Just curious because I see and bookmark these delicious looking bentos all the time. But I always wonder do people just eat them cold/room temp? I imagine most of it is fine just the shrimp tempura and maybe the rice seems like it should be warm but obviously you wouldn’t want the lettuce, carrot other things to be warmed up! Just curious what is typical 🙂
by tulipiscute
3 Comments
Hot items I make hot. Cold items I keep cold. Then I assemble the bento. Then cool everything down and put on ice packs so it doesn’t stay in the danger zone for any length of time. When lunch comes around, it is all very cold from the ice packs. Everything still tastes great. Just be careful about covering it when it’s still hot so it doesn’t fester.
The food you see here will not spoil in half a day. Everything is eaten room temperature. If it’s particularly hot and youre going to be outside, an ice pack to keep stuff on the cool side of room temperature is sensible. Overly cold rice gets hard and upleasant to eat. Same as western kids; pack a ham sandwich or yesterdays pasta and takes it to school in old tupperware, eat at room temp.
Room temp is typical. It’s lunch you make in the morning and take with you to school or work, places people have been going to for far longer than there has been refrigeration or instant heating devices.