Non japanese bento friendly meals.

[monki]

I like stocking up on mini foods at costco for my bentos. Mini tacos and empanadas, mini quiche, potstickers and so on. Sandwiches made on smaller pieces of bread. Or just cut up to fit. I have a 'just for dinner' breadmaker that puts out 3x5 loaves of bread. I do pasta salad with leftover chicken, veggies, and italian dressing. Meatballs with some sort of dipping sauce, potato salad with a vinegar base dressing instead of mayo. Pretty much the only Japanese thing I put in my bentos is tamagoyaki. Because it's fast, easy, and pretty good.

[smoke]

When I was packing my mother's lunches, she had a 2-year-old's attitude about strange food. I'd often pack her a chef salad, with tomato, deli meat, and a sliced boiled egg on a bed of lettuce. I'd do a similar treatment as a sandwich kit, with the lunchmeat and tomato arranged pleasingly, and a sandwich bun sitting on top of the container.

Just adapt the local ingredients into a healthy lunch. I'm sure that there are plenty of foods to choose from. Some of my favorite bentos are based on thanksgiving leftovers. Meatloaf with potatoes and broccoli sounds good. Pasta salad with roast chicken and cherry tomatoes sounds good as well.

Though I can't think of what would compliment a monte cristo, or if that would even survive sitting around.

[Megs]

I mostly pack non-traditional foods. Fun things include: deconstucted burgers, hot dogs (with condiments in separate containers), left-over casseroles (these pack great!), and, well, left-overs in general. Hubs favorite thing is left over spaghetti or ravioli (the kind that comes in a package in the freezer section). Raviolis can be really good without sauce, too. The other thing with left-overs is dont' be afraid to try anything cold (I still reheat and cool before packing).
Sometimes (if I'm tired, sick, or money is sort of tight) I just do sandwiches. You can do a variety of really cutethings with sandwiches and some plain fruit or veggie fillers.

[moonshae]

When I was really broke last year I had a lot of rice with http://www.justbento.com/handbook/johbi ... panese-egg which I have made without mirin before and had it be quite tasty still. Or a hard boiled egg with mayo (or other sauce). Mini quiche is like by the BF. I want to try a spanish potato tortilla.
Stewed fruit (in a muffin cup) with some mini pancakes (cooked with teaspoons of batter) was also tasty. Plus, the pancakes froze pretty well.

Check out http://feistybento.blogspot.com/ - who often has very non-Japanese foods for lunch.

[spoiledamerican]

I make fried rice out of..... basmati.

It's not sticky, but it comes out pretty good. I eat Indian food a lot so I usually have lots of leftover basmati rice. I chop up whatever random veg I find in the fridge (that isn't rotten), sauté onion and garlic in oil, and make it. All you really need ethnic ingredient wise is soy sauce, fish sauce, powdered ginger, and a leeeeeetle bit of sesame oil.

So I get rid of leftover veg and rice and have a relatively nutritious lunch.

[Liza]

I don't do anything traditional when it comes to bento. Roll-ups, sandwiches sometimes, skewers with meat and cheese... And leftovers - lots and lots of leftovers!

Liza
http://bentofun.blogspot.com