Bento lunches are perfect for Make Ahead Cookers.
I absolutely love Baked Ziti. So, inspired by another Bento site, I made up a double batch, and after dinner, I dished the leftovers up into cupcake tins and froze them. Now they are perfect to warm up for lunch! Two makes a good main dish for my hubby. You can really do this with any pasta in a tomato based sauce, spahetti, lasagne... just make sure your sauce will freeze and defrost well.

You can also make Onigiri to freeze for lunches. Onigiri are Japanese rice balls. Equated to a granola bar in Japan, onigiri can be plain rice or they can be stuffed. Traditionally, they are stuffed with picked plums or smoked salmon, but you could use just about anything that tastes good with rice and lends itself to stuffing. A mama on a board I frequent used chicken, I am going to use a bean sauce. Onigiri are often wrapped in nori, or seaweed. You can also grill or fry the onigiri before freezing, to make yaki onigiri. The biggest tip I can give with onigiri is to microwave before eating to restore the fluffiness of the rice.

Basically with make ahead cooking, you want to cook it and then freeze it, unlike with make ahead cooking for dinners. You might bake and extra dish when you are baking your already created made ahead dinners, then dish it into individual servings to freeze. Make use of your cupcake tins to freeze individual portions, I heaped mine full.

Jello and pudding are other foods that can be made ahead, although not as far ahead. Pour the pudding or jello into individual size containers that fit into your bento box. I highly recommend containers with lids. I have made several batches and put them in the refridgerator, ready to grab out and put into dear hubby's bento lunch.

Tip: When making ahead jello, put your fruit in after a half hour or so, rather than waiting the hour and half that the jello package recommends. Smaller containers solidify faster.

Other Make Ahead Ideas For Bento Lunches

Homemade Tater Tots

[ Bento Introduction ]
[ Bento Meal/ Shopping Chart ]
[ Bento Tools, Accessories and Necessities ]
[ Bento Photo Gallery ]