Do-It-Yourself Bento Boxes

We love the idea of making bento boxes for your family. This Japanese tradition pours love and attention into artfully arranging food and making the meal combinations special. It's a nutrition science to balance the meal's servings of grains, protein, and other foodstuffs. Then you add an artful and oftentimes whimsical presentation to everything, and you know you're not dealing with traditonal plop-food-on-a-plate-and-serve meals.

What fun to add a small exotic "personal flower arrangement" in small vases at each placesetting to create both artful food and an artful tabletop. Here's a Howcast video on making a DIY bento box. Warning: you'll want to rush out and get started making them for everyone you know once you watch this vid!

Buy What You Need: To purchase your own bento box accessories and meal prep items straight from Japan, we recommend J-Box.com. They've got an amazing assortment of items, from bento boxes for children to chopsticks and fancy garnish tools.

Go Over the Top: Tablesettings are meant to be dramatic and theatrical, so plan a bento box feast for your family and use the HomArt Porcelain Specimen Boxes to make your bento box meal sheer perfection. Purchase a variety of these handsome boxes - they make great decorating accents all around the house and excellent small stash sites for items like paperclips, buttons, stamps, spare keys, and small candies. Place one at each table setting and fill with nuts or healthy sunflower or pumpkin seeds to accompany your main meal; or add M&Ms or other small sweets for dessert. Click on the Snail box photo for more information.

Visit our Food2Share column for more delicious and design-y recipes and meals.