12 Bento Lunches for Fall

Bento box filled with fruit, crackers and vegetables

Are you one of those people who actually reads a whole post on a food blog? Do you want to know the complete story about how the recipe came to be or do you jump right to the essentials: ingredients list and instructions? As a blogger myself, I probably shouldn’t admit this but I usually skim the text and then head directly to the recipe itself.

I ask because if you’re like me you’re often in a hurry. That’s the case today. I’m headed to a conference this week and I’m planning for two upcoming presentations to dietitians and other healthcare providers. So in addition to teaching, grading, and home responsibilities my To Do list is long and my time is short. 

What this means is that I’d like to share some of my recent bento lunches with you for inspiration, but I’m going to trim back on the commentary. Descriptions and links for the foods filling the bento compartments? Check. Entertaining, sometimes educational, paragraphs explaining each bento in depth? Not today. I think we’ll both be grateful I’m just getting down to business. I’ll rely on the pictures to do the heavy lifting for this post.

Bento box filled with fruit, crackers and vegetables
Bento box filled with cheese, fruit and vegetables
Bento box filled with pita chips and fruit
Bento box filled with tofu, applesauce and cheese
Bento box filled with fruit and vegetables
Bento box filled with fruit and vegetables
  • Sliced tomato
  • Blueberries
  • Ciabatta roll (which I filled with pesto, tomatoes, and mozzarella to make a sandwich)
  • Part skim mozzarella cheese
  • Homemade pesto
  • Dark chocolate
Bento box filled with fruit and vegetables
Bento box filled with fruit and vegetables
Bento box filled with fruit and vegetables
Bento box filled with vegetables and fruit
Bento box filled with fruit and vegetables
  • Golden kiwi
  • Steamed green beans 
  • Safeway Select Strawberry Patch Trail Mix
  • 365 Organic Cracked Pepper Water Crackers
  • Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese
  • Dark chocolate

There you have it. 12 glorious days of lunches, neatly packed in my favorite compartmentalized traveling boxes. Just the basics. No fluff. No dietitian trying to teach you something this time in her long-winded way. Just pure, healthy, colorful food photography to (quickly) feast your eyes on. Hopefully this will help with the next task on your To Do list: making a grocery list for your own bento lunches!

Kristine Duncan

Kristine Duncan, Registered Dietitian

I’m a Registered Dietitian, the author of Veg Girl RD, and a vegetarian who loves to eat. I’m a nutrition nerd who teaches at the University of Washington and Skagit Valley College. I also write about nutrition professionally for magazines and books. If you want to know more, check out my About page.

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