Silicone baking cups, and salmon box lunches

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Posted by Biggie @ Lunch in a Box

Salmon & salad lunch

Silicone cupcake liners work well as removable food cups in packed lunches, separating foods to keep different textures and flavors from mingling. Because the cups are made of silicone, they're flexible and fit into odd spaces, with the added benefit of being reusable. They come in all sorts of fun shapes, sizes and colors to fit a variety of food and containers (click for a representative sample of silicone baking cups). Housewares, kitchen, and crafts stores such as Michael's often sell them -- if you find a coupon you can bring down the initial cost as well as save on the cost of disposable paper cups down the line. I finally found the large ones for a good price at Bed Bath & Beyond and used a 20% off coupon. Hooray, I'm finally a little greener!


Contents of husband's lunch: Slow-cooked salmon with a container of sweet-hot Nonya sambal sauce, chicken fried rice, blueberries, and salad with mango, strawberry tree fruit (a.k.a. arbutus berries) and poppy seed dressing.

Morning prep time: 7 minutes, using leftover salmon, fried rice, torn lettuce, and a pre-filled sauce container with salad dressing to save time. In the morning I just cut the mango and arbutus berries, briefly microwaved the fried rice to restore the texture, and packed everything together.
Silicone cupcake liners
Packing: The silicone baking cup kept the fried rice away from the salad and blueberries, and was tough enough to stand up to salad dressing once the salad was dressed (more durable than a paper cupcake liner). There are two layers of salmon, one on top of the other. Packed in a 650ml Leaflet box with movable divider, and both sauces in small containers.

Equipment: The standard-size silicon baking cups (Wilton brand) were 12 for US$6 at Bed Bath & Beyond (use their omnipresent 20% off coupon and it gets even more reasonable). I got the four pastel mini cups as a set for US$1.50 at Daiso in Daly City (Japanese dollar store with branches internationally).

Salmon & fried rice lunch
Contents of my lunch: Same as my husband's, but with pesto sauce instead of sambal, and no salad.

Morning prep time: 5 minutes.

Packing: A little Clickety Clack sauce container holds the pesto sauce, and the lunch is packed in a 500ml Leaflet box with movable divider.
Chicken & fried rice lunch for preschooler

Contents of preschooler lunch: Roast chicken drumstick, chicken breast, strawberry tree fruit, mango, blueberries, and fried rice. I wrapped the end of the drumstick in decorative aluminum foil to create a clean "handle" (similar lunch and foil details are here).

Morning prep time: 5 minutes.

Packing: I included a small Anpanman pick for the chicken breast and mangos, and packed a spoon on the side for the rice. The silicone cup squished nicely into the available space to hold the fruit without touching the chicken. Packed in two tiers (280ml and 180ml) of a four-tier nesting Thomas the Tank Engine bento box set.


Are you interested in contributing to The Daily Tiffin? Drop us an email: blogmeeta@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing your ideas.

This Post was written by Biggie from Lunch in a Box: Building a Better Bento.

8 comments:

I love your ideas. You are so good at coming up with so many good the ideas.

Thank you. Keep posting.

Rumya

Anonymous said...
September 11, 2007 at 9:19:00 PM GMT+2  

what a near idea!! and what beautiful lunch box preparations!!

bee said...
September 12, 2007 at 6:28:00 AM GMT+2  

i meant 'neat' idea.

bee said...
September 12, 2007 at 6:29:00 AM GMT+2  

Salmon is absolutely lovely and you've given some interesting ideas - especially with the mango strawberry salad. Nice one Biggie!

Meeta K. Wolff said...
September 12, 2007 at 8:06:00 AM GMT+2  

Lovely... I wish my box looked so mice. I end up carrying 4 small individual boxes :-)

Raaga said...
September 12, 2007 at 9:58:00 AM GMT+2  

Nice Idea, I am gonna BBB this weekend and will hunt for these if they are still available....Nice series, first time to ur blog and having a treat with those beautiful n adorable photos...

Cam over from FBDesam

Padma said...
September 12, 2007 at 5:13:00 PM GMT+2  

So simple, so brilliant.

Elsa said...
September 13, 2007 at 11:15:00 PM GMT+2  

Love the lunch boxes. That mango and strawberry salad looks great!

Helene said...
September 13, 2007 at 11:56:00 PM GMT+2  

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