Breaking:: Bentos Are Not Cheap

I have been shaken to the core by this new revelation. Making your own bento (or at least the way I do it) does not save you money. When I lived in New York, bringing my lunch to work saved me at least $10 a day. New York delis are making a killing on pay by the pound salads. When I got into the habit of packing bentos, not only did I save $50 a week, I also had a lot of fun and was eating much healthier.

Fast forward to today. I always just assumed that packing a bento for work saved me money. I never really thought about it, but it just made sense. But then last week, I got a little lazy with cooking dinner which then meant no bento. My laziness is what lead me to discover that buying lunch in Japan is SUPER affordable and most of the times much cheaper than packing a bento. 

Here's a little bit of Five Footer Eater math: 

I bought a Hainan Chicken Bento that came with more rice than I would ever pack in my lunch, hot chicken curry, pickles and soup. This cost me 700 yen. (About $9...or something.) 

A six-inch turkey breast sandwich with sliced cheese (you have to pay extra for cheese in Japan - WHAT?) costs 420 yen. 

These two items are both more than enough food for me for lunch and probably double the amount of food I pack in my bentos. The portions are more than generous. 

My bentos on the other hand cost me on average 3,000 yen for groceries. Now, that does also include my dinner for the night, but sometimes I don't even have leftovers from dinner because a certain Squidward is very hungry and it is really hard to make American standard sized meals in Japan. There's no buying bulk and it seems as if everything is sold in a 1 serving size package. For example, chicken wings/drumsticks cost about 400 yen...but you get 4 pieces. FOUR DRUMSTICKS? That's not even enough for a dinner for one, let alone me plus a Squidward. And don't even get me started on asparagus. 3 measly sticks for 350 yen. Unacceptable. The point is, I gotta buy a lot of food and it adds up quick and don't last long. 

All this, in my head, somehow adds up to much more expensive than a fresh bento from a local restaurant. Add in all the adorable cute bento boxes and accessories I HAVE TO buy and it ain't even a competition. It's true, it's not as fun buying my lunch and my Google Reader time has been cut in half because I have to go out to grab my meal, but still. It just never occurred to me that my bentos may not be the most economic hobby. At least in Japan. 

International House of Bentos

Just because bentos are a Japanese thing doesn't mean your bento has to include Japanese food. I've given Harumi a little break and for awhile, was really into pasta so I think I had spagetti for 4 days in a row. Then I got back into Vietnamese food, which explains the photo above.

A lot of times, my bentos rely on whatever is in the fridge and they don't always go together. In the box above, I had spaghetti bolognese, a carrot and cauliflower salad and edamame. I don't have a picture of it, but a few weeks ago my bento consisted of some soy sauce and butter potatoes, strawberries with nutella and half a PBJ sandwich. I don't actually mind the eclectic nature of these meals, but I do get some funny looks from some of the more traditional bento makers in the office.

My Lunch :: May 12th

Today's lunch is this well balanced bento of Spagetti Bolognese, Cauliflower and Carrot salad (tossed in white truffle oil - swanky!) and a handful of edamame. It was, as usual, very delicious.

Many people assume that when you live in Japan, you will automatically lose a ton of weight because you're eating tons of fresh fish and veggies. Well, that may be true if you're living far far away from the big city but in Tokyo, temptation awaits you around every corner. McDonald's, fried chicken, pastries and ice cream -- they're everywhere and they're delicious. Packing a bento for myself has helped me cut these temptations Monday through Friday but lunch is still pretty exciting. Bento boxes are pretty small, so it helps with portion control. Many boxes come with dividers and small cups to promote diversity in your meal. A little bit of this, a little bit of that - it keeps things fun.

My Lunch :: March 19th

Isn't it beautiful? In contrast to what we get to eat the majority of the year at school, this special graduation day bento is quite a site to be seen! It's almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

My Lunch :: Oct 15 :: M Cafe de Chaya

I am a little obsessed with M Cafe so I got another bento today. This one consists of basil rice and soy nuggets. Soy nuggets sounds really gross, but they're pretty tasty. If you have ever had Inari, it tastes like the tofu skin around the rice. I am also obsessed with eating tiny pieces of chocolate from 7-Eleven. There are some pretty wacky flavors to choose from (sweet potato, azuki bean, vegetable) but I prefer white chocolate with chocolate cookie (i.e. cookies and cream). The juice is also a new discovery - muscat juice. You can find this juice in tiny cans in K-Town and other Asian markets in The States, but the tiny cans have chunks of muscat and jelly floating around. It's not bad, but sometimes you want to just have juice. Now I found it and I'm pretty stoked.

M Cafe de Chaya, Akasaka

Akaska Biztower B1F

Akasaka Station (Chiyoda) 

My Lunch :: Oct 14 :: M Cafe de Chaya

MmMmmmmmm! This bento was so good. I am a sucker for croquettes but they're not exactly healthy. I picked up a reasonably healthy version at M Cafe de Chaya in the Akasaka Biz Tower. M Cafe is an organic/macrobiotic cafe that would make Gwyneth Paltrow proud. This bento didn't come cheap at ¥1000 (i think that would be around $14.00) but it was very tasty and I was perfectly satiated and energized by it. It came with some mashed pumpkin, a tofu tomato salad, marinated broccoli, brown ume rice and a veggie croquette. Maybe I should start reading GOOP.com. Gwyneth is onto something...