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My daughter wants to get a bento box and maybe take some rice balls to school for lunch.

My question, should I make the rice in the afternoon/evening.. then get a scoop, shape it.. put in zip lock and then freeze it till the next morning when I make her sandwich and put her lunch together?

I read that cooked rice can go bad really fast, like in a matter of a couple hours at room temp.

Has anyone done this before?

Bento boxes are great for lunch! I love them.

Rice is something I don't typically freeze. I know some will disagree. But, you can make the rice balls and refrigerate them overnight. Pack the bento box in the morning with the other things you want to add. Put in an ice pack. You can make a really flat one by wetting a paper towel and putting it in a zip lock bag. Freeze it. Add it to the top of the box in the morning. You can also pack the bento box in an insulated lunch box.

OK...a couple of questions here.

First....does she want a Bento Box because it is the current rage? If she just wants to take rice balls for lunch they will transport in any container, it doesn't have to be specifically a bento box.

Second.....there are as many different types of rice balls as there are apples. Sushi rice works great because it sticks together. Make the rice the night before and put it in the fridge. Make the rice balls or California roll in the morning.

Why shell out money for an item that will only be trending for the next 6 months?

k9

Yeah, I know it's a fad thing with the bento box..

But I think I'll simply refridge the rice and fix it in the morning. I like the frozen paper towel in the ziplock idea.

I have a student who's family is Vietnamese and she brings rice balls every single day for lunch. They look like they have green onions and sesame seeds in them. She doesn't refrigerate them or have a bento box... her mom just packs them in a thermos. Sometimes just a rubbermaid container.

When I lived in the Philippines some of the workers I knew just packed rice in a folded up banana leaf. IME, rice doesn't go bad as quickly as you described.

You can always experiment.

rice doesn't go bad as quickly as you described.

This is good to hear.. I simply went off what I had read online.

Jasmine rice keeps outside the fridge for quite some time. Both my younger sister and my oldest nephew eat rice for lunch daily and it’s pack on a regular Tupperware container

We have a mini rice cooker and in a short time you can have fresh rice. I make it while I cook our oatmeal each morning or it cooks while I'm in the shower. It's easy to form the rice balls with things you made from the night before.

My sister makes ham balls and cucumber rolls and she likes chicken salad and celery rice balls too. We even made sweet apricot filling rice balls once. I like the Japanese pickles and cucumber avocado with a bit of artichoke heart when I have some.

The kind of rice matters when you're trying to form the shapes. We like the sweet sushi rice.

I'm thinking I may have to get some sushi rice.

I made her a small rice ball with regular rice, let it sit overnight in the fridge and it wasn't saying together well.. ended up wrapping it in plastic wrap so it would stay together.

[This message edited by LilBlackCat at 11:36 AM, February 5th (Tuesday)]