Northern Indiana does not have a large concentration of Asian people and, while there are Asian markets, they only stock food. I’ve been looking at bento boxes online for awhile and finally broke down and ordered some. I used jbox.com. They have a large, constantly changing inventory of fun, cheap bento items. The most expensive item I ordered was only $4.00. Here’s a pic:

The bag is big enough for the bento box and my bottle of iced tea. I was disappointed that the matching chopsticks don’t fit in the lid. (Did I convert millimeters wrong?) I’ll use the top for crackers or orange segments.

The bag says “lunchtime will make everyone happy”.  The box and chopstick case say “let’s enjoy a time with me”. How can you not smile?

I was egg-cited to get the egg molds, but bewildered when the instructions were in Japanese. (Thank you Candace for the tutorial via text message.)

The silicone cups (kitty, bunny and bear shaped) and silicone grass are fun and practical.

My favorite item was this…

Tiny picks that you stick in your food, both to facilitate easier eating and to make your lunch more interesting. You can make your meatballs look like tiny caveman meals when impaled in the bone skewers or make carrots into flowers with a stem pick.

Overall, the price of the items was unbeatable. The shipping cost, however, was ridiculous. But finally having a real matching bento set… priceless.