My struggle with packing bento so far is not having enough time in the morning. First of all, I am not a morning person. I always wait until the my alarm snoozes for the last time before I leave my bed. Second, it dues to lack of planning, trying to achieve too much that often alters the plan.
Planning and Menu Design
- Get your menu ready
I try to get this composition into my diet, 50% veggie and fruits, 25% protein, 25% carb. Lots of times it is hard to achieve, for I tend to eat more protein or carb instead. My usual composition: 30-40% carb, 30-40% protein, 30% veg and fruits. Then, decide on type of cuisine you’re going to do on each item. For example, carb: are you using rice, pasta, or bread. If rice, are you going to steam, fry, steam and mix, do sushi or onigiri, and so on.
- Carb/Starch
99% of the times, rice. I love carbs. I can eat both rice and noodles at the same time. I am not so much of a bread girl. If I am going to do some cooking in the morning, then, I would stick to steam rice, and sometimes add furikake on top. Otherwise, I’ll make onigiri. I absolutely fall in love with onigiri. I don’t refrigerate my rice, nor freeze. I am 100% dependent to my beloved zojirushi neuro fuzzy. I set the timer at night, and have my rice done perfectly in the morning.
- Fruits and Vegetables
I usually go with whatever in season, for they’re cheaper. I am no longer cooking vegetables in the morning. I don’t do fancy things with my veggies. If I can eat them raw, I would, I can easily adapt. Unfortunately my hubby doesn’t like raw veg (we grow up in a culture where people cook like 99% of our veggies). I would do something like steam vegetables. I cook them night before, then in the morning just reheat in microwave then dressed with mayo/yogurt, or broth. Or, I’ll do some pickling, and salad, no reheat require.
- Meats/Poultry
I seldom use fish for bento, except furikake. I try to avoid causing what is considered as ‘unpleasant’ smell by non fish lovers at work. I also try to avoid using onions, or garlic, for the same reason. I know I know.. I would do stir fry, burgers, dumplings, wontons, curry/stew. For stir fry, all the prep needs to be done night before. Curry/Stew definitely done night before, only re-heat in the morning. Dumplings/wontons/burgers all ready in the freezer, minutes away for bento ready. Deep frying, definitely night before, then fridge them, re-heat in toaster oven.
After Grocery Shopping
I am still fighting myself to get these into my habits. It will save a lot of times at the end.
- Produce
After going back from grocery shopping, wash my vegetables, dry, pre-cut, put them into ziploc bags or lock-lock containers. I don’t wash/pre-cut all fruits way ahead, for some don’t like that very much.
- Meat/Poulty
Since you know what you’re going to do with them, prep them ahead. Wash, dry, pre-cut, and wrap in portions (make it easy to defrost).
- Fish/Seafood/Seafood products
Clean, dry, pre-cut, wrap in portions. I don’t freeze fish often, except salmon. I try to get most of my fish the freshest I can. For other seafood and seafood products, I don’t have any problems freezing them.
Last Minute Savers
Prep till the end!! Get these things ready, it will save you few minutes in the morning.
- Pick out which bento boxes you’re using, have them out on the counter.
- Take out pans/pots/utensils/cutting board/etc needed, have them in place, ready to go.
- I empty my dishwasher, and put the detergent in, ready to go. In the morning, all I need to do is switch on baby.
During Morning Rush
- Remind yourself to stick to the plan, not to add anything on the fly, try not to achieve too much.
- Cook and reheat bento items as needed
- Start packing
- Clean up
