Which Bento Box Should I Use?
Which Bento Box Should You Use? Bento boxes help you to pack a healthy, colourful and tasty lunch and make lunchtimes at the workplace or school exciting and something to be waited for. It is essential to ensure that you have a box that best suits your requirements. Finding a perfect fit for the box will largely depend on what you intend to pack for your lunch.
Following are some of the Bento Box Types,
Which Bento Box Should You Use?
Japanese styled Bento box
The Japanese bento boxes are most suited if you like carrying any type of cooked beans or grains for lunch such as rice, quinoa, lentils, barley etc. The basic idea of these boxes is to fit your lunch tightly into them so that no shifting of the food contents occurs. Packing cooked grains is easily done in them. Silicone dividers to divide the food contents are available too. The boxes have to be kept upright if they don’t have sealed lids. Cloth wrappers that are square-shaped called ‘Furoshiki’ are traditionally used for this purpose. Some very slim sized boxes are also available to enable you to fit them into a briefcase. The traditional bento boxes come in varied sizes, shapes, colours and materials.
Thermal containers as your Bento Box
Thermal containers are ideal for people who love to have their food-stuff hot and tasty for lunch but do not have a microwave facility at the workplace or school. You have the option of using the regular Japanese style bento box and include an additional smaller thermal container for your soup or stew to ensure that it remains hot.
Multiple/Large containers
Some people love food that requires greater space and cannot be squeezed to fit into the lunch box. Food items like sandwiches and certain salads fall in this category. There are two options available in this context; either pack your lunch in bigger and spacious containers or go for several containers. For example, in the case of sandwiches, you can pack the bread and the fillings separately. The bread is wrapped individually and the fillings are packed in a traditional Japanese style bento box. The sandwich is assembled while having your lunch. The other option is to carry the assembled sandwich for which there are several container options. For bulky salads, you can go for the normal food containers, offering you greater choices instead of hunting from out-and-out lunch box container options. You can also use multiple containers as another option.
Choosing the right material
You can opt for any of the above-mentioned options; what is more important is making the right choice of material for your lunch box. Glass, stainless steel, lacquerware or wood are varied kinds of materials available for your lunch box, and each one of them has its pros and cons. Weigh each one carefully before making a choice.
On a Concluding Note
To ascertain which bento box you should use, first ascertain what type of lunch you prefer before selecting your lunch container; whether you want a compact grain-based lunch or prefer hot foodstuff or would rather eat sandwiches and salads for lunch. This will help you to choose your lunch box well.
