Best Bento Box Cookbooks For Beginners

The best Bento Box cookbooks can teach you how to make delicious and healthy lunches and breakfasts for work or for school. Japanese dishes were always popular and over the past few years, Japanese bento box recipes got even more beloved.

It’s easy to understand why since bento box lunches can be made in less than 30 minutes and are very healthy.

We collected some of the best bento box cookbooks for beginners and people who want to learn more about bento making.

You’ll find here cookbooks filled with easy and healthy bento box recipes, cute bento recipes, and creative bento box recipes for school and work.

RELATED: Easy & Healthy Vegan Bento Box Ideas

It’s easy to travel with Bento boxes and they’re also easy to heat up which makes them even more perfect if you’re looking for new school lunch or work lunch recipes. For more healthy recipes and vegan meal prepping ideas visit our other posts.

New to Bento & Meal Planning?

Try Plant-Based Meal Planning Programs For beginners

If you feel like you need a more organized system or a bit more help with meal prepping you should check out one of our favorite meal planning programs. We love vegan challenge programs that’ll help you increase your energy levels, and will give you an in-depth guide about eating vegan. As well as a vegan starter kit, as well as offers tips and tricks on how to stay vegan after a challenge.

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Two of the best meal planning programs are:
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Both programs concentrate on healthy eating and long-term goals.

Quick & Healthy Bento Box Cookbooks for Work & School

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1| The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go by Makiko Itoh

Bento blogger Makiko Itoh makes every beginner’s life much easier. Makiko Itoh’s recipes are pretty simple and besides being delicious, they are also a superb treat for the eyes.

You are going to get some ideas on how to pick your bento box and what to include to make sure you are giving your body a great boost during a busy day.

Since Makiko Itoh has lived in many arts of the world (Asia, Europe, and USA), managed to make the recipes fitting to everyone.

It is not a vegan bento box cookbook, but it will still be inspirational, you just have to change the meat to tofu or seitan.

You can get Just Bento Cookbook on Amazon.

2| Effortless Bento: 300 Japanese Box Lunch Recipes by Shufu-no-Tomo

If you are looking for easy bento box ideas but don’t know where to start, Effortless Bento can definitely offer some help.

As there are 300 recipes in the book, you can get as creative as you want. There are superb arrangements based on color, if you want to cheer your loved ones up at lunch. Everything is covered in this book as well, from the box through preparation and actually arranging the ingredients to look attractive.

As it is pretty difficult to find vegan bento box recipe books, we advise you to look through these, then swap animal products with vegan substitutes. You are also going to get some with creating an efficient meal plan.

You can get this bento box cookbook on Amazon.

3| The Simple Lunchbox: School Lunch Ideas for Busy Moms & Dads by Jacqueline Linder

Jacqueline Linder has quite a lot of experience in packed lunch as the founder and CEO of Lunchbots. She has now collected over a hundred superb easy bento box recipes to make busy parent’s lives easier.

You can now put some nutritious lunches together without having to worry much. Linder was aiming for success in every aspect; she wanted to create recipes, which are simple but also delicious, so the little ones will definitely eat them.

Again, you will have to turn the recipes vegan, but the ideas are there, so at least the creative part is taken care of when it comes to preparing vegan bento box meals for children.

It is certainly among the must have bento box recipe books for parents.

You can get The Simple Lunchbox cookbook on Amazon.

4| Bento Power: Brilliantly Balanced Lunchbox Recipes by Sara Kiyo Popowa

The reason people want to up their delicious lunch game is to make sure they are eating healthy and avoid going over budget.

Sara Kiyo Popowa collected some of the most delicious, attractive and nutritious bento box recipes. You can also find good tips for how to stock up at home to make everyday meal preparations easier.

What is great that you get vegan Japanese bento box ideas for breakfast and a few dinner bento boxes as well. It is such relief to hear that one doesn’t have to give up on their foodie desires while keeping it healthy and simple.

There is no way you won’t find something of your liking in this bento box cookbook.

You can get Bento Power on Amazon.

5| Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches by Maki Ogawa & Crystal Watanabe

It is time to eat something cute, and not a little puppy. You can make cute vegan bento boxes with the help of Maki Ogawa & Crystal Watanabe.

Even if the recipes are not animal product free, you can easily recreate the recipes in vegan versions. This lovely bento box book is full of adorable ideas on how to make your little one’s day, or cheer up adults in an instant.

The recipes a fairly simple, they require a little preparation, but isn’t it worth the extra few minutes to bring some happiness to the table?

You can get Yum-Yum Bento Box Cookbook on Amazon.

6| Ten-Minute Bento by Megumi Fujii

Out of all the bento box recipe books, Megumi Fujii’s collection offers the easiest recipes which are actually quite filling and surprisingly delicious.

You can make a pretty full meal in just 10 minutes and leave for work. All your colleagues are going to be jealous of your good looking, smelling dishes you treat yourself with every day.

Besides being easy to make, there are other benefits as well; filling, tasty and healthy bites await, making your life easier with meal planning.

Ten-Minute Bento is a great bento box cookbook with many recipes you can turn vegan without trouble.

You can get Ten-Minute bento Cookbook on Amazon.

7| Everyday Bento: 50 Cute and Yummy Lunches to Go by Wendy Thorpe Copley

Everyday Bento by Wendy Thorpe Copley is another helpful bento box book for parents and Kawaii fans. You can get some great vegan bento box ideas from this book that will make kids happy while also wanting to try new dishes.

Simplicity is important especially when it comes to lunches to go, but it is also very important to keep our loved ones happy and healthy.

You can adhere to all requirements with this lovely collection of cute bento box recipes with little meal prep time. Some of the recipes are so simple, you would never have thought of to prepare. There are even some fun and sweet bento boxes for valentine’s day.

You can get Everyday Bento Cookbook on Amazon.

Thank you for reading!