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 a fun and nutritious way. Create lunches in a variety of themes such as Space, Butterfly, Breakfast for Lunch, Dinosaur, First Day of School, Snowman, Flower Garden and more. 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. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

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 hooked and now enjoys continuing to create lunches for her husband and two sons in Northern California. She chronicles her bento adventures in the blog, Wendolonia.

Everyday Bento

For those new to packing bento boxes, Wendy begins Everyday Bento with tips and tricks to help you along the way from balancing the ingredients to the best ways to assemble the box tightly.

Charts of possible ingredients are even included and divided based on food group and color to help spark your creativity.

The types of bento boxes are explained along with the variety of tools- knives and scissors, toothpicks, silicone cups, cutters, dividers, markers, molds, and punches. There are also templates for 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.

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

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

Cheese Plate Bento Box

Copley’s last chapter focuses on Bento for Grown-ups (though kids will often enjoy them too!) and includes this Cheese Plate Bento Box.

Crackers, a clementine, grapes, salami, and almonds are paired with Gouda and Brie cheese for quite the fun on-the-go snack.

My favorite thing about this bento is how easy it is to prepare. No cooking required- just slicing and assembly in under 10 minutes. It is also a perfect box for traveling.

This Cheese Plate Bento Box is made for improvisation. The Brie can be swapped for a little goat cheese and another favorite hard cheese can be used in place of the Gouda.

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 bento 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 box 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 on Amazon 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 cucumber shaped like seaweed, star-shaped kiwi, blue tortilla chips, and carrots cut into fish. Also a fun fact, by cutting the hot dogs in this way and placing them into boiling water, the “tentacles” will curl on their own.

The Sausage and Salad Bento was perfect for a 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.

Looking for more bento box ideas?

Try my:

• Winnie the Pooh Bento Box
• Star Wars Bento
• Cat Bento

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 box is perfect for traveling with no cooking required and assembly in under 10 minutes.

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.