This is the first bento box we ever got. We actually got 2 a red one for me and a black one for D. They are actually really nice and came with a strap, bag, and hashi. The top tier has two removable containers and the bottom has a sliding divider that is also removable. They are my favorite boxes to date.
I found this cute little box at Borders. All three of the inner containers are removable and the lid has clasps to lock it down. I like that the top is clear so you can see what’s in it. It is a little small for an adult lunch though, I usually put my meat, vegees, and fruit in here and take a separate container of rice. The cups go great in the dishwasher but wash the lid by hand.
This little box came from All Things for Sale as my free gift with order. Now that I have one I would like to buy a couple more, the size has really come in handy. It is about 3x3 inches and is perfect for holding rice or fruit. I use it to supplement my smaller 1 tier boxes. The lid snaps on pretty tight and it has a rubber seal. I filled it full of watermelon once and it didn’t leak. You should wash the lid by hand but the bottom is fine for the dishwasher.
I got this bento box in a pack of 3 (the others were red and yellow) from All Things for Sale, check out their ad to the right. These are economy bento boxes and you get a good product for the price. I think I paid around $4 each. They are a great addition to a bento stash if you already have a good bit of supplies. They do NOT come with hashi, interior containers or dividers, an elastic strap, or a bag. It is just the box with lids, but if you already have silicon cups, dividers, hashi, bags, and such they are a great buy. They are a bit smaller than my favorite red box, shown at the top, though.
Bento Accessories
These soy sauce containers are so cute but the leak! No matter what I do, they leak. They are also just barely too tall to fit upright in my bento boxes. I need to find some different ones.
I love these little silicone cups. They are flexible so they pack really well and they aren’t too big for my bento. Because of the flexibility they are actually really easy to wash. They are more flexible than the other silicone cups that I have.
These furikake bottles actually stay tight enough that I filled them with ranch dressing one day. The hole in the top is the perfect size as well. Not so easy to wash but work really well.
These silicone cups are nice, they fit well in rounded corners. They are flexible enough to give but not so floppy that they don’t retain their shape, I actually like these a lot.
These guys are actually pretty sturdy. They have a lip around the top edge which makes it a little thicker, and harder to bend. They are really good for corners and I like them but keep in mind that they won’t conform to another shape as well as the other cups.
I used these to hold together tamagoyaki rolls and they worked really well. Of course they are also adorable!
These are so useful I don’t know how I lived without them. They can weave around just about any shaped food and keep things separated really nicely.
These picks are super cute! They tend to be a little finicky though. There are 2 types of prongs. The bunny, lion, and elephant have 4 straight prongs. The panda and blue frog have 2 slightly curved prongs. The 2 prong ones don’t do well if the food is too soft, say a really ripe strawberry, they just tend to make a big hole for me and fall out. All in all I like these picks, they are super cute! If the space between the prongs was a little bit larger I think they would work better.
This cute little fork and spoon set came from Border’s. I like that they are metal on the ends but I wouldn’t put them in the dishwasher because they do have printing on the plastic handles. They are small and cute, perfect for bento.
I got these from All Things for Sale as bento box bags. They work really well with the traditional long skinny bento boxes and they can hold a water bottle and some extra stuff. They don’t do so well with square shaped boxes though because the base of the bag is not large enough. I wish I had 2 versions; the skinny one and a fatter one for more square boxes.
These silicon cups came together as a package and they are the perfect size for bento. I would say the size is between a mini and standard muffin cup. They are just flexible enough without being floppy and they are easy to wash.
This is a cute little utensil set. The front says “Lets enjoy a time with me” and has pictures of animals. The case and hashi are great but the fork and spoon feel a little flimsy.
These picks are great if you like to create scenes or stories in your bentos. It comes with umbrella handles, flower stems, balloon strings, rings, and bones. I have gotten the most use out of the bones. If you make a lot of charaben bentos these would be awesome to have. I’d like to make a point to use them more often.
Bento Tools
This is a paper punch from Fiskars that gives you a decorative heart themed edge. To make a long edge you have to punch once and then shift your paper, or nori, to the side so that it matches up with the printed image, then punch again. It’s pretty easy to line it up and with the paddle on the top it makes it easy to punch too.
This is another punch that I have had for years and used in scrapbooking. The brand has long since rubbed off but it still punches great. I prefer lever style punches over the push button ones because they are a little harder to punch.
This rice cuber is great! I used it to make rice cubes that were mixed with different furikake’s. The plunger has a star shape in it but it didn’t really make a very obvious impression. I think I could make plain cubes and carefully fill the star impression with some furikake and it would look cool. Or dip the whole top in furikake like a stamp and it should stick to everything but the star. Either way, I like this cuber :)
This is a triangle shaped onigiri mold. It works great! You can make 2 onigiri at the same time by filling up both triangle cups and pressing it all down with the lid. The rice does not stick to the plastic, even without wetting it and the bottoms of the cups have flexible centers that you can push to release the rice. I’ve run it through the dishwasher (top rack) quite a few times without any issues. LOVE IT!!
Here are 2 rice molds, one heart and one star. They do a good job. There’s a place on the bottom of the cups to push and release the rice and the rice doesn’t stick to the plastic. My only complaint is that the lids do not fit inside of the cups to help squish the rice down, the lids just lay on the top. You have to guess at how high to pile the rice to get a good fill and I have to play with it by hand to get it to compress evenly. The triangle mold above has a much better design but they do work.
