes are designed to be carried upright with the lid facing up, so they are much less likely to leak.
Therefore, in my opinion the large, flat lunch carrier is most suited for people who do not pack 'leaky' foods. If your lunch style is some cut up fruit and vegetables with hummus or cheese cubes and some nuts and raisons and so on - which is the kind of lunch that tends to be featured in the marketing materials for these containers - then they are great.
(Note: I'm not sure what to make of the current form factor of the Laptop Lunches line, which I now notice are being marketed as 'bento boxes'. I seem to recall they used to be bigger in height and width, but now it looks like theyv'e made them smaller h x w wise and deeper. The current stated size is 9" x 7", which could be carried upright at the bottom of a roomy backpack. Any Laptop Lunch owners out there that want to comment?)
This chart of bento box/container materials shows you the pros and cons of each type. For instance, glass is great if you are looking for something that is plastic-free (although the lids are usually some sort of plastic) and dishwasher and microwave save, but does have the considerable disadvantage of being breakable, as well as heavy. Stainless steel is dishwasher safe and plastic-free, but can't go in the microwave. Wood or lacquerware should only be used if you're willing to commit to their high maintenance. And so on. (If you're concerned about BPA, see this article also.)
When you are selecting the right type and size of container for your style of eating, you may be tempted to use containers not meant for food use. I wouldn't recommend doing this at all, since you don't know what is in the plastics used, not to mention any coatings or paints.
So, this leads us to this weeks assignment:
For more information, please visit Cornstarch Lunch Box.