Best Bento Boxes and Containers to Pack School Lunches
If you have a kid who won’t eat school lunch or you just have to pack lunches for lack of provided meals, trying to navigate the many options for bento boxes and utensils can be time consuming. Sometimes though, despite recommendations, if it doesn’t work for your kid, then you just have to try a few options before landing on what works for your child. Every kid is truly different and age matters in terms of whether they can safely open the bento box or thermos with hot foods on their own. We’re hoping to at least reduce the choices to some really good items.
Lately, I’ve been intentional about reducing the amount of microplastics in our daily life and making an effort to reduce waste and be more sustainalbe, so we will lean towards stainless steel and non-plastic whenever possible.
Here are our recommendations for best bento boxes and food containers to pack those school lunches.
Note, all links go to our Amazon affiliate link, but ours recs are true.
Best Bento
Planetbox Launch
For myself, I find that if the bento box has a lot of compartments, 5 or more), it pressures me to have to pack more variety when I just need to be quick in the morning. So buying a box with 3 or 2 larger compartments makes it more versatile if you also buy some silicon dividers to use when you want to add variety. Lately my go-to is to pack a main, two fruits, and a dessert/treat
Buy from Amazon
Planetbox Trailblazer Sandwich Box
The Sandwich Box from Planetbox is a nice alternative to a bento box if you normally will pack a sandwich for school lunches. You can buy the additional silicon compartments to turn it into a bento style if needed.
Buy from Planetbox
Best for Hot Foods
THERMOS Funtainer
When packing hot lunches for kids, you need to consider if they can safely open the container themselves or be able to ask for assistance. The THERMOS Funtainer is good for small hands and has many different kids designs.
The trick to keep food warm though is to boil some hot water, fill up the container and leave it for about 5-10 minutes. Then pour out the hot water and put in the heated food to have it actually stay warm.
This comes with a foldable plastic straw that can tuck in under the lid, but we’ve found stainless steel replacements.
Buy THERMOS from Amazon
Buy Stainless steel spoon/fork replacements from Amazon
Best for Food Prep
Rice Ball Shaker
For prepping rice balls or meatballs to be bite-sized and easy for kids to eat, this rice ball mold shaker has been easy to use.
Buy at Amazon
Onigiri Rice Mold
Onigiri rice mold for making smaller bites so that food is not overwhelming for kids appetites.
Buy at Amazon
Ceramic Food Scissors
Ceramic Food scissors are super useful for easy cutting. This one is really sharp and can cut through meats easily and stays sharp over uses.
Buy from Amazon