School is almost back in session, which means those lazy summer mornings will soon be replaced with making your children’s lunches.
But instead of throwing Vegemite sandwiches into their bag, what if you could create a quick and easy meal that was both nutritious and nice to look at?
MasterChef Australia’s Poh Ling Yeow has revealed her top tips and tricks for creating adorable Bento lunchboxes for kids.
With each box containing a number of compartments, Bento boxes are the perfect way to make lunch ‘a bit of an adventure’, Yeow told Daily Mail Australia.
MasterChef Australia’s Poh Ling Yeow has revealed her top tips and tricks for creating adorable Bento lunchboxes for kids
Poh, an ambassador for SunRice, said that the compartments in the Bento box is perfect for making lunch ‘a bit of an adventure’ for children
‘The compartments are really fun for kids, and I think it tricks them into eating things they might not usually try,’ she added.
Yeow recommends cutting colourful fruits and vegetables into a variety of shapes to make them more exciting for children and ease them into experimenting with foods.
‘If your children aren’t eating raw vegetables, it’s a good time to try them in a Bento box,’ she said.
‘They’re not as aware that you’re trying to make them eat a vegetable. They’re just trying to eat their way around a really colourful plate.’
And you can tackle picky eaters by shaping veggies into the shape of your child’s favourite cartoons, or even chopping them up and hiding them in balls of rice.
Rice is the staple of the Bento box and a perfect food for children, according to Yeow.
Yeow recommends cutting colourful fruits and vegetables into a variety of shapes to make them more exciting for children and ease them into experimenting with foods
She also recommends making rice the staple of the Bento box. Yeow likes to use a rice press mold and nori seaweed to help create faces
‘Rice is something nearly all kids love,’ she said. ‘It has a very gentle flavour and everything goes with it. It’s a really good gluten-free option as well.’
Yeow uses a short grain traditional sushi rice, which can be cooked just like normal rice and is perfect for molding into shapes.
She then uses anything from nori seaweed to seeds, nuts, and grapes to help create fun faces on the rice, which can easily be shaped with the help of a rice press mold.
Yeow tries to include multiple textures – both soft and crunchy – in her Bento box to make sure it’s both interesting and well-balanced.
She recommends including something from each of the key food groups: grains and whole grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, and dairy.
Yeow often uses hard-boiled eggs and tuna for protein, mixing the latter with red onion, spring onion, and Japanese mayo for taste.
Yeow tries to include multiple textures – both soft and crunchy – in her Bento box to make sure it’s both interesting and well-balanced.
She recommends including something from each of the key food groups: grains and whole grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, and dairy
She’ll also sometimes add flair to her boiled eggs by soaking them in a mixture of water and vinegar with different natural food colours to dye them.
While some Bento boxes may look time-consuming, Yeow said it’s easy to do the boxes quickly and even make it fun for the whole family.
‘You don’t have to make a big deal out of it,’ she said. ‘If you just get a couple of cookie cutters, maybe one rice press mold, and offer a range of colours and textures then nutritionally you’ll be really set.’
‘Even just cutting things into cubes and sprinkling them into compartments is enough.’
‘You can make it with your kids, and lots of things you can cut ahead of time as well and do it for the whole week. Then it’s just about assembling the box.’
‘I don’t think people need to get too flummoxed about making it look amazing. Kids would really love anything outside of a Vegemite sandwich.’
While some Bento boxes may look time-consuming, Yeow said it’s easy to do the boxes quickly and even make it fun for the whole family