Thanks for taking the time! This stainless steel lunch box is the most durable of our bento picks and the easiest to clean because it can go straight into the dishwasher. We had trouble fitting the lids onto the containers, and the plastic cutlery was a nuisance. They sell these at the grocery store and theyre super affordable, so its no big deal to replace them. The lunch box held up well in all of our drop tests, and its tidy construction and minimal seams in the interior lining helped to keep it in better shape for longer than other models that were more sloppily made. Microwave-, freezer-, and dishwasher-safe, these plastic bentos are stackable, reusable, and (at the time of writing) cost $8 for a set of three. Since we first published this guide in 2018, weve heard complaints that the Bentgo lacks long-term durability. The only drawback is their high price ($55 for a pack of four at the time of writing). Bentos also keep foods organized, separate, and un-smushed. Comparison of 8 Best Lunch Boxes Overall we didnt find it difficult to clean. This lunch bag is the only one of our picks that does not come with a warranty. Best for packing dips Since this post was first published, I purchased the, Worth mentioning is that I also really like the, Molly loves variety and her favorite box is the, in lunch boxes that provide a no-spill spice for dip), Whole Grain Crackers with a Laughing Cow Cheese, Salad with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes, If you or your kids like to pack a variety of items, the best options are the ones with the most divided spaces like the, The best options for packing a whole sandwich are the, None of the lunch boxes reviewed are designed to keep hot food hot, but if youre looking to pack a hot item, the, is a good option. If you prefer an insulated box with reinforced sides, try the Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Classic Lunch Box. Plastic Snapware containersa top pick from our guide to the best food storage containersare lightweight, leakproof, and dishwasher-, freezer- and microwave-safe. The Bentgos layout makes packing a variety of foods easy. Thank you for all this investigating and testing! We have additional care and maintenance advice below.). A handful of reviewers also mention that their PlanetBox developed rust spots, but the company offers a five-year warrantythe longest coverage for any of our picksand should replace the lunch box promptly. Wirecutter supervising editor Winnie Yang and senior staff writer Joanne Chen both use the Thermos Funtainer, our food thermos pick for kids, when packing leftovers like pasta and stir-fry dishes, and their Funtainers have held up well to frequent use and runs through the dishwasher. Easy to use: Lunch boxes need to be easily transported either by hand or on a shoulder, or strapped onto or stuffed into a backpack. Best for packing a whole sandwich Extremely thorough and well written. There are numerous ways to pack your kids lunch. 2 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 87 days for sale on eBay. The L.L.Bean Flip-Top Lunch Box is larger than our pick, the L.L.Bean Lunch Box, but it has a similarly rugged outer shell and an easy-to-wipe inner lining. FOOD. When real utensils are a must, Winnie opts for the OmieBox Kids Utensils Set with Casea reusable, dishwasher-safe plastic fork-and-spoon pair that, when not in use, nest together in a silicone case with an attached strap. Thank you SO much for this, half way through the article I was thinking hmm I wonder if this will fit in the pottery barn lunch bag and then bam you covered that also! So helpful and will be sharing with all my parents friends. She was an editor and writer for The Havens Kitchen Cooking School cookbook and the research editor for the book Formerly Known As Food, and she has a PhD in American studies. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved Ziploclunch containers which are widely available and super affordable. It has smaller compartments than the Bentgo Fresh and grippy rubber material around the boxs outer edges, which absorbed the impact in our drop tests. Its easier to create an appealing presentation with a bento-style box than with a jumble of small containers and baggies. But in our testing for this guide, as well as for our main lunch box guide, we found that very few insulated lunch boxes could consistently keep food below 40 degrees Fahrenheit after two hours, which the USDA recommends for perishables. The Zojirushi Mr. Bento Stainless Lunch Jar is a unique, next-level bento. Jump to:Why I Wrote This Post You can use the lunch box with no containers, some containers, or all of the containers and they can each be removed and rearranged. Using the above criteria, online reviews, and feedback from our interviews with parents and kids, we whittled the list to the following six highly rated lunch boxes worth testing: For our 2019 update, we tested three new lunch boxes: For testing, we relied on the same methodology we followed for our general lunch box guide. We independently review everything we recommend. With use, however, the separate lining started blistering in the corners, and we found the box too large for a kids lunch. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. For sale alerts, restocks and more please FOLLOW me on Instagram and Facebook. I frequently pack dips, and I love that it keeps dips separate without every spilling into other compartments. From the research we did for our original guide to lunch boxes and our additional research for this one, we found that lunch boxes for kids need to have several attributes. The Bentgo Fresh Lunch Box is lightweight and has a microwavable food tray. The Bentgo has very similar dimensions to the Yumbox, so it will fit, but it's sort of awkward - the walls of the Mackenzie are slightly sloped so the Bentgo won't nestle right down inside of the box. But if there are any issues, this lunch box comes with a one-year satisfaction guarantee. The Fit & Fresh Bento Box Lunch Kit has clip-in ice packs that fit within a zippered, insulated lunch box. Jump straight to what you need by clicking below. Will it Fit? Leakproof: Bento boxes need to be leakproof, and ideally they should have a lid seal to help keep foods discretely contained in their designated compartmentssaucier foods shouldnt seep into other areas or outside the container. Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Classic Lunch Box, PlanetBox Rover Stainless Steel Lunch Box, Our pick for the best insulated lunch box: L.L.Bean Lunch Box, Also-great insulated lunch box: Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Classic Lunch Box, Our pick for the best bento-style lunch box: Bentgo Fresh Lunch Box, Upgrade pick: PlanetBox Rover Stainless Steel Lunch Box, Fit & Fresh Insulated Bento Box Lunch Kit, our guide to reusable alternatives to plastic, AmazonBasics Reusable Silicone Baking Cups, Bentgo Classic All-in-One Stackable Bento Lunch Box, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Cold Pack Lunch Bag, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Retro Lunch Box, The Best Labels for Kids Lunch Boxes and Clothing, This Pricey Kids Lunch Box Is Worth Every Penny, Wirecutters 100 Most Popular Picks for Babies and Kids in 2021, Lands End ClassMate EZ Wipe Lunch Box (now named the. The Bentgo is made of BPA-free, phthalate-free plastic, and it is thus more resistant to stains and smells than the L.L.Bean and Pottery Barn Kids lunch boxes (which are lined with permeable vinyl). Based on parents' feedback, I narrowed the review down to the8 most popular lunch boxes and 4 most popular insulated lunch bags. Several kids in my daughters class use this lunch box, and it seems to hold the food at a warm temperature. Anna is a mentor at Girls Write Now and a member of the Online News Association. Pottery Barn Kids Classic Snakes Lunch Box Bag + 2 Bento Inserts Blue Insert, Pottery Barn Kids Purple Bento Box Lunch box, Pottery Barn Kids - Lunch Storage Containers Purple Clear EUC Bento, Pottery Barn Kids Square Bento Lunch Box School Work Gray Plastic Divided, Lot of 2 Pottery Barn Kids Square Bento Lunch Box Dark Blue & BL Plastic Divided, Pottery Barn Kids Space Lunch Box Pre-owned Blue Planet Stars No Name, Pottery Barn Kids Spencer Bento Box Container EUC, Pottery Barn Kids All n One Bento Box Stainless Steel 5 Compartment Unicorn, Pottery Barn Disney Princess Mackenzie Dual Compartment Lunch Bag/Box NWT, NWOT Pottery Barn Kids Glow-in-the-Dark Solar System Navy Mackenzie Lunch Box, Pottery Barn Kids Spencer Pink Lunchbox Bento Box Container With Condiment Boxes, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag Lunch Box PINK STRIPES Monogram SIENNA, Pottery Barn Kids Spencer Bento Box 5 Compartment Container Bright Pink Used, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag COLD PACK PINK GLITTER MONOGRAM RENATA, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag Lunch Box GRAY AIRPLANES Monogram GUSTAVO, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag Lunch Box BLUE UNICORNS Monogram ALAYA, Pottery Barn Kids Marvel Comics Spiderman Lunch Box Gray No Mono Full Zip EUC, Pottery Barn Kids Marvel Comics Spiderman Lunch Box Gray Red Blue Full Zip, Pottery Barn Kids Fairfax Lunch Box Bag Nwot, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag Lunch Box HEART TIE DYE Monogram FAITH, Pottery Barn Kids Gray Rainbow Butterfly Classic Lunch Bag Mono EUC, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag Lunch Box PINK BALLERINA Monogram NICOLE, Pottery Barn Kids All n One Lunch Ensembe Kids Lunch Box Stainless 5 Compartment, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag Lunch Box BLUE HEARTS Monogram MACKENZIE, Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie Lunch Bag BLUE GREEN Monogram RIDGE Lunch Box. Read more about my site, privacy, and disclosure policies here. Also, theyre freezer- and dishwasher-safe. For a durability test, we dropped the bento boxes and plastic food-storage containers from waist height onto concrete. The LunchBots Large Cinco and PlanetBox Rover have optional inserts for dips (that can be purchased separately) and come with tight-fitting lids. The Cinco would work but again would be a sort of awkward fit, but the smaller Lunch Bots containers would fit nicely and you could use their little add-on containers for things like dips and fruit that would add too much moisture to the box. Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see how these fit inside popular soft-sided lunch bags. The L.L.Bean Lunch Box is one of the most durable insulated lunch boxes weve tested, as well as one of the easiest to clean. The company offers replacement dividers if you happen to lose yours, and each lunch box comes with a two-year warranty (with proof of purchase) for manufacturer defects. This heavy-duty, stainless steel lunch box is about the size of letter-size paper and 1 inches thick. For one thing, it has a versatile layout. However, we found this box awkward to use since it requires stacking items vertically: Some foods are liable to get squished, you cant see all the contents when you open the box, and you have to unpack the whole thing to get to an item at the bottom. (Or, if you have questions, ask them in the comments, and Ill add them to the post.). Also I found these tough to hand wash because of the square corners and they were awkward if I wanted to put the entire thing in the dishwasher since the top is attached and would take up my entire top rack. Yet in the same breath, they extol its durability: The Rover lasts years and shows wear less readily than our other bento picks. Young kids should be able to open and fully close latches and lids on their own. A good lunch box should be able to stand up to at least a school years worth of daily use, including being shoved and squeezed into a backpack or dropped on the ground. If you have a kid who often leaves their lunch box at school or might accidentally throw it out, its hard to beat the. Thank you, very helpful article. Today, as they enter second grade, they each still have $25. I liked the easy to lock tabs and the lift out tray. Bento-style lunch boxes have convenient compartments within a rigid case, to keep foods separate, protected, and nicely organized.
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