Bento Contents:

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup muesli, 150 cal
• About 2 Tbs. dried cranberries, 60 cal
• 1/2 container (90g) Greek yogurt, 75 cal

Total calories for breakfast (approx): 285

Lunch:

• 6 Spicy Lentil Snacks, 270 cal
• Carrot sticks from 1 medium carrot, 30 cal
• 1/2 container (90g) Greek yogurt with spices, 75 cal
• Some greens, 5 cal

Total calories for lunch (approx): 380 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 5-10 minutes in the morning - mainly just packing things up (You could pack the whole bento the night before; this bento will not suffer much in quality.)

Type: Vegetarian, not Japanese, 2-in-1

If you have to pack breakfast and lunch, or even lunch and a snack, this sort of 2-in-1 bento is one idea. This is my bento, or bentos, from Tuesday, when I had a very early morning start.

The main container has the lentil snacks (pre-made), carrot sticks and greenery (mostly arugula/rucola, some mâche (lamb's lettuce). (Note the little twist of seasoning in the plastic wrap - it's chutney podina masala described here.) I brought the Greek yogurt along in its container. In the small plastic side-container is about 1/2 cup of muesli (Swiss breakfast cereal). I added a few dried cranberries for extra sweetness.

Muesli is often eaten here in Switzerland with yogurt. I added about 1/2 of the Greek yogurt container, mixed it up, and - voilà, a quick and easy breakfast.

The rest of the yogurt was saved for the dipping sauce for lunch. I just mixed in the spice mix I packed. (I had to use the carrot sticks to spread the sauce on the lentil snacks, but that worked ok.)

You could make this a vegan bento by just substituting soy yogurt for the Greek yogurt, since everything else is vegan anyway.