Archive for the 'shopping' Category

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Review: Cheap lunch containers at Target

Reader “K” gave me a heads up that Target now stocks cheap lunch containers in their seasonal section in the front of the store, so I popped by and picked up a couple to try out over the weekend.

Part of the Whim by Cynthia Rowley collection made by the Israeli Bramli Company, these plastic US$2.99 containers are definitely the right price, and come in colorful pink and blue. I picked up two versions that I thought bento-packers might be interested in: the Divided Lunch Set (in blue) and the Personal Salad Set (in pink). They do have pros and cons, though… (Read on for the full product review.)

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Published by Biggie on May 5th, 2008 tagged equipment, shopping | 65 Comments »

Shopping and conference odds and ends

A few updates today on online bento shopping, bento gear in Europe, conferences I’ll be attending, and something that annoyed me this week.

* Ichiban Kan: Online poll and delay in restocking bento gear

The Ichiban Kan blog is running an online poll to help them decide whether to stock thermal bento sets like this one that I use regularly. The poll closes at 3:00 pm Pacific Time today (Wednesday, April 30, 2008), so click over there if you’d like to weigh in, or leave a comment at their blog post about the thermal bento sets if you’re too late for the poll. (Sorry about the late notice!) Ichiban Kan is a Japanese-style discount store with branches in the SF Bay Area and a new online store with cheap bento gear. See my full review of their online store, or get info on their local stores in my San Francisco Bay Area shopping guide for bento gear.

Speaking of Ichiban Kan, they’re evidently experiencing a delay in restocking their bento inventory as their big shipping container from Japan has been delayed by U.S. Customs. The delay may last for another three weeks or so; stay up to date via their blog or online store. Their blog now offers the ability to receive e-mail updates via Feedburner; fill out the info in the upper right corner of their blog to get their latest in your e-mail box. (You can do the same here, by the way — click to get Feedburner e-mails with the latest Lunch in a Box posts.) (Read on for European bento shopping update, conferences I’ll be attending at, and something that irritated me.)

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Published by Biggie on April 30th, 2008 tagged admin, shopping | 27 Comments »

Save time & energy with bento baskets for the freezer

Because I don’t sit down and plan the week’s bento lunches in advance, every morning involves some poking around inside of the refrigerator and freezer to see what looks good to pack for lunch that day. I realize that my life would be easier if I kept a written inventory other than just my freezer magnets, but it’s just not going to happen as I don’t have the staying power to keep things updated.

One thing that Japanese bento cookbooks recommend if you pack lunch in the morning is to think of one dish the night before that you’d like to pack the next day, and just start visualizing the lunch. This takes some of the pressure off when you step into the kitchen as you’ve already got a starting point.

One problem with my approach is that I tend to stand in front of the refrigerator or freezer with the door wide open while I look around for something that inspires me. Unlike looking in the pantry, though, this actually wastes energy and I often overlook buried food that would be perfect for bento lunches. Enter plastic organizer baskets and trays. (Read on for details and variations.)

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Published by Biggie on April 25th, 2008 tagged equipment, freezing, shopping, tips | 50 Comments »

Lunch in a Box comes out of the closet

In my e-mail yesterday I found a note from reader Bear Naff, with a link to a hilarious Lunch in a Box song parody that one of his readers wrote in response to his challenge. This reminded me of an earlier song parody about Lunch in a Box by the The Original What’s For Lunch blog.

My confession is that I did have the Saturday Night Live spoof song “D**k in a Box” in mind when deciding what to name this speed bento blog. My friends and I were brainstorming names, and once we started singing and riffing on “Lunch in a Box” I knew that was it. If you’re not familiar with the song, go to Hulu.com for the Justin Timberlake/Andy Samberg music video spoof, which actually won a Grammy Award last year.

My husband surprised me with a Lunch in a Box shirt for Valentine’s Day, so after reading cassandrasimplx’s song parody below I changed shirts, went downstairs and took some photos in response. If you have a warped sense of humor and feel like slapping together a Lunch in a Box song parody of your own, leave it in comments or e-mail it to me at lunchinabox (AT) gmail (DOT) com by Wednesday, April 30th. I’ll send the author of my favorite song parody a shirt, mug or bag of their choosing from the Lunch in a Box store on CafePress, where my husband got the shirt. (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

Without further ado, I present the twisted lyrics that cassandrasimplx came up with yesterday (reprinted with the author’s permission). I love it! (Read on for the song parody.)

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Published by Biggie on April 16th, 2008 tagged admin, shopping | 26 Comments »

Ichiban Kan online store accepting orders

Heads up that the new online store for Ichiban Kan, a Japanese-style discount store with cheap bento gear and household goods, has fixed their shopping cart and is now able to take orders. I wrote about the launch of Ichiban Kan’s online store last week, with a store review and links to their shipping policies (continental US only at the moment). Their bento selection is a bit limited for now, but evidently a shipping container of bento gear is on its way from Japan.