Tamago lunches

Contents: Cucumber, cherry tomatoes, homemade takoyaki (octopus balls) and sauce, dashimaki tamago (Japanese rolled egg with dashi stock), whole apricot, rice mixed with shiso furikake, and umeboshi.

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using leftovers. This morning I cut sliced the cucumbers and tomatoes, microwaved leftover cold rice and mixed in some furikake. The takoyaki was leftover from the previous night’s dinner (recipe and full tutorial here), and the rolled egg was also leftover from the previous day (I’m putting together a tamagoyaki tutorial).

Packing: Because takoyaki is best sauced right before you eat it, I packed the takoyaki sauce in the little green sauce container, put the takoyaki in a silicone-coated oblong paper cup to contain the sauce when eating, and threw in a long pick to eat them with. All packed in my new 500ml Leaflet box from Irving Housewares in San Francisco.

Contents of Bug’s lunch: Mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries and strawberries), dashimaki tamago (Japanese rolled egg with dashi stock), cucumber slice, and onigiri made with rice mixed with salmon furikake, decorated with pre-cut nori. Bug is crazy for tamago, so the more I stuff in the happier he is…

Morning prep time: 5 minutes, using leftovers. This morning I cut sliced the cucumber, microwaved leftover cold rice, mixed in some furikake, and shaped it into round onigiri using the plastic wrap method I used to make scrambled egg purses. The dashimaki tamago (rolled egg) was leftover from the previous day (I’m putting together a full tamagoyaki tutorial).

Packing: This was a kid-friendly meal, with all finger foods. The fixed dividers in this box (350ml Lock & Lock box from this lunch set) meant I could pack delicate fruit like raspberries without worrying that they’d get crushed in transit. Reminder: fragile fruit makes a lousy gap filler unless you’re fond of fruit goo.

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READ MORE:

• Tutorial: How to make tamagoyaki
• Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
• How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
• Choosing the right size bento box
• Packed lunch food safety
• Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews