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Kitchen Witchery ->
Gotta Have Bento Stuff!!
The first thing you need is a bento box of some sort. There are many choices on the market for bento boxes. Many are inexpensive and easy to come by online, but bento boxes can be any sealable box that is large enough to suit your needs. Tupperware and Rubbermaid make sectioned or un-sectioned boxes which would make very good bento boxes. You can also find knock-off brands both in the plasticware aisle or at your local $ store. Here is a bento box that is a good size for a man lunch, a smaller two tiered box, and finally a regular divided plasticware tub from the dollar store.
A box is really all you *need* to create bento lunches, but if you want foods to not touch each other, you will need some sort of barrier.
Of course, if this becomes an obsession for you, like it has for me, you may have to purchase all types of specialty bento supplies. To the right, you can see specialty bento barriers from Japan. Silicone cupcake liners, small food cups, condiment cups and sauce bottles. There are also dividers shaped like Japanese characters and grass to separate.
I have found that even though I purchase the best specialty items from Japan and elsewhere, I still love finding supplies from the dollar store or other kitchen stores that can be used for uses other than it was designed. It's like a treasure hunt. Below you will find some pictures of just such items: picks shaped like swords, cookie cutters and a mold for cooking eggs in the microwave, but would be perfect for a rice mold.
Bento Supplies Around Town Don't forget, as you shop around town, to keep your eyes open for things that can be used for bento, but may be overlooked! The bento box may be the easiest to find around town, although finding cute ones with characters may be hard. An ordinary plasticware box, like the one at right is just perfect for a man sized meal. Below, you can see a pencil box that cost 50 cents that is a perfect size for a child's box or for a snack meal. It's not airtight, but with a bento belt, or a simple sewn circle of elastic, it would be quite secure. 
Also keep in mind that dollar stores may carry different things and it can be worth exploring the different ones in your town. For instance, the Dollar Tree distributes their own items, so they will carry a much different stock than a dollar store that searches for deals and resells them. Keep your eyes peeled around town for anything that can be used for your bento obsession.
Storage of Bento Supplies  As your collection of Bento supplies grows, you will need a storage solution. My collection is still growing, but so far, my small containers fit into this large basket. All my other supplies for bento and also for other kitchen endeavors are in a kitchen drawer.  I don't generally do the decoration with cheese slices or nori, but should I start, my collection of supplies will grow beyond these meager beginnings rather quickly, I would think. An Ebay and Etsy obsession makes it hard to stop purchasing bento supplies.
* Here is a great blog entry on some storage ideas for your bento accessories. I would love something like the magnetic ikea containers, but will settle with my little drawer for now.
[ Bento Introduction ]
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Again, you can find things created specifically for bento or things that can be found on the kitchenware aisle, or even better, the dollar store. Cupcake liners are perfect for separating all but the most moist foods, and they are a perfect size for individual portions. These you can find in many patterns and designs and also solid colors or very inexpensive from almost any store. You can find many small plasticware tubs at the dollar store or any store that carries kitchenware.
For creating shaped foods, there are specialty molds and cookie cutters, then for decorating the foods, punches can be used to cut out nori (or seaweed) shapes and small cookie cutters can be used to cut slices of cheese to be used to decorate. There are also decorative picks for creating small "kebab' type food items, and hot dog molds. There are egg molds and bento belts, which keep the bento boxes closed. Don't forget chopsticks, silverware and bento bags to make your obsession complete!
As for other supplies, side dish containers can be found at the dollar store, like the ones to the right. The silicone muffin cups you see below were found at a craft store in packs of twelve. I co-oped them with a couple mamas on a board I moderate and for the cost of one pack, we each got four of each shape. I also found an insulated soup container with lid and folding spoon at the dollar tree. Small side dish containers can also be found at any store that sells Plasticware, like Fred Meyer or Target. Lastly, at World Market, I found the adorable silverware set that is also shown below. They are meant for hors d'oerves, but they fit just right into almost any bento box.
