I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Speed bento techniques: frozen spaghetti
This was a super-fast toddler bento (less than 10 minutes to pack both mine and my son’s). I nuked frozen homemade meatballs, steamed the broccoli and kabocha squash in a microwave mini steamer (photo behind the cut), and dropped in a foil cup of leftover spaghetti I portioned out for freezing.
Taking a page from Japanese bento cookbooks, I froze leftover spaghetti in foil liners set in mini muffin tins. Once they were frozen through a couple of hours later, I put them in shallow tupperware for longer-term storage. This way I have a cache of homemade pasta ready to drop into my son’s lunches when I’m looking for a red-colored dish. In the morning, I just put a frozen-solid pasta cup into the bento, and it’s totally thawed a few hours later when we’re ready to eat. If I were going to microwave them I’d have used paper cups instead of foil.
As for taste, I ate my bento today (with the frozen pasta) and had a bite of my son’s (with non-frozen pasta). They tasted about the same, no significant difference in taste/texture. I wouldn’t leave them in the freezer for longer than a few weeks, though — if they got freezer burn that’d definitely affect the taste. EDIT: I now like these with a little extra sauce in a small container on the side to remoisten the pasta.
I made today’s broccoli and kabocha in this mini steamer for the microwave — I picked it up at Daiso for US$1.50. It’s sold as a steamer for meat buns, but it’s just the right size for steaming small amounts of vegetables or dumplings for lunch. It speeds up steaming time by 50%. You put a tablespoon of water in the bottom, place the steam tray on the bottom, put the veggies in, then cover (aligning the steam holes to allow venting). Nuke for 1-2 minutes and let it stand for a couple of minutes afterward to steam. It can also be used for storage if you twist the lid so that the steam release holes are not aligned. Amazon lists a similar one here and a large one here.
Here’s my lunch — the same as my son’s except it’s got roast pork instead of meatballs.
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February 13th, 2007 | Categories: bento, equipment, for kids, freezing, meat, parenthacks, pasta or noodles, tips, tutorial or how to | 
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February 12th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
That’s so neat with the freezing of pasta - I’m impressed!
I love the steamer as well, I’ve been wanting one of those for a while.
And the rabbit-cup in your son’s bento is so cute ^_^
February 21st, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Thank you! I’m really liking the steamer — the small size makes it really convenient.
March 16th, 2007 at 7:46 am
I love your speed bento tips!
What is the recipe for the sauce on the pasta? I’ve looked for a recipe that has a similar sauce picture, but can’t find one. :-\
Thanks heaps!
March 16th, 2007 at 9:32 am
You know, I don’t remember what sauce I used! It’s entirely possible it was a jarred Progresso sauce I picked up from CostCo, with extra sauteed vegetables I added. Maybe it was a homemade tomato sauce with onions and butter. Sorry I can’t be more helpful here.
March 24th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I finally found a steamer like yours today- it is larger, maybe, but similar. The problem is that I don’t really know how to use it- how long to steam things like buns. It’s about 8 inches across. Can you suggest some times? If not that’s ok, if so thanks in advance
March 24th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
My little one came with instructions that said to nuke dumplings like shumai for 1-2 minutes on high (in a 500W microwave — times will vary according to the power of your microwave), then let it sit closed up for another minute or two. For a couple of broccoli florets in my 1100W microwave, about 30 seconds on high is about right (with a tablespoon or two of water in the bottom in both cases).
March 24th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Thank you SO MUCH!
March 29th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
when you first freeze the pasta in the muffin tin, did you have to cover them with foil or wraps first?
March 31st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I didn’t, but to better avoid freezer burn, next time I’ll pop the whole tupperware container (uncovered) into a freezer bag, suck the air out of it with a straw, put the container cover on it, then freeze.
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:52 pm
[…] stumbled upon an interesting food website today which I never would have found otherwise, and decided to make Baby A some frozen pasta cups […]
September 14th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Just discovered your site. Very nice and quite creative. I stayed up until 2am the other night checking it out! I have a thing for Japanese cuisine too so I have been duly inspired by your site. I like the idea of frozen spaghetti cups as a means of portion control for me! Is there any issue in using the lovely silicon cups? Do they crack when frozen?
September 15th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
@11 from HungryGal: The packaging on the silicone baking cups says no problem with putting them in the freezer, so I just tested them out. I put the mini and standard silicone cups in the freezer (empty) for a couple of hours, then pulled them out and immediately squished them in my hands. No problem at all — they don’t even get stiff!
October 7th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
so do you just eat the pasta cold then? after it has thawed…there is no reheating?
October 7th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Doesn’t seem like i would need reheating unless you don’t like cold Spaghetti,,, but since I’m a fan of cold left over spaghetti at a midnight hankering I would just eat it freshlt thawed… ^_* Go fig…
January 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Cool! This site is just full of great tips!
January 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
@15 from Fourleafclover: Thanks for the kind words, Fourleafclover!
February 12th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I don’t think I have ever read your listings in order I always jump from one link to another! Anywhoo, I saw that you found the frozen spaghetti in a Japanese recipe book. My question is can you make suggestions on cook books for a newbie to japanese cooking/bento because I would love to begin packing for my daughter a bento lunch(she’s 5 in kindergarten) but I don’t know where to start. Any suggestions would be GREAT!
Thank You
February 28th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
According to Alton Brown of the Food Network, Broccoli loses 50 to 70% of antioxidants when microwaved. Don’t do it! Steam instead.
February 28th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
@18 from Tom Reilly: Great minds think alike in this case — I posted about this very issue this past week, with a link to the study: http://lunchinabox.net/2008/02/26/mac-cheese-lunches-hot-vs-cold/
May 11th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
[…] and froze them in bento-sized portions using silicon muffin cups (a great idea per the fabulous Lunch In A Box blog). This was the last of the frozen leftovers. I’ll have to look up the recipe and post when I […]