Special Advertising Feature: Be a Bento Master! 

 

Have you heard of the new craze among moms and their kids especially? This one concerns preparing partitioned and visually-appealing food to make sure kids eat balanced meals. Called bento-making, it is a trend that’s close to the hearts of five Pinoy Moms who call themselves the BentoMommas. 

 

Long-time friends, the BentoMommas progressed from hobbies such as baking, blogging and scrapbooking memories of family milestones to now creating bento boxes for their kids and families. And they’re helping other moms learn the craft too. The BentoMommas (BM) are five moms based in the Philippines and abroad. There’s BM April (NCR: with kids Austin 16 and David 7), BM Kaye (NCR: Alexa, 12 and Riley, 5) BM Mia (CDO: Nadine 12, Raya 10, Alyssa 6, Cerise 3), BM Monet (NCR: Nino, 9) and BM Olive (USA: Patricia, 23 and Inigo, 8).  

 

Through bento-making, moms are able to transform meals, baon or merienda into cute lunchboxes to make eating a visually- and palatably-exciting experience!  As the BentoMommas share, bento-making promotes the practice of food portioning and thus helps avoid food wastage. When portioning food for bentos, the BentoMommas practice the “Go, Grow and Glow” principle. This means that their lunchboxes contain a combination of the following:

• 1 portion of Go foods (rice, bread, pasta, corn, etc.) 

• 1 portion of Grow foods (chicken, pork, beef, fish, egg, cheese, etc.) 

• 2 portions of Glow foods (fruits and vegetables)

 

Sounds enticing? Here are five quick steps to become a Bento Master, straight from the BentoMommas:

 

1. Watch and you shall learn. In today’s day and age, you can look up anything on the Internet and that includes videos and tutorials on how to create bento boxes. Draw inspiration from these resources and let your imagination fly by whipping up your own creations.

 

2. Seek and you shall find. Bento-making need not be an expensive hobby. A decent bento can be achieved with basic tools. Most of these are washable and reusable for many, many bento moments of joy. 

 

3. Choose your Weapons. There are a lot to choose from and the BentoMommas offer a wide variety on their Facebook page. Here’s a quick rundown of the basic stuff you need: a bento box, silicon cups, barans or food dividers, food picks, sauce bottles, rice molds, deco cutters, a blade (careful!), tweezers, and squeeze bottles.  

 

4. Find the Secret. For the BentoMommas, they have one handy-dandy go-to for their bento needs. That’s Cheez Whiz and its new flavor, Cheez Whiz Milky Delight. Perfect for their savory and sweet cheese tastes respectively, these two spreads have played many roles in the BentoMommas’ creations. They can be used as toppings, dips, binding agents and of course, sandwich fillings!  

 

5. Listen to Your Masters. The BentoMommas advocate food economics and usually just set aside a portion of their previous meals (aka leftovers) for bento or “baon” the next day. They advise that whether you have a starter bento kit or a whole arsenal of bento accessories, bear in mind the most important tools come dirt cheap--free in fact. They’re called imagination, creativity and a sense of humor.

 

So, interested about bento-making? Check out the Bento Momma’s profile on the website www.cheeseanything.com. 

 

Try out and be amazed by the surprisingly sweet taste of Cheez Whiz Milky Delight. It even comes in sachet and squeeze pouch packs for easy decorating – as well as the usual glass bottle pack. Happy bento-making!