[1]

Contents of my lunch: Fresh [2] lychees (a.k.a. litchis), rice, plum tomatoes, broccoli stems with oyster sauce, steamed [3] kabocha squash with Korean barbecue sauce, and homemade green Thai curry with shrimp, tiny eggplant and baby bok choy ([4] 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 [5] Thermos Nissan stainless lunch jar (same size as Zojirushi’s Mr. Bento, but [6] 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 [7] 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 [8] 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).

[9]

Contents of preschooler lunch: [10] 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 [11] 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 [12] 270ml Thomas the Tank Engine divided box and a smaller [13] 220ml metal side dish container.

RELATED POSTS:

• [4] Thai curry master recipe
• [14] Food safety for packed lunches
• [15] Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
• [16] 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.