{"id":2443,"date":"2013-08-28T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicolevanputten.com\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2013-09-02T13:38:47","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T17:38:47","slug":"ms-bento-saves-lunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicolevanputten.com\/2013\/08\/28\/ms-bento-saves-lunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Ms. Bento Saves Lunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple days ago I told you all about my bag<\/a> and what I carry in it. Today I’m going to let you in on a secret that Team VP has been using for about a year now that has made our FODMAP life, our traveling life and my professional patient daily life one million times easier: Zojirushi bento boxes. Typically bento boxes are adorable plastic lunch boxes that hold and store cold elementary school lunches, but Zojirushi Ms. Bento<\/a>\u00a0keeps our meals hot for up to 8 hours. Yup, Ms. Bento is a rock star.<\/p>\n

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Zojirushi makes all different sizes of bento boxes, but we found that the best one for portion size for FODMAPers is the Ms. Bento. If you need something larger, Mr. Bento<\/a> is your guy. When we purchased our bento boxes there was a lot of discussion on Amazon and other websites about which bento box to buy. People were really worried about not having enough food, not being able to fit their lunch in the compartments and worst of all, their lunch getting cold. We use our Ms. Bentos all the time, so let me ease your mind. Say hello to Ms. Bento:<\/p>\n

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Using Ms. Bento is super easy. Let me show you how it’s done.\u00a0The first thing you’ll need to do\u00a0is put the kettle on to boil water.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Then, while you’re waiting take Ms. Bento apart. She’ll live.<\/p>\n

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Good work, but keep going. Take off the lids and put the fork in the bag for safe keeping.<\/p>\n

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Good work. You will notice that the container all the way on the left has a smaller container on the inside. This container goes on the very top and is used to store food you don’t want to keep hot, just at room temperature.<\/p>\n

While you continue to wait for your water, get out your meal and start to assemble. I’m having brown rice, grilled tomatoes, chicken, feta cheese and carrots.<\/p>\n

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The middle container will hold one cup of rice and three small tomatoes.<\/p>\n

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The bottom container will hold way more than 3 ounces of chicken.<\/p>\n

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The top container will hold about 1\/2 cup of feta cheese and 1\/2 cup of chopped carrots. I only pack a couple tablespoons of feta.<\/p>\n

Now, take your boiling water and pour it into the outer jar and put the lid on.<\/p>\n

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Take your containers you’d like to have hot and without the lids – the lids are not microwave safe – heat them up in the microwave. I usually heat my rice, tomatoes and chicken for about two minutes. Take everything out and put the lids on. Pour the water out of the jar and put the containers in the jar.<\/p>\n

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Place the lid on Ms. Bento after she is assembled and put her back in the bag. Your lunch will stay hot for about six to eight hours. I usually pack a snack in our bags because there is room and Mr. MVP always gets hungry around 10:00 a.m.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Bento and Team VP are a winning combination.<\/p>\n

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