AIBU to hope Bento boxes for packed school lunches never take off here?

[LightDrizzle]

Luckily I’m an old bat and it wouldn’t directly affect me but while it’s a Japanese thing that is sort of cute at a distance, the thought of parents, and let’s face it, mostly women, thinking they have to put mental and physical effort into carving Squishmallows out of radishes and creating beautiful and imaginative Bento boxes every day for the delight of their children and the envy of their friends just makes me feel depressed.

It was bad enough in the days of cutting sandwiches and bunging a satsuma, a Mini Babybel and a Penguin in. I’m still surprised at how long it takes to make rounds of decent sandwiches. I loathed doing packed lunches on top of everything else you’ve got to do with young children and full time work. Obviously there is nothing wrong with the Bento box as a receptacle, it’s the Insta-culture expectation as to the contents that make me feel sympathetic dread. Sometimes it seems that as fast as we develop labour saving gadgets and devices; social media and influencers devise tortuous new ways of parting women from any prospect of a moment to theirselves.

What happens to the left over bits of cheese and cucumber?

You don't 'have to' do anything other than what is convenient for you if you use a Bento box. There is no obligation to fashion fruit/vegetables into stars; triangles or any other shape. No TikTok or instagram influencers will hunt you down if you don't.

I find them convenient so I use them. It's that simple.

But why mention the method of cooking at all? Why is it relevant?
I think we can all assume she wasn't going to be putting fish soup or chicken soup in the box...

People aren't missing the point of OP's post and no one is getting huffy. We're just noting that her dislike isn't really bento boxes, it's overly precious, appearance-focused lunches - and the vast majority are agreeing/comiserating with OP that we're not willing to faff with that. But that isn't traditional bento), the vast majority of people aren't doing anything like that (here or in Japan or the US or wherever) so there's no expectation of it unless someone sets it for themselves, and if there was no such thing as bento boxes there would still be the same minority of mummies using their kids' lunch for instagram likes or as an arts & crafts project.

And then people are talking some about how they actually do make lunches work for them and their DC because that's how conversations go.

Ha, I do have ADHD and ASD. I 100% get you. Cannot be bothered doing elaborate stuff, but being able to have easy compartments for the things so they do not touch is awesome.

I have a bento box (for me). I put things like rice, cucumber, carrot and tofu in the compartments. It's only as complicated as you want it to be.

Many parents in this country don't even bother to feed their kids vegetables or food that doesn't come frozen, so I don't think you need to worry. 😂

I think your info is out of date. About 75% of mothers with children under 18 work in Japan now, slightly higher than the UK and equivalent to the US.

Op literally says that her issue isn't with the receptacle but with the cutesy carvings that people put in it though

I get that not everyone has the time, and it can become another boring chore, but my kids love their packed lunches. It's healthy homecooked food that I know they enjoy eating, and they really look forward to opening it up and seeing what's inside. It breaks up a long day at school for them.

Yes. And people are discussing all of the non-cutesy lunches they make while agreeing with OP that they largely don't have time for that stuff.

I do bento style for my kids only because the school won't let them throw away food packaging or uneaten food at school, so previous lunch boxes/bags were coming home covered in crumbs and half eaten yogurts.

It's not fancy shapes for us, just a neat way of keeping everything contained. We even have "hot" boxes so they can have soup on a cold day.

So, which boxes are you all using?

I use Bento boxes for DD's packed lunch but only because of her eating issues (ARFID & Autism). She eats a couple of mini breadsticks, a couple of apple wedges, 2 small chunks of cheese, 2 slices of carrots or cucumber etc etc (obviously these are in addition to her sandwich) and doesn't like any of the above to be 'touching' so the multiple spaces are genius for us.

Why do so many people forget to think about children with special needs?

@Saturdayblurs What's 'blech' about having separate compartments in a lunchbox?!?!

Many, many children with SEN can’t/won’t eat school dinners so we have no choice!

I love the actual boxes to just add things to, it makes me think about having a balanced meal. This bit is for protein, this is for fruit etc etc.

The ones Japanese primary school children take are a work of art.

I should probably add as well as one for packed lunches I also have one of the black lacquered one and a square omelette pan.

'Why do so many people forget to think about children with special needs?'

The OP didn't. She even commented how great bento boxes are. As has everyone else on the thread.

Our younger ones have yumbox ones currently, but we've also liked Bentgo. Oldest chipped in some of her pocket money to upgrade to a rather fashionable monbento set last year when we were buying new boxes.

Proof?

You've just decided that for yourself, haven't you?

Also, just because a food item has been frozen, doesn't make it junk! 😂 Frozen veg has farrrr more nutrients & goodness than the stuff that's been sat on lorries & in supermarkets for days, minutely decomposing and losing more goodness every minute.
Frozen veg is the most nutritious form of veg to eat, especially Birds Eye as they freeze it within an hour of harvesting it!

Where's 'here'? They've definitely taken off here in SE England. I find them quick and easy to make. You can put as much or as little effort in as you want, the same as any packed lunch. I enjoy the creative side of it if I have a few extra minutes but certainly am not carving anything out of a radish!

They haven't at my DD's secondary school, she is 13 and said they are unhealthy and unappetising, she has a Bento box and makes rice and couscous dishes and vegetables and a homemade (by her) snack like oatcake. However, she gets up early and wants to make it herself.

I absolutely love the bento box from yumbox. They're durable and we've been using it daily for 4 years and it's not broken or got mouldy.

It means I'm only washing one piece of plastic per day rather than 3-4 little containers and it keeps the sandwiches in shape. I've never cut a cucumber into a shape though...

I don’t think that fancy chopped veg is going to feature in British lunchboxes before shop bought /restautang food becomes more like Japan in terms of presentation
Instagram is for showing off and is therefore a minority. These people are seeking validation from strangers probably because their own kids aren’t as gushing as randoms on the internet.