Turkey Helper Bento (425)

A couple months ago I posted on Twitter that I’d discovered around 20 bags of panko and was hoarding it as if there was going to be a panko shortage sometime soon. Another thing that I hoard is Hamburger Helper. The reason for that is Mr. Pikko loves Beef Pasta and has no problems slumming it with Betty Crocker’s little insta-meal hand a couple times a month. I think he has even cooked it a few times in his life, which is weird because looking at him now, it’s a wonder he even knows what a stove does.

The problem with buying Hamburger Helper on sale is that it doesn’t go on sale all that often. Either that or I’m only paying attention when it’s not on sale. The point is, when it goes on sale, I buy a ton. Then I forget I have it and eventually find them all about one month after expiration. On Sunday I had to make it to help thin out the supply, which is now at five boxes expired from around April to September 2009. Oops!

Betty Crocker so kindly suggests that I cook it with turkey to lower the fat content, so I listened to her and used one of the frozen packs from Costco that I had taking up freezer space. In my opinion, it came out better than with hamburger, as ground turkey tends to have a slight kick to it and is a lot softer and easier to crumble. This one is the Lasagna type.

In the other compartment, I simply added some steamed broccoli, baby carrot sticks, and a couple of little grape tomatoes. This lunch took me less than 10 minutes to put together, including time to microwave the broccoli and cut up the carrots.

I used a new bento box that I got in last month from J-List, but I checked the site and apparently this one is out of stock. Bummer, cause I really love the shape of this one and the little cover it comes with. Plus, it’s orange! Brightly colored bento boxes really help when you need color, but just don’t have it with your food.

The compartment cover fits right on top one half of the box, which is great for keeping rather mushy items just like my lasagna from leaking all over the rest of my food during transport to work. Isn’t Miffy so cute? I should have made a Miffy charaben, but just didn’t have time.

I have a new bento site that I’m working on that I’ll hopefully have ready to announce either tomorrow or Friday. I’m very excited about it and hope that it becomes popular! :)