Bento-Tiffin

I was able to bring David home from the hospital late afternoon yesterday.  He is doing great!  I am going to mosey on over there in a little while, but want to make sure Max is up and moving before his staff gets here.

Now on to my love of Bentos.  This weekend, while shopping for some clothes, I bought a couple "Tiffins".  I needed to look up why they are called that.  Tiffins are a version of bentos from India.  Well actually, they originated from British Indian culture.  It is not exactly like bentos from the Japanese culture, but when it comes to the containers......they are very similar.  But for continuity, I will call my tiffins, bentos from this point on.

This first bento is from World Market.  I love it.  It is sturdy, easily cleaned and small.

If I find I use it a lot, I might go back and buy another set so that I can put in all my leftovers for lunches when not at home.  I find I leave my mom's house and other places earlier than I would like because I am hungry and need to go home to eat.  Maybe having more available, just to grab as I am leaving home would be a good thing.

It is small but when I put leftover main and side dish in both levels, like I did in the picture below, it really is enough for two meals.  But I am thinking, when I go to Moms or other places that I know I will need a meal, I will fill one level up with a nice green salad, and it will be perfect.

This other bento is like the one I bought last year.  Last years version had the same size containers but with four levels.  Which is perfect if you are going somewhere for several meals and snacks.  Or are serving many people, but I have found it far too big to put in my simple meals.

I bought this one because it is cute:) and slightly smaller, with just three levels.  It is at Target, in their seasonal section.  I will be using this for when I go to family picnics and going to be hours away and wanting a meal, salad and maybe a few snacks or chips.  It really is a pain to have to think this much about keeping my food clean and gluten free.  But if I have to be this strict, I might as well have something fun to pack my food in:)