Effortless Bento: 300 Box Lunch Recipes

I am vegetarian and although most of the recipes in this book contain meat or fish I still wouldn't be without it. There are a number of full bento boxes shown in the book but what really makes this book stand out from all others is that it gives many recipes for small sides and instructions on how to prepare them and then store them for later use, so you can prepare for six or more bentos in advance. If you are only preparing one bento each day it can seem a waste of time and ingredients to use only a quarter of a pepper or have to make four or five separate mini dishes for just one bento, but this book will show you how to prepare many things in advance so that you can have them sitting in your freezer or fridge ready to go in the right portion for one bento. There are ingredients arranged by colour, recipes for home made instant soups, a whole section on rice balls with different fillings and variations on how to serve and present. There are pickles, vegetable dishes, seafood, various different meats, rice and noodles, mushrooms and dried foods and excellent step by step instructions. The main sections are: Part 1 Make-and-Freeze Dishes Arranged by Main Ingredient Part 2 Various Refrigerated Bento Dishes Part 3 À la Carte Sides Arranged By Color Measures are given in oz and grams. It won't show you how to make cute characters but it will show you how to make a really good portable meal and how to do it saving time and without losing your sanity! If you are vegetarian then this book, although full of meat, will still be useful. There are many vegetable dishes and if you use quorn or similar products you can adapt the meat dishes to suit a vegetarian diet. If you are only going to buy one bento book then make it this one. It will really make your life easier!

I saw this book at Japan Centre and flicked through in person before purchasing on Amazon. It has over 300 recipes, tried and test a few dishes. The recipes are easy to follow and taste delicious. I've brought many bento books in the past, but keep going back to this one. It is a comprehensive guide to get you started in making your own bento boxes at home.

This is a beautiful bento cookbook. Firstly, if you are just starting out with bento lunches I would not recommend Effortless Bento, instead use Makiko Itoh's Just Bento which is fantastic for first timers. Having got through all the recipes in Just Bento I bought this in an effort to expand my culinary options. It is set up beautifully with a lot of pictures for reference. The way the recipes are presented are like bento boxes themselves: short and compact but easy to follow. It also has a section on bento basics and tips, and is more focused on beautiful and healthy presentation rather than cute. However, there are some slight issues. The book has an expectation that you have access to Japanese ingredients and accessories which may be difficult to find and it doesn't always suggest an alternative, eg. shiso, umeboshi, yukari. You also need to have a good read through it before beginning: on my first flip through I found a recipe calling for canned white sauce and then aimlessly tried finding out what that was in the various indexes to no avail. Later I found its recipe within another recipe. This is a great collection for experienced bento artists, but certainly not the place to start for first-timers.

Cannot rate this book highly enough. I have several books on Bento but this is by far the best and most practical if you want to prepare lunches quickly and easily for yourself each day, rather than focus on 'pretty' or 'arty' bento boxes with animal faces or the like. It has pages of complete lunches with the page reference for each items recipe. Recipe pages are clear and simple, and there's even sections relating each item to how to store, fridge, freeze etc or how to use (microwave then pack, leave frozen to thaw naturally etc.) It is literally jam packed full of ideas and yet so clear and concise. I have many books on Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese food, and yet again I'm already using some of these recipes as mains for us as a couple in an evening and then using the leftovers in my Bento the next day. Seriously you won't regret this purchase.

This recipe book has proven a great hit at home. All of the recipes are well organised and a lot of information is provided about batch cooking lunches and how best to store them for use throughout the week. Especially good if you want healthy, appetising and filling lunches, and great for people who can't have wheat or gluten!

By far the best book on packed lunches I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The advice is comprehensive, thoughtful and practical, ranging from which lunchbox to choose and how to care for it, to the nutritional and aesthetic considerations of lunch arrangement, all presented with beautiful photography in a clear and simple way. I was particularly impressed with the sections on food hygiene and home freezing. An excellent book, bursting with ideas.

this is probably the most valued purchase for bento book on Amazon for me, I've got about 10+ other books on bentos from Amazon and very few of them is useful to me, most of them I've seen is rather like a "decoration" in which time consuming and isn't so useful or efficient for daily life. This book tells you from how to store and prepare your bento components to use in the future so you can have combination during the whole week. I wasn't that interested in the book as the cover is a bit too boring and common so I didn't expect much but when I got the book I was wrong. This is very good book if you actually want to make bento for your daily routine instead of spending hours cutting cute pieces of ham and seaweed to make them look like princesses and pandas and admire it before you eat. I've included few pages here as well. The recipes also has calories for each serving as well which is very good for controlling diet and all. All in all I really do recommend this book!

It is OK.

Súper completo, repleto de recetas útiles y muy fáciles de preparar, incluso compre otro para regalo. Me encantó

I bought several Bento items for my daughter for Christmas, including Totoro-themed Bento Boxes, sauce containers, bento bags, recipe books,etc.. She's having a lot of fun creating lunches for her Bento box. And her dad is also reaping the benefit. :) I'll share all the items we bought as we launched wholesale into the Bento adventure. We've cooked many interesting meals - no misses yet! And everyone's had fun with their Bento boxes. Even my husband is enjoying his, which was a surprise. Since we were starting Bento from scratch, we bought some Bento cookbooks, even though we have some Japanese cookbooks already: The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1568363931?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage Yummy Kawaii Bento: Preparing Adorable Meals for Adorable Kids http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1634504240?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage Effortless Bento: 300 Japanese Box Lunch Recipes http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1939130379?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage The Manga Cookbook http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/4921205078?redirect=true&ref_=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_0 and several Bento items to accommodate lunches with and without soup, etc. Her main bento box (she never microwaves it, and she washes it by hand). It came with chopsticks, but she also wanted the Totoro utensil set listed below which fits in her bag nicely with this box. Bento: Studio Ghibli Totoro Design 2-tier Microwavable Bento Lunch Box (Volume: 380ml + 250ml) http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG0BU8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage My Neighbor Totoro Stainless Steel Lunch Box LJF3 - great for soups and other items with liquids. Has a folding spoon in the lid, so you can carry just it if you want. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B009N6E5TE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage Chopsticks Spoon Fork Trio Set My Neighbor Totoro Garden - cute! What else is there to say? http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S0E7V4G?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage My Neighbor Totoro Skater Insulated Lunch Cooler Bag, Clover (UBC1) Fits everything nicely, except the extra soup container. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AYQQ8Y2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage My Neighbor Totoro Skater Insulated Lunch Cooler Bag, Clover (UBC1) (A bit taller than the bag above, so accommodates differently shaped items. Accepts her Totoro Bento box and the Totoro stainless steel soup container at the same time.) http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AYQQ8Y2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage KOUZINA 36 Baking Cups - Freshware Silicone Molds - to keep items separate in the boxes when needed. Glad we got these! A nice touch! http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B016APXXJ8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage Tupperware Smidget Container 1oz Set of 5 Blue - we bought a couple of sets of these tiny containers for dipping sauces, etc., since the reviews on some of the more eco-freindly choices of sauce containers had a lot of complaints about leakage. These are SO water-tight, it's awesome. They're tiny and perfect for a little terriyaki sauce, egg roll dip, etc. We got one color for my daughter (green ones off of eBay to match her Totoro bento box) and another color for her dad here on Amazon (blue for the win!). Helps keep things sorted. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/710105482X?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage We also had mercy on my husband and bought him a non-anime Bento Box. It's probably one of the best Bento boxes ever. Very nice design; nice size. Keeps liquids in, etc. If I get a bento box of my own, I'll probably get another one of these. Yes, stainless steel is more eco-friendly, but I'm gonna have to err on the side of leak-free products. Bento Box Lunch Box by GRUB2GO - Premium Lunch Boxes for Adults and Kids + FREE Utensils - http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B014EX3672?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage For the Kawaii factor, we had to have cutouts for lunch meats and cheese (we have yet to see how they work with home-made lunch meat, but I expect they'll work well): Yunko Bento Accessories Bears Seals Bunny Chick Bear Shape DIY Rice Ball Mould Korean Laver Take Boarder Sushi Mold Sandwich Mold Mould Cutter Stamp http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B017JMUU88?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage CuteZCute Robo Bread Bento Sandwich Stamping Cutter, Red/Black - geeks have to have robots! Ego saving for the man in your Bento Life also! http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QOJGYGK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage Well, that's about it. I think we'll be using all these things for quite a while. It was great to find them on Amazon. Some items come from Japan, but it was worth the wait. :)

Il libro è esattamente come lo descrivono. È ben scritto, con parecchie ricette semplici da eseguire e con delle istruzioni chiare ed accessibili a chi ha un discreto inglese. Sono molto soddisfatta dell’acquisto, lo consiglio.

Das Buch ist extrem hilfreich. Die Rezepte sind schon gleich danach sortiert, ob man das Gericht einfrieren kann/sollte oder ob man es über die Woche verteilt aus dem Kühlschrank in die Box packen sollte. Auch Tipps zum richtigen Einfrieren von Zutaten findet man hier. Die Zutaten für die meisten Gerichte lassen sich gut im Asialaden finden. Als Alternative zum Kantinen/Mensaessen sind Bentoboxen meine erste Wahl, da ich hier weiß was drin ist. Nebenbei schmeckt es (mir) deutlich besser. Die ersten Rezepte, die ich ausprobiert habe, sind auf Anhieb gelungen und waren unerwartet schnell gemacht und schmeckten sowohl warm als auch kalt super. Dank der Tipps zum Einfrieren und Packen (teils im gefrorenen Zustand möglich) werde ich in Zukunft sehr vielseitig vorkochen können und damit ein noch attraktiveres Mittagessen mitnehmen können als bisher. Mein Schulenglisch ist ausreichend, ein paar neue Vokabeln können schnell nachgeschlagen und in das Buch übernommen werden. Auch wenn als Haupteinheit Tassen und oz verwendet werden, sind doch häufig Angaben schon umgerechnet in Gramm angegeben, so dass man nicht ständig alles umrechnen muss.

Superbe livre en anglais Nombreux trucs pour garder les aliments au congélateur et préparer ainsi les bentos pour plusieurs jours en une seule fois!