How to pack a bento style snack in a sandwich container

One of the key elements of bento style food is that it looks really good. One of the reasons it looks so good is because it is packed into small spaces quite tightly and therefore has no blank space around it. But so many of the bento style lunchboxes are really expensive. Which is fine if you are committed and sure that you want to pack that style of lunch. If you're looking to try it out, or if you can't commit to the price of a bento lunch box, I'm about to teach you how to pack a bento style snack in a sandwich container.

For some people this may well be your first foray into bento style lunches. If that's the case I recommend you take a squizz at the lunch week in review posts as they will give you a good idea of what you are trying to achieve.

The key to making a bento style snack in a sandwich container is the equipment. You need to have some silicone cupcake holders or barans. They can be square, round, oblong, oval whatever, so long as you can make them fit together neatly like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in the container. I'm currently using a couple of zak! containers and also some Tupperware ones. I've also got a frozen one too that is used a fair bit.

Here's an example of how they fit together:

See how they look really tight in the container? That's a key element to making the bento style work in a container that is just an open space. I've used a sistema dipper, a square cupcake mold and these little lettuce cups from Little Bento World.

In the one above I've squeezed in some strawberries to keep it all from moving!

This one has inside out sushi, and date and apple bickies in it. See how all the little silicone containers work together!

This method works best for dry foods and things that are relatively squishy and means that kids have an awesome snack box with lots of variety!

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