Product Review: Laptop Lunches Bento Kit

I looked at a lot of Bento boxes and finally bought one from Laptop Lunches (www.laptoplunches.com). Their Bento boxes are Americanized versions of the traditional Japanese concept. Geared at first toward kids, the kit is a basic plastic box with grooves in the bottom where containers go, several plastic containers that fit inside, and a separate space for the metal fork and spoon that come with the box. Three of the containers have lids and are intended for wet food (two containers) and dressing or dip (a third, smaller lidded container); two are open and intended for drier (or, non-leaky) foods. The lunch box lid keeps things in place in the open containers, and the whole thing fits together pretty snugly.


Laptop Lunches has several options, some very elaborate with carrying bags, water bottles, hot food containers, cloth napkins, shaped food cutters, etc. These get a little pricey for a lunch box. I probably wouldn’t spend close to $70 for a child’s lunch box, or mine, for that matter, but truthfully, some of the higher-end ones look more like something an adult would have, anyway. For $25, you get the box, five containers (three with lids), a metal fork and spoon, and an insulated fabric holder/cover. Oh, and a 94-page paperback “User’s Guide” that has nutritional information, recipes, menus and lunch ideas. There are a number of interesting color combinations; I went with the more traditional Japanese black and red. My box is black, the containers are red, and the cover is black with a red and white “tire tread” plaid design.

The quality of the box is decent. The lids fit the containers well, the covered containers don’t leak, there aren’t any rough edges on the flatware, and the fabric cover seems well-made. The Velcro closure goes all the way across the tab that closes the cover; this could have been handled more cheaply with an inadequate Velcro dot, so the generous Velcro is a nice touch. The insulation on the cover is pretty thick, and it’s waterproof. The containers stand up to microwaving, though to be honest, I’ve only microwaved at half power. The lids are not microwavable; the company says they’re not, and I took them at their word and didn’t try it. The company says the containers, but not the lids, are dishwasher safe, but I’ve been washing mine by hand. The only thing I could criticize, and trust me, I’m very good at criticizing, is that I can see the plastic hinge on the box giving way at some point. It’s just a thinner, kind of scored plastic, hinge, the kind you see on pencil boxes and etc.

The book that comes with the kit has some interesting ideas in it (my cucumber cups stuffed with tuna was an idea from the book). It’s strongly geared toward kids being raised in vegetarian families, in an almost evangelistic way, but the nutrition is good and a lot of the ideas seem like they would make delicious lunch components for kids or adults. They get points for hammering one of my pet peeves, peanut butter that has hydrogenated oil and sugar in it (I’m a “just peanuts and salt” aficionado). That greased-up stuff is an abomination; eat real peanut butter!

The system is meant to be green, which is another plus. The idea is that by using re-usable containers and flatware, and the box, we won’t be using up a lot of plastic bags or wrap, or paper lunch bags. This is good reasoning. You can also purchase cloth napkins, and there’s room in the flatware compartment for a cloth napkin, to further avoid wasting paper. I plan to pick up a napkin at a discount shop in my neighborhood, but the ones sold on the site are pretty reasonable. I do love the idea of using cloth napkins. They are civilized. When my daughter was growing up, we always ate dinner at the dinner table, with cloth napkins.

All in all, I like the Laptop Lunches Bento Kit, and would buy more of their products.