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The canteen, the fast-food counter by the office, the sari-sari store on the way to class: the food around a working day is quick and rarely light. Baon puts the choice back in your hands. The only hard part is deciding what goes in the box at six in the morning, so it helps to decide the pattern once.
Build the box in four parts
A simple pattern that works for adults and children alike:
- Rice or another carbohydrate: a measured scoop of rice, a small kamote, a piece of pandesal, or boiled saba.
- Protein: grilled or stewed fish, chicken, lean pork, eggs or tokwa, roughly palm-sized for an adult.
- Vegetables: something cooked, such as ginisang sitaw, pechay, ampalaya or chopsuey, filling about half the box.
- Something fresh: a piece of fruit, cucumber or tomato slices, or a small salad.
Water goes alongside. A tumbler from home replaces the soft drink bought at lunch, which is often the easiest change of all.
Twelve combinations that travel well
Chicken adobo, less sauce, with rice and ginisang pechay.
Tinola with malunggay and green papaya in a sealed soup jar, rice on the side.
Grilled bangus belly with rice, tomato and onion salad, and a banana.
Pinakbet with a boiled egg and a scoop of brown and white rice mixed.
Chicken breast torta, made with egg and vegetables, with rice and cucumber slices.
Sinigang na hipon in a soup jar, with rice.
Tokwa’t gulay: sauteed tofu with chopsuey vegetables over rice.
Paksiw na isda with rice and ginisang sitaw at kalabasa.
Leftover inihaw na manok, shredded, in a pandesal with tomato and lettuce, and a piece of fruit.
Boiled eggs, kamote and a mango, for a lighter midday meal.
Ginisang monggo with malunggay and rice, a Friday classic that keeps well.
Lumpiang sariwa with the sauce packed separately.
For children, cut everything smaller than you think and pack a familiar favourite beside anything new. A box that comes home full has not done its job.
Keep it safe in the heat
Food left warm for hours is where baon goes wrong, and the Philippine morning commute is warm. A few habits cover most of the risk:
Cool cooked food before it goes in the box and into the fridge the night before, then pack it cold in the morning.
Use an insulated bag with an ice pack or a frozen water bottle, which doubles as cold water by lunch.
Eat baon within a few hours, or keep it in the office fridge. Dishes with gata, mayonnaise or eggs are the most sensitive.
When in doubt, throw it out. A smell or a sour taste is a sign the food has spoiled.
Prepare on Sunday, pack in the morning
Cooking two proteins and two vegetables on Sunday gives most of the week’s baon in one afternoon, packed fresh each morning from the fridge. Our guide to meal prep for weight loss sets out that routine, and the meal prep gallery shows packed lunches, breakfast boxes and snack jars in Filipino kitchens.
Baon and weight loss
If the baon is part of losing weight, the portion matters more than the recipe. A measured scoop of rice and a box half-filled with vegetables will do more than any single swap. For the lighter dishes to rotate through the week, see low-calorie Filipino food. Fit Bud’s weight-loss coaching pairs training at home with habit-based guidance on portions, ulam and merienda. If you would like help with both, tell us your town and your goal.