New Bento Box Review: Yumbox

Today's review is on the Yumbox. This box is designed by a pair of moms who wanted (from their website): "a bento-like tray, with one lid that sealed all compartments; designated food groups to encourage and assist parents in packing a balanced meal; built-in portion control; a cool design and illustrations to make this little box more of an adventure in good nutrition than just plain old lunch!" 

The boxes come in a variety of sizes and with different numbers of sections. The one I have has 6 sections; there are other versions with 3 and 4 sections as well. They come decorated with different themes on the bottom of each section, like Pirates, Mermaids, Circus, and Rockets. The theme of mine is Parisian Pink. It's very cute!

The graphics are very colorful and artistic. They are labeled with different food groups, in order to help with balanced and nutritious meal planning. The image is applied to the underside of the plastic so there is no risk of scratching from the food. The inner (clear) plastic compartment is removable for easy cleanups.

Our first bento contains a bunch of different foods, and this type of bento would be ideal for kids who prefer to graze upon smaller portions of lots of variety of foods.

I packed: spiralized zucchini raw "noodles" with fresh off the cob sweet corn and shredded mozzarella cheese, pickled napa cabbage and beets, garlicky smashed cucumber pickles, steamed Okinawan sweet potatoes, purple carrots, peaches with homemade granola, and little chocolate bear cookies because they fit perfectly into the tiny circular section. This box worked very well, kept everything separate, and prevented leaking of any liquid. The latch was easy to use and young kids will have no problem securing and opening it on their own. It would also work well as a snack box for an older child.

The garlic smashed cucumber pickles came from the Lucky Rice Cookbook, authored by Danielle Chang, who came with her crew to film a segment with Happy Little Bento for Lucky Chow a couple months ago. I thought her cookbook might contain lots of fun ideas for packing into bento, and I was right! I'll show you more of them in the future. Happy weekend, friends!

Disclosure: Yumbox generously provided me with this product for use without cost to me. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own.

Tacorice Bento

Tacorice! It's like taco, but over rice. So good. I used ground turkey flavored with taco spices served over rice with grated cheddar, shredded romaine lettuce, and chopped grape tomatoes. You can also add chopped or sliced avocado, and salsa. I put hot sauce on mine. I packed TinySprite's lunch in the bottom of this cute two tier pink polka-dotted bento, with peaches and strawberries (and carrot) in the top tier. The set even comes with a teeny tiny fork. How cute is that?

Steak Salad and Potatoes ECOLunchboxes Bento

I made a steak today. I know, weird! I never cook steak. I don't know why; they (the fam) all love meat. I actually really just wanted to make chimichurri. I put parsley, cilantro, garlic, red onions, olive oil and white vinegar in mine: it's so good and you can put it on anything. I gave my kids a few pieces of strip steak over a kale and romaine salad tossed with cherry tomatoes and fresh grated black pepper. At dinner we also had a yogurt dill dressing that I could have packed alongside as well, come to think of it. The dressing also is good with the pan-fried potatoes. You can mix the chimichurri into the salad too, and it's very good that way! This all fit nicely in the ECOlunchboxes Solo Cube. I packed along the EcoDipper on the side with a few strawberries and chopped peaches. That should keep her filled this afternoon, I hope!

Pork Chop Strips Bento

For this simple lunch I made pan-fried Vietnamese style thin pork chops, which I sliced into strips for the kids' bento. I marinated the meat in a mixture of fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, shallots, and cracked black pepper before cooking them in a cast iron pan. Added the sliced peppers too, and reduced the sauce. You can serve them in a lettuce wrap with pickled veggies, or over shredded lettuce, or with baby sweet peppers like I did here. A half peach and some chopped Asian pear round out the bento for MisterMan. They both love this meat, and it's a great way to get them to eat lettuce too :)

Herby Chicken and Potatoes ECOlunchbox Tri Bento (Giveaway still going on!)

Herby Chicken and Potatoes ECOlunchbox Tri Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yes, it's the ever-popular herby chicken and potatoes! I think the kids prefer it over the traditional local-style shoyu chicken and rice. Aww. The ECOlunchbox Tri bento serves the purpose well here: I put the chicken pieces in the bottom along with some steamed broccoli, then the potatoes and roasted tomatoes in the next tier, followed by the fruit section containing sliced peach (where did I find a peach? I don't even remember), strawberries and little strawberry guavas given to us by a friend. Are you interested in winning a Tri Bento for your very own self? All you need to do is log an entry into the giveaway, and I'll try to pick your name! U.S only please. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Added to What's For Lunch.

Halloween Spidery Rollups Bento

Halloween Spidery Rollups Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Halloween Spider bento number 2: This one is for TinySprite again. I used the divided 4-compartment plastic tupperware-like container. I made tortilla ham spinach cheese rollups and cut them to fit in one section. There are strawberries and grapes next to those, a cup of pickled cucumbers, sliced white peaches, corn-off-the-cob, and a purple sweet potato spider. She loves this kind of lunch! It doesn't involve any cooking at all, so it works for me too. Yay!

Enchilada Soup LunchBot Thermal Bento for Fall!

Enchilada Soup LunchBot Thermal Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Everyone is talking about the upcoming fall weather, and I'm starting to get excited about fall soups. So even though it's not exactly cold yet, we're having chicken enchilada soup (see the recipe and method I used here). As usual, I added a lot of nontraditional extras such as zucchini, carrots, corn, celery, and leeks. It was good (if a tad bit spicy). I served TinySprite's portion over rice, and she ate hers without too much complaint over the heat. I get to use the LunchBots Thermal food jar for this bento, and packed it along with a side container of white peach, grapes and strawberry. Happy Fall!
Added to What's For Lunch.

Curry LunchBot Thermal Bento

Curry LunchBot Thermal Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Oh yeah, you've seen this one before too. It's the standard keema curry that I always make (recipe here), only this time I added chopped broccoli and yellow cauliflower. You know me. I'll add whatever kind of vegetation I happen to have in the fridge. If you think your kids will balk at the extra cruciferousness, then you can mince it fine, but my kids don't seem to care too much. It makes the curry a little bulky, so I make extra sauce to compensate. Serve over steaming rice for best effect! I packed the curry in our LunchBot thermal food jar for MisterMan, and sent along a side box of the usual: pickled cucumbers, red onions, carrots and daikon; grapes and strawberry, sliced peaches. Yeah, they ate this on a hot summer day, but imagine how comforting it would be on a cold fall day? Not me -- I refuse to think about fall just yet -- we just finished our 1st week of school and I'm still enjoying summer in my mind! ^_^

Chicken and Broccoli with Beet Slaw Bento

Chicken and Broccoli with Beet Slaw Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I haven't posted a MisterMan bento for awhile, so here's today's: Vietnamese soy chicken with steamed broccoli, a raw beet-carrot-onion-daikon vinegary slaw, and a selection of fruit (peach, strawberries, blueberries). It does look a bit ordinary, doesn't it? Actually, I haven't been posting his bento because he's been making his own, by himself, a couple of times a week. He decides what and how much he wants, and he likes to show me the finished result. I've taken phone shots of his creations, and I really should post them for posterity. Maybe I'll show you a few of his bento sometime!

Herby Chicken Lunchbots Bento

Herby Chicken Lunchbots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's the last bento for the week: and it's good old chicken and rice. I loved this combo when I was a kid, and my kids kind of do too, minus the rice. Sigh. But I find that they will grudgingly eat rice with furikake (and also in hot dog maki, fried rice, sticky rice, or jook), so I put a cup of it in here. This rice is black rice and pearl barley. I disguised it as a cupcake with a tomato "cherry". The chicken is just garlicky herbes de provence olive oil chicken, oven baked. I made more kale chips tonight, which didn't survive for bento extras. The rest of the LunchBot Trio holds a variety of pickled stuff, carrots, cherries, strawberry and baby peach. Oh, and a broccoli tree. Have a great day!

Bratwurst with Apples 'n Peppers LunchBots Bento

Bratwurst with Apples 'n Peppers LunchBots Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

This one is another selection of little bites for TinySprite, this time in the super cool LunchBots Clicks series. This is the small set, which includes one stainless steel rectangular container with a 320ml capacity, and another one with a 480ml capacity. As you know, I am a huge fan of the other LunchBots, and I use the Uno, Duo, Trio and Quad regularly. I was very excited to see the company come out with a set like this: the same high quality sturdy stainless steel body but with a tight-sealing, gasketed lid. The lids click closed on all four sides similar to the way the Lock & Lock boxes work. The lids are made of translucent blue plastic and are completely leakproof! That's right -- your food stays in contact with stainless steel but is safely protected from spillage through tossing, dropping and inversion! I don't know about you, but this is just about as close to perfect as I can imagine. Besides this small set, there's also a medium size for adults or bigger appetites, and even a large set that would be great for picnics or roadtrips. How versatile is that? I'm very impressed.
For this meal I quickly grilled some brats alongside some sweet peppers/chopped apples/celery for the bigger box and layered some sliced stone fruit, berries and edamame for the smaller box. I think the amount of food here is perfect for my kindergartner's lunch and snack, plus she can manage the click-locking lids easily by herself. Total win!

Creepy Egg Skull and Rolls plus EcoLunchbox GIVEAWAY!

Creepy Egg Skull and Rolls Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Let's keep going with the creepy skulls, shall we? This one is crafted from a hard-boiled quail egg, which is naturally skullish -- all you need to do is pinch the cheeks in a little and add some nori details. I made some turkey dog "sushi" rolls using black rice, and decorated the ends with freecut nori designs: bats and vampire faces. There are also some steamed broccoli and a little jack-o-pepper. I packed this bento for TinySprite in another stainless steel EcoLunchbox: this one is called the Solo Cube, and it's just the perfect size for my kindergartner. I packed this box along with the EcoDipper, containing some sliced peaches and berries. This size meal isn't too overwhelming for her, and she has no problem sliding off these lids. They stay on pretty well, but I secure both with elastic bands, just in case. I like the versatility that these two different shapes and sizes offer; you could fit a sandwich thin in the Cube, or some sausage skewers, some meatballs and pasta, or a chicken salad. The round Dipper is just right for a handful of nuts, trail mix, crackers, berries, or melon balls. I was so pleased with this duo that I mentioned it to the folks at EcoLunchboxes and they thought it would be a great idea to offer these two as a set to one of you, my bento-making readers! I know you'll love these as much as I do. They're well-made and look like they're built to stand up to years of daily use. If your child outgrows them, you can always use them for an afterschool or recess snack.

My kids have been taking bento to school their whole lives and I was amused recently to find my daughter bringing home disposable items (from a field trip) because she's so used to re-using. 

If you're interested in trying out the EcoLunchbox Solo Cube and the EcoDipper, please leave me a comment below telling me whether you've made any efforts lately to be more "green", and include your email address so that I can contact you. I'll leave it open until midnight on Halloween night (October 31, 2012, Pacific time). U.S. only please. Thanks a lot for your interest!

For more info, see EcoLunchboxes.
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Ecolunchbox provided the items I used to pack this bento today, but I received no other compensation, and the opinions I expressed are mine.

Added to What's For Lunch.

Anpanman Portobello Pizza Bento

Anpanman Pizza Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We made portobello pizzas again (see my method here), and I've found that it's best to scrape out as much of the gills as you can, use a minimum amount of cheese (just enough to "glue" the toppings on but not enough to get all gooey), and leave the vegetables just a bit tender (not super grilled). Of course, these pizzas are best straight out of the oven, but the kids beg to take them to school. Whenever I see a round food now, I think of Anpanman. And I had just the round things to make his nose and cheeks (pepperoni minis). I used ham to make his eyes, eyebrows and mouth (and nori for his eyeballs). If I had waited and put the pepperonis on after (or cut smaller circles) they might have looked rounder. And you might have recognized him. But whatever! I rarely use this flip-top box, but it fits the food just too well today. Happy Wednesday!

Chili Thermal Bento

Chili Thermal Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Oh man, this looks like a fall / winter bento. But chili is such a great one-pot meal that I can't resist making it throughout the year. Toss in all the vegetables you can think of, simmer in a tomato-based broth with beans and sausage, and that's it. Even gets better the next day. Can't beat that! I pack thermal bento in the morning right before the kids leave for school. They should stay hot for at least 4-5 hours. I pack the fruit selection in a stainless steel box to go alongside, and I don't have to worry whether they're getting their daily servings of vegetation. Simple ^_^

Beet Hash and Egg Bento

Beet Hash and Egg Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I tried something new, since my kids love taters so much: beet hash. It's just diced potatoes and onions, but with diced beets tossed into the mix. I'm telling ya; they couldn't really taste a difference. Or if they did, they didn't care too much. They obviously saw them in there, and I specifically asked MisterMan (since he doesn't care for beets) whether he knew they were beets, and he said "Of course! I know they're beets! But it's okay, I don't mind them when they're mixed in with other stuff." Score! I lay the hash on a bed of spinach and topped with a hard-boiled egg. It's kind of a breakfast-y lunch bento again, isn't it? The top tier of the tiffin holds broccoli, carrots, corn, grapes and white peach. We'll be eating this again for sure.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 3.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 3., a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

We just came off a long 3-day weekend due to a teachers work day, and it's a little tough to get back into bentomaking and blogging again. And did I mention the whole weekend was the most gorgeous, summery, sparkling weekend we've had all year?! That's right; we hit our year's high temperature yesterday. The bay area is notorious for cool summers and late warming, so this is pretty typical. While everyone else is planning pumpkin soups and pot roasts, we're thinking refreshing salads and ice teas. So here's today's no-cook bento: the ever-popular summer rolls in rice paper wraps, filled with lettuce, pickled carrots and cucumbers, deli nitrate-free ham and salami. Yeah, I know it sounds weird. But the kiddos cannot get enough. Plus, the rice wraps stay closed so well (compared to tortillas) that they're hard to beat mess-free fun finger foods. How can you argue with that? Two little Okinawan sweet potato lovebirds perch upon a broccoli branch above a radish heart. Awwwwww. Summery peaches and berries complete the meal. I wonder if they'll go for summer rolls all week?

Added to What's For Lunch. 

Honey Soy Ginger Baked Chicken Bento

Honey Soy Ginger Baked Chicken Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's chicken is a little different from the usual shoyu chicken, but the ingredients are the same. I used the recipe from the Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman, which caught my eye because the photographs that accompany the recipes are very cool. They look messy and a little sloppy, just the way most meals look in my house. Plus, she shows variations for folks (like for those who prefer less spicy, etc.) Anyway, here's Katie Workman's version:

Honey Ginger Soy Chicken Recipe (from The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman)

1 cup of honey, at room temperature
3/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce (I substituted coconut aminos and it tasted okay)
1/2 cup very finely minced or grated fresh ginger (from about one thick 4-inch piece)
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
2 chickens, 3 to 3 1/2 lbs. each, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 8 pieces each
5 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces, from the white to about halfway up the green (optional)

Whisk everything except the chicken and scallions together, and add to chicken. Marinate a few hours or overnight. Arrange chicken in baking pan and scatter scallions on top. Bake the chicken in a covered baking pan at 350F for 30 minutes. Uncover, turn chicken, increase temp to 375F and continue to bake 30-40 minutes longer. Serve with pan sauce.

It was kind of sweet, but a nice balanced combo with the garlic, ginger and shoyu. The kiddos liked it a lot. I sent a few pieces to school with TinySprite, atop a bed of furikake rice, surrounded by corn off the cob and a broccoli tree. The upper tier of the panda donburi bowl holds peaches, strawberry, grapes, homegrown tomatoes and a steamed Okinawan sweet potato.

Slow-Cooked Pork Stew Bento

Slow-Cooked Pork Stew Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Yeah, I know it's not fall yet, but I had a little pork shoulder so I decided to toss it in the slow cooker with some potatoes, carrots and celery and make a kind of stew. It had been cool for a few days last week and I can smell fall coming, so we might as well dust off the stewpot and get ready for those hearty warm meals. This kind of bento is a cinch to pack, because all I do is heat it up and ladle it into the thermal food jar just before the kids go to school. The little side box with fruit (peach, strawberries and blueberries) can be packed the night before. It might not be the cutest looking lunch, but it's nutritious and filling, and it'll keep my kids satisfied though the afternoon. And... that's the whole point, right? Happy Bento-ing! ^_^

Chick and Egg Salad Bento

Chick and Egg Salad Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

I had to make egg salad since my 9-year-old informed me that he'd never had it before. What? Whoops. I remember eating egg salad sandwiches when I was about his age, with all kinds of weird stuff like sweet pickle relish inside. Or maybe those were my sardine sandwiches? My childhood friend Barb showed me how to make a sardine sandwich with relish and tabasco; I still think that sounds really good, don't you? In fact, it may be time to introduce the kiddos to a sardine sandwich! I'll try that on 'em next week, maybe. For this batch, I mixed a few hard-boiled eggs (diced up with the handy-dandy egg slicer) with plain yogurt, sweet pickle relish, mustard, onions, salt/pepper and topped with diced ham. I put it on a lettuce salad but I'd like to serve it in a pita next time (at least for MisterMan). For fun, I nestled a baby quail egg chick on top. The upper tier of her favorite panda bowl contains sliced peaches, blueberries, grapes and strawberries. For the record: they both loved it. Yay!

Summer Rolls Bento, part 2.

Summer Rolls Bento, part 2., a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

My TinySprite is so predictable; of course she asked for summer rolls again. Now I keep a stash of cooked shrimp in the freezer ready to roll anytime I need a quick no-cook bento. I'm getting better at rolling these now, too. I was able to fill the rice wrappers with lettuce, cilantro, pickled carrots and cucumbers, deli ham and a few shrimp. I made two rolls of about the same size and shape, without tearing either, and they both happened to fit exactly right in this cool new stainless steel lined double bento box set! I like the idea of the stainless interior, which is great for food which might stain, and it also seems cooler to me, like the food will stay fresher. The exteriors are plastic, and the lids are the locking gasketed type with 4 latches. They are completely watertight, which I take to mean the moisture stays in too -- thus I can pack the summer rolls without worrying that they'll dry out. One of the boxes has a removable divider, and the stainless liners of both boxes come out for easy cleaning. Look how cute the lids are, too! I love them. Along with the rolls, she gets a bunch of fruit (peach, strawberries, blackberries, champagne grapes, regular grapes, corn and a little Okinawan sweet potato bunny shape). Everything packed perfectly snugly and visibly through the translucent covers. They stack atop one another and even come with their own matching bag. Wow! Super super love them. So did she. ^_^