Summer sessions for San Fran preschools and camps begin today, and there are an awful lot of little attendees who’ll need lunch or a snack packed for them first thing in the morning. Sure, you could toss everything in a brown paper bag, but why would you do that when Japanese bento boxes are so cute, so reasonable, and intricate enough that they might actually interest your kid in carrots or hard-boiled eggs? They can also be bought in tiny sizes perfect for small children, and packed with miniature cups and squeeze bottles that make squirting on soy sauce or dipping celery in peanut butter into a game.
Japanese dollar store Ichiban Kan is an excellent source of inexpensive bento boxes and accessories. Visitors to the Japantown Mall store will find a varying and ever-changing variety of bento boxes, antibacterial food dividers to separate bento-d foods, decorative bento picks, dipping sauce cups, and other playful accessories, all for just a buck or two.
Can’t make it to Japantown? Ichiban’s online store has a limited variety of bento accessories, like this pink polka-dotted lunch set. I’m getting hungry already.
Ichiban Kan is located at 22 Peace Plaza, #540 in the Japantown Mall at Post and Webster Streets. Call 415-409-0472