Bento lunches don’t have to be filled with a multitude of different dishes in order to be appealing; focus on packing a [1] balance of food groups and [2] contrasting natural colors in your meal and you’ll find that a simple lunch can be just as attractive and satisfying as an ornate one. Other visually simple lunches I’ve made include [3] zarusoba, [4] chili con carne, and [5] chicken curry pasta (a Leftover Remake).

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This lunch revisits the meatball-stuffed [8] onigiri rice “bombs” that I packed in an adult lunch last year (photo below, click for detail) after spying them in a Japanese-language onigiri cookbook. Making them is pretty straightforward: with your hands or [9] ball-shaped onigiri mold (photo below), cover a meatball with warm short- or medium-grain rice, then completely cover that with moistened scraps of nori seaweed. I used pre-made teriyaki meatballs that I picked up at Costco and seasoned Korean seaweed for flavor, but regular Japanese nori is easier to work with and keeps its shape better afterwards as it’s less delicate.

[8] Contents of preschooler lunch: [8] Onigiri rice “bombs” stuffed with teriyaki pineapple chicken meatballs (my favorite, Aidells brand), grape tomatoes and steamed bell pepper with Korean barbecue sauce. I keep a bottle of Korean barbecue sauce in my fridge to quickly flavor any number of protein or vegetable dishes; having a few premade sauces on hand (store-bought or homemade, any of your favorite flavors) is an easy way to speed up your lunch prep. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

[10] Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using leftover refrigerated rice, store-bought meatballs, and leftover bell pepper. In the morning I microwaved the rice to restore its soft texture so I could work with it, and microwaved the meatballs to kill off any surface bacteria (see my post on [11] packed lunch food safety). I made these without the [9] molds at left, wetting my hands when I put the pieces of seaweed on in order to get them to stick. Honestly, it was just too much effort to dig the mold out from under my stove — I need to revisit my [12] bento gear organization system to make the larger accessories more accessible.

Packing: Initially I just plopped the rice bombs down into the plain, unlined box, but they looked sad and lonely with the bare box bottom staring back up at me. So I grabbed a piece of lettuce from the refrigerator and lined the box with it for some nice color contrast (I’m guilty of unnecessary garnish here — Bug totally ignored the lettuce). Much better. The bell pepper went into a [13] hard plastic food cup (yellow, to amplify the yellow of the bell pepper), and the grape tomatoes acted as [14] gap fillers to stabilize the lunch in transit. The lunch is packed in one 350ml box from a [15] Lock & Lock lunch set.

Verdict: A qualified thumbs up. Three-year-old Bug ate both of the rice bombs at preschool, and the rest afterwards as a snack. His preschool teacher said that the he had a little trouble eating the rice bombs as they were a little crumbly; this was my fault as I’d let the rice sit too long in the rice cooker before refrigerating it, and it dried out a little. For best results, either use fresh rice or be sure to freeze/refrigerate your leftover rice soon after cooking it, while it’s still at its most moist. [16] (Click to read the full post with an additional lunch…)

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Contents of preschooler lunch: A wrap sandwich of whole wheat tortilla with cream cheese and sugar-free strawberry jam, grape tomatoes, blueberries, and a broiled shiitake mushroom cap with Cheddar cheese.

Morning prep time: 8 minutes. In the morning I made the mushroom cap (brushed the mushroom with a little olive oil, filled it with grated Cheddar cheese, and broiled), then quickly made the simple wrap sandwich while the mushroom was in the [18] convection toaster oven.

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Packing: These kinds of wrap sandwiches lend themselves well to being sliced in smaller rounds and packed sushi-style to showcase their fillings, but Bug prefers them cut simply in half. With two longish rolls, the bento box selected itself: a [15] long 350ml Lock & Lock container from the larger lunch set. I put the low mushroom cap into a disposable paper baking cup to keep the pile of blueberries from rolling all over it, and wedged in the grape tomatoes to act as [14] gap fillers to stabilize the entire lunch in transit.

Verdict: So-so. Bug ate the wrap and the blueberries at preschool, and the tomatoes afterwards as a snack. He roundly ignored the mushroom, for reasons unknown (he usually devours mushrooms). Oh well, at least he got some fruits and veggies into him.

FURTHER READING:

• [8] Meatball rice “bomb” lunch for adult
• [20] Frozen rice bento lunch
• [21] Making and freezing onigiri (plain and grilled yaki onigiri)
• [22] Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews

This entry is cross-posted to [23] The Daily Tifffin parenting and lifestyle group blog, where I provide the Tiffin Tuesday column once a month.