[Spring 2026 Bento Making Survey] Only 18% cook everything in the morning! 'Not trying too hard' hybrid style is mainstream

The cooking media 'Nadia' (URL: https://oceans-nadia.com/), operated by Nadia Corporation (Minato-ku, Tokyo / CEO: Yoshinori Katsuragi), conducted a survey (*1) regarding 'bento making'. In the survey, about half of Nadia users responded that they make bento regularly at least once a week. While about 60% cited 'saving money' as their goal due to the impact of inflation, in terms of cooking style, those who 'cook everything in the morning' remained at under 20%. It was found that they are practicing a 'hybrid cooking' bento making style that doesn't try too hard, such as skillfully utilizing meal prep. (*1) Survey period: March 27 to April 2, 2026 / Number of respondents: 1,125 Nadia users (varies by question) / Survey body: In-house survey / Survey target: Registered Nadia users / Survey method: Solicited survey responses via email newsletter ## The reasons for making bento are 'saving money' and 'avoiding lunch time stress' The most common reason for making bento was 'saving money on food (59.8%)', followed by 'because a bento is needed for school or work (42.3%)'. On the other hand, about 30% responded that they 'want to save the time and effort of going to buy lunch (27.4%)', indicating that the desire to avoid crowds and lines, not wanting to hesitate on what to eat, wanting to use break time effectively, and time performance thinking are also boosting the trend of bringing a bento. ## The mainstream of bento making is the 'not trying too hard' hybrid type. 'Freezing' is also rising rapidly as a search keyword Regarding how bento is made, only 18.2% of people cook both main and side dishes entirely in the morning. Currently, the most common pattern, making up about 37% of the total, is the 'hybrid type', where only 'main dish' or 'side dish' is cooked in the morning, and the rest uses meal prep or frozen foods. Furthermore, it was found that slightly less than 20% of respondents each complete it just by 'packing' without cooking in the morning, or complete the bento the night before to reduce morning preparation to zero.