Cheese Plate Bento Box and Everyday Bento

Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches To Go, written by Wendy Thorpe Copley, highlights the Japanese tradition of bento boxes using American ingredients in fun and nutritious ways. A few themes include Bear Cub Bento, Rainbow Bento, Ballerina Bento Box, Building Bricks Bento Box, and First Day of School Bento. I will also be sharing her recipe for a Cheese Plate Bento Box following the review.

Disclosure: I received this book from Tuttle Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own.

Wendy Thorpe Copley

Wendy Thorpe Copley first started creating bento lunches after her husband gave her a bento box for Christmas a few years ago.

She was immediately hooked and now enjoys continuing to design lunches for her whole family in Northern California while sharing her adventures on Wendolonia. Wendy is also the author of Fresh Bento.

Everyday Bento

Wendy begins Everyday Bento with a few tips and tricks get started. She shares everything from balancing ingredients to assembling whimsical boxes with easy-to-follow charts of ingredient ideas based on food group and color.

She also goes over the individual types of boxes, notable supples, decorations, and templates (to make a ballet slipper and superhero mask).

Chapters are divided based on the type of bento: Bentos for Busy Mornings, Extra-Special Bentos, Bentos for All Seasons, and Bentos for Grown-ups.

Every single bento includes a photo of the finished box, along with step-by-step photos of the assembly.

At the beginning of each recipe, Wendy includes an equipment list, what type of box is needed, and the ingredients. Variations are often provided. Exact measurements generally aren’t given, but are listed in US Customary and Metric when there is a specific recipe.

Cheese Plate Bento Box

Wendy’s last chapter focuses on Bento for Grown-ups (though kids will often enjoy them too!) and I was immediately drawn to this Cheese Plate Bento Box.

It is such a fun on-the-go snack with an assortment of crackers, a clementine, grapes, salami, almonds, Gouda, and Brie. The Cheese Plate Bento also comes together in under 10 minutes. The longest part is simply arranging everything together.

Want something a little different? The Brie can be swapped for a little goat cheese and the gouda can be replaced with another favorite hard cheese.

Other Bento Boxes

I also made the Build-It-Yourself Pizza, Star Wars Bento Box, Under the Sea Bento, and Sausage and Salad Bento.

The Build-It-Yourself Pizza was a simple box that actually leaves the assembly to the kids. Mini flatbreads are arranged in the box with pizza sauce, mini pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and chopped orange bell pepper.

Evan looked through the book to pick out a lunch to make and it came as no surprise that he chose Star Wars. It also included two of his favorite snacks, pretzel sticks and cheese. Other ingredients include blueberries, a sandwich (Evan chose peanut butter), cucumbers, and Mandarin oranges. I got the light saber picks online and I already had the Yoda cookie cutter plunger from his Star Wars birthday party in April.

The Under the Sea Bento uses hot dogs in a fun way. They are cut into the shape of octopuses, then assembled with seaweed-shaped cucumber, star-shaped kiwi, blue tortilla chips, and carrots cut into fish.

The Sausage and Salad Bento was another perfect more adult-style bento box. An arugula salad is topped with pecans, dried cranberries, and goat cheese formed into a star. It is paired with sliced sausages and a mini baguette.

Everyday Bento is a great pick for those wanting to start packing bento boxes or are looking for new ideas this back to school season. The boxes are easy to put together in just a little bit of time. Many don’t even require any cooking.

Most of the ingredients are readily available in the average American grocery store. Specialty tools that may require purchasing online are often used. As a note, these boxes focus on more Americanized lunch ideas.

Cheese Plate Bento Box Recipe

Excerpt from Everyday Bento

Print Pin

Cheese Plate Bento Box

A recipe for a Cheese Plate Bento Box from the cookbook, Everyday Bento. This easy cheeseboard-themed bento comes together in less than 10 minutes for a fun on-the-go snack.

Course Main

Cuisine N/A

Keyword almond, bento, brie, cheese, cheese plate, gouda, grape, salami

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes minutes

0 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1 Serving

Ingredients

• Brie cheese
• Aged salami
• Clementine
• Water crackers
• Aged Gouda cheese
• Grapes
• Roasted almonds

Instructions

• Cut a wedge of the Brie, slice off the tip, and place it in the bento box.
• Cut slices of the salami until you have a stack the same heigh as the bento box.
• Place the Brie and the salami in two corners of the bento box with a clementine between them. The fruit will act as a natural divider and will help keep the flavors of the meat and cheese from mingling too much.
• Place a stack of crackers above the clementine.
• Cut a chunk of the Gouda to fit in the corner between the crackers and the salami. Slice the Gouda chunk and tuck the slices into the box.
• Fill the remaining large space with the grapes. Fill any remaining gaps with the almonds.