I Started Making Bento

My workplace recently started cracking down on attendance, so I can’t show up a few minutes late whenever I feel like it anymore.

That means I don’t dare go home at lunch either — I have to eat at work. I used to eat in the cafeteria, but my meal card doesn’t cover enough, and the cafeteria is both expensive and not very good, so I switched to takeout. At first I ordered from 鸡尿外卖; then I realized the discounts only applied to the first few orders, and after that it just kept getting pricier. A few orders in, I noticed it wasn’t just expensive — the taste was mediocre too.

Then I was playing an eroge and saw a scene where the heroine makes bento for the protagonist, and it hit me:

“Shit, why don’t I just make my own bento and eat that?”

Once I’d decided, I had to pick a bento box. I didn’t really shop around much — I just saw the best-looking one, the monbento, and figured that was good enough.

It was a pleasant surprise when it arrived. The material is great, the plastic is heat-resistant and microwave-safe, the outside has a slightly soft-touch feel, and I went with the Nintendo colorway, which made me feel like a bit of a mad-bull devotee.

Now that the box was here, I had to plan out the bento-making. The tricky part is scheduling.

My personal advice: prep the essential ingredients the night before — the eggs you’ll use, defrost the chicken, and if you’re using rice, cook it ahead too. Then the next morning you can throw it together while making breakfast.

And since it’s bento, you can go for a Japanese style. Most Japanese bento are cold meals, because they’re easy to carry and keep. I recommend cold food too. First up is Japanese sushi (or Korean gimbap), and the other is tamagoyaki, paired with some simple cherry tomatoes and lettuce — that’s basically enough to get by.

You can also pan-fry a slice of black pepper chicken breast; chicken breast is probably the cheapest high-protein meat out there.

I tried making bento for three days and it went pretty well. Here’s day one: tamagoyaki, black pepper sausage (store-bought, microwaved), lettuce, cherry tomatoes, rice, kimchi (store-bought).

Day two: I made gimbap, prepped the night before — three rolls total, used two. Then daikon strips (leftover from the gimbap), boiled eggs (made ahead), and pan-fried chicken cutlet (made that morning).

Day three: the gimbap from the day before again (the remaining roll), cherry tomatoes, sliced boiled egg, chicken cutlet, plus a bread sandwich with a fried egg and chopped lettuce inside.

Maybe I’ll keep this up going forward. It’s more rewarding than takeout, and honestly I think it tastes better and is cheaper — I’m broke, after all, so this saves a fair bit of money.

There’s also the “make curry once, eat it for a week” trick. I’ll give that a shot next week.