Make your own korean-style healty lunchbox

As lunch prices have gone through the roof in downtown Seoul, sales of cheaper options like lunch boxes, instant noodles or gimbap (seaweed rice roll) have skyrocketed at convenience stores.

According to CU, the korea’s largest convenience store chain, it saw a 30 percent increase in lunch box sales last year over a year ago. 7-Eleven saw a 57 percent jump during the same period.

At the convenience store, you can grab lunch, non-gourmet though it may be, for the far more reasonable price of between 2,500 won and 4,000 won.

People like me, who find the convenience store option unappetizing, pack their own meals. Gmarket, the nation’s leading online shopping mall, saw a 35 percent increase in sales of insulated lunch boxes and a 34 percent jump in plastic ones in January on-year.

So if you’re thinking about jumping on the bandwagon, we’ve got some options that will help you save money without sacrificing on taste. Here are the ideas from ricipe factory on how to get creative when you’re packing your own meal.

Rice with peppers and pork(left) and chicken breast rolls(right)

Rice with peppers and pork

[Ingredients]

1 bowl of rice

150 grams of pork tenderloin

40 grams of onion

20 grams each of red, yellow and green peppers

1 tsp of olive oil

[Seasoning]

1 tbsp of cooking liquor (mat-sul in Korean)

1/4 tsp each of salt and red pepper powder

1/2 tsp corn syrup

1/2 tsp oyster sauce

2 tsps of gochujang red pepper paste

1/2 tsp of sesame oil



1. Julienne the onions, peppers and tenderloin.

2. Pour all the seasoning ingredients into a bowl and mix them well.

3. Pour the olive oil into a pan over medium heat and stir-fry the pork and onions for three minutes.

4. Pour in the mixed seasoning and stir-fry for a minute over low heat.

5. Add the peppers and stir for one more minute.




Chicken breast roll

[Ingredients]

4 slices of brown bread

80 grams of canned chicken breast

1 tomato

20 grams of onion

2 tsps of butter

[Sauce]

2 tbsps of soy sauce

1 tbsp of honey

1 tbsp of tomato ketchup

1/2 tsp of mustard



1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together.

2. Add the chicken breast to the sauce and mix everything together well.

3. Cut the tomatoes into half moons.

4. Julienne the onions.

5. Cut the crusts off the bread. You can save them for use in other recipes.

6. Roll the bread with a rolling pin until it gets thin.

7. Butter one side of the bread and add the chicken breast, tomatoes and onions. Then roll everything up using plastic wrap.

Lettuce and gochujang pork gimbap.

Lettuce and gochujang pork gimbap

[Ingredients]

1 sheet of gim (dried seaweed)

2/3 bowl of rice

4 leaves of lettuce

60 grams of sliced pork

50 grams of onion

[Seasoning]

1 tsbp of gochujang red pepper paste

1 tsp of soy sauce

1 tsp of corn syrup

1/2 tsp of crushed garlic



1. Rinse the lettuce and dry it.

2. Cut the pork into small pieces.

3. Stir-fry the pork over medium heat without cooking oil.

4. Add the chopped onions and seasoning and stir-fry until all the water from the onions and the pork evaporates.

5. Lay out a piece of gim and spread rice evenly over it.

6. Put the lettuce and pork mixture onto the rice.

7. Roll everything up.

8. Slice the gimbap, brush some sesame oil over the top and sprinkle on sesame seeds.