I know that not everyone who follows JustBento follows my other food site, JustHungry. I put my 'foundation' type Japanese recipes over there more often than not, while I have especially bento-friendly recipes here on JustBento. Today though, there's a recipe and how-to for making Japanese style rice (the method should be adaptable to other types of rice) in a frying pan. I know that the subject of whether or not a rice cooker is needed for bento-making comes up quite a lot in the forums, so if you're looking for an alternative to getting a rice cooker, or just another backup rice-making method, give the good old frying pan a try!

• How to cook perfect rice in a frying pan

For bentos, you can freeze rice - leftover rice, or a purpose-made batch - for later use.