avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese.
Archive for July, 2007
Lychee lunches
Contents of my lunch: Fresh lychees (a.k.a. litchis), rice, plum tomatoes, broccoli stems with oyster sauce, steamed kabocha squash with Korean barbecue sauce, and homemade green Thai curry with shrimp, tiny eggplant and baby bok choy (master recipe for the Thai curry here). To eat, I poured all of the warm curry right on top of the warm rice (in a half-filled container).
Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using leftover curry and rice that I packed up in the lunch containers after dinner. In the morning I pre-warmed the thermal lunch jar with hot tap water, microwaved the rice and curry, and packed the broccoli stems cold. The one bit of cooking I did this morning was the kabocha squash. I cut it thin (skin and all) to speed up cooking, and popped it into my microwave steamer with a little water for a couple of minutes on high. When it came out, I tossed it with some bottled Korean barbecue sauce and packed it up.
Packing: I only filled the big rice container halfway with rice so that I would be able to pour all of the curry on top of it just before eating (also, the lunch jar is a little big for me when packed full of dense food). Packed in my big Thermos Nissan stainless lunch jar (same size as Zojirushi’s Mr. Bento, but often much cheaper). I pre-warmed the lunch jar by filling it with hot water from the tap, and letting it sit while I made the rest of the lunch.
Ingredient: After reading Thai cookbook author Kasma Loha-Unchit’s excellent website a few years back, I decided to seek out Thai oyster sauce and do a taste test. I was astounded by the difference between Chinese oyster sauce and the fresh, intensely oystery flavor of Thai oyster sauce (Mae Krua brand). Loha-Unchit writes about Thai oyster sauce here; I’ve become a convert to the Mae Krua brand but should probably try the Dragonfly Super Premium when this bottle runs out. I even threw away my Chinese and Japanese oyster sauces after tasting the Mae Krua (pretty unheard of, considering how cheap I am).
Contents of preschooler lunch: Hami melon wrapped in prosciutto, whole lychees, rice with shrimp furikake, and a stir fry of broccoli, baby bok choy and bacon with Thai oyster sauce. Thai curry is too spicy for Bug, so he got leftovers from a non-spicy meal instead. Not shown: Individual package of Anpanman furikake for the rice.
Morning prep time: 12 minutes, using leftovers. I briefly microwaved refrigerated leftover rice to restore its texture, and cut up the stir fry into preschooler-sized pieces. I had the melon and a melon-baller out for breakfast anyway, so I just scooped out another two, cut them in half, and wrapped in prosciutto.
Packing: The original stir fry from dinner had large pieces of broccoli, bacon and bok choy, so I cut them all smaller to make it easier for Bug to eat. To catch the juices from the melon, I folded a paper towel into quarters and put it at the bottom of the metal container. I ate with Bug and could help him, but if he were to eat this lunch on his own I would have made the rice into little rice balls (easy finger food) and peeled/pitted the lychees for him. Packed in a 270ml Thomas the Tank Engine divided box and a smaller 220ml metal side dish container.
RELATED POSTS:
- Thai curry master recipe
- Food safety for packed lunches
- Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
Disclaimer: I have no commercial affiliation with Kasma Loha-Unchit or the Thai oyster sauces, I just know what I like. Amazon links are affiliate links, and Lunch in a Box gets pennies on the dollar for any purchases made when accessing Amazon through these links.
Published by Biggie on July 24th, 2007 tagged bento, curry, fish or seafood, for kids, glutenfree, lactose free, rice, thermal lunch jar | 8 Comments »
Links: Packing by color
1. Pack by color: Washington Post article
Ever heard the saying, “a colorful meal is a healthy meal?” The thinking is that when you’ve got lots of different naturally colored foods on your plate, you’ve got a good balance of nutrients. Not surprisingly, the Japanese have turned this into a 5-color rule of thumb for packing a bento lunch, as explored in depth in this excellent article in The Washington Post. This is just a general guideline that I’ve mentioned before in comments, though, nothing written in stone for everyday lunches. I don’t always achieve this ideal color balance in each meal, but it’s something good to aim for as you’re putting together a meal for nutritional balance and aesthetic appeal.
2. Instructables.com guide: Packing a bento lunch
Here’s a new tutorial on packing a bento lunch with all Japanese food, by a woman who lived in Japan for a couple of years. You might find it interesting — I like the nicely organized presentation of information!
RELATED POSTS:
- How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
- Choosing the right size bento box
- Packed lunch food safety
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
Published by Biggie on July 23rd, 2007 tagged bento, tips, tutorial or how to | 6 Comments »
Sloppy Joe lunches
Contents of my lunch: A do-it-yourself homemade Sloppy Joe sandwich (filling on the side), asparagus with poppyseed dressing, cherry tomatoes, garlic cheese wedge, pear and blackberries.
Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using leftovers. The Sloppy Joe filling was leftover from dinner the night before, so in the morning I just made the asparagus and fruit. For the asparagus, I microwaved it with a little water, drained, and tossed with premade poppyseed salad dressing.
Packing: Because Sloppy Joe filling is so moist, assembling the sandwich ahead of time would ruin the bread and leave you with a soggy mess at lunchtime. The solution is to make it just prior to eating, so I packed the meat filling in a separate metal container (review here) to keep the juices away from the rest of the lunch until I was ready to eat. To prevent the pear from browning, I tossed it with a little lemon juice mixed with pear/peach juice. The main lunch is packed in an 810ml Clex box by Asvel.
Click for preschooler and husband lunches…
Published by Biggie on July 20th, 2007 tagged bento, for kids, lactose free, meat, sandwich or wrap | 9 Comments »
Chicken sandwich lunch
Contents of my lunch: Chicken salad sandwich (with cheese and lettuce on whole wheat toast), tabbouleh, blueberries and tiny Champagne grapes.
Morning prep time: 5 minutes. The chicken salad and tabbouleh were both pre-made from Costco, so it was a quick matter to toast the bread and assemble the sandwich.
Packing: Because the collapsible sandwich case (equipment review here) isn’t secure enough to pack moist food as is, I put the tabbouleh in a separate little disposable food cup with lid (the same ones I used for the fruit jello cups — I tend to wash and reuse the cups). The little cup with lid was really handy as otherwise I wouldn’t have felt confident that the tabbouleh was well contained — it essentially widens the types of food I can pack in this type of sandwich case. To ensure that the bread didn’t get soggy before I ate it, I toasted the bread and used two moisture barriers (cheese and lettuce) to keep the moist chicken salad away from the bread itself. This worked fine, and the sandwich was still in prime condition a few hours later (protected by the hard-sided sandwich case).
RELATED POSTS:
- Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
- How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
- Choosing the right size bento box
- Packed lunch food safety
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews