If you need a kids lunch box to pack for your toddler or big kid to go to daycare, preschool, school, camp, or just a day out of the house, these product picks will help you choose from the best of the best!
Kids Lunch Box
I’ve been packing toddler lunches for my girls for years and I’ve learned a lot about what makes a great lunch box. It comes down to the material you prefer, easy of washing, durability, price, and the sorts of lunches you prefer to pack (warm or cold, mostly).
What you choose to buy will depend some on your child’s appetite, your preferences, and where they eat lunch of course, but I hope that these reviews help you decide which might be the best container to use for your little eater.
Best Little Kids Lunch Box: Easy Lunchboxes Snack Boxes
Perfectly size for a snacky lunch, this affordable set made of BPA-free plastic stacks easily in the closet and are easy to wash. The compartments are perfectly sized for toddlers and they are incredibly handy for packing multiple lunches at once—or for traveling!
Best for: Toddler lunches that don’t need to be reheated, making multiple lunches at once (since you get a set of 4)
Price: $12.95 for a set of 4
TIP: When empty, these boxes nest into each other, so they are easy to store in a cabinet.
Best Affordable School Lunch Box: Easy Lunchboxes
These heavy-duty BPA-free plastic lunchboxes are incredibly handy: They are easy to stack and store and they’re super affordable. They are fairly large for just a toddler lunch (they’re perfect for age 4 and up though!), but I used these for almost a year packing lunches and two daily snacks for my one year old.
Best for: Packing a day’s worth of food in one container, lunches for kids (and adults!) 4+
Price: $13.95 for 4
TIP: I like to put silicone muffin tin liners in the large compartment to hold different foods. These are also great for a full day of traveling since they hold a lot of food in a compact container. (There are a few copycat versions of the Easy Lunchboxes and they are NOT as good. They leak and break easily, from what I’ve heard, so go with the real brand!)
Best Insulated Bento Box: OmieBox Bento Box
With an insulated 7.5 ounce center compartment to keep cold foods cold and warm foods warm, this is a great option for packing daily lunches with a mix of temperatures. So you could pack warm pasta alongside cold fruit and sides. Genius! And on days when you don’t need the insulated part, you can simply remove it and pack a sandwich or whatever you like to put there.
Best for: Packing lunches with some warm food and some cold food, all in one box.
Price: $39.50
TIP: The pieces of this are easy to remove and clean, so it’s very easy to wash and air dry. (I’ve also heard good things about the Bento box.)
Best Insulated Kids Thermos: Lunchbots 8 oz Thermos
This small insulated thermos is perfect for pasta, soup, oatmeal, pizza rolls, rice and beans and more. I know that everyone always thinks that thermoses are just for soup, but I’ve actually never once used it for soup! It’s a good size for toddlers (you may not need to fill it all the way for littler ones) and it’s super durable.
Best for: Packing occasional hot lunches, being able to pack a larger portion of the main hot (or cold) food.
Price: $24.99
TIP: This is available in 8, 12, and 16 ounces.
Best Stainless Steel Lunch Box for Toddlers: Lunchbots Trio
This is perfectly sized for a toddler appetite. It won’t hold foods like applesauce (the lid doesn’t close as securely as my other picks), but it’s otherwise a great option for little eaters. It’s easy to clean and it’s small, so it packs into a backpack, insulated lunch bag, or a diaper bag nicely.
Best for: Packing little kid lunches or snacks for on the go.
Price: $21.99
Best Stainless Steel Lunchbox for Big Kids: Planetbox Rover
I find these popular lunchboxes to be too heavy for little kids, but if you’re looking for a stainless lunchbox to last through elementary school, this is a great option. It’s definitely an investment, but it’s one you’ll only have to make once!
Best for: Elementary aged kids wanting a plastic-free lunch box that will last
Price: $55.95
P.S. Pottery Barn Kids has a vast assortment of insulated lunch bags and kids lunch box containers, so definitely check them out if you’re in need of a bag to carry the box in.
Best Snack Containers for Kids Lunches
If you need to send a snack or want to send lunch in individual containers, these are the ones that we’ve found to be the best.
- Bumkins Reusable Snack Bags: These are wipe-clean, machine washable, and endlessly reusable. And the patterns are so darn cute!
- Replay Recycled Snack Stacker: We’ve had one set of these for years and I find them to be so great for taking snacks on the go—and for keeping said snacks from getting smushed in a bag. I regularly use these for my elementary aged kiddo’s afternoon snack.
- Lunchskins Bags: If you want a paper bag, these are awesome. They’re paper and recyclable.
- Beaba Clip Containers: This set is also really handy since the containers stack and hold together. We use them regularly too.
Try these 9 innovative and healthy lunchbox ideas to make lunch-packing a pleasurable and fun-filled exercise!
https://www.parentcircle.com/article/9-best-lunchbox-ideas-for-children/
In preparation for preschool, I just posed this question to a group of FB friends. Everyone uses the Pottery Barn lunchbags with inserts. I wonder how they are…. Ditto the bento boxes like Yumbox. We have and like the Lunchbots now, though I wish the lid was hinged, too. This school is weirdly glass-free (but they reheat on regular plates). I just want to find the one perfect thing and use it forever….!
Interesting. I don’t know anyone who uses the Pottery Barn one, though it looks a lot like a regular Planet Box. Do they actually serve the food on plates at the school? Meaning that she doesn’t eat out of the lunchbox? If you just need something to get the food to school, I’d probably go with the Easy Lunchboxes since they are affordable and durable…I would think that she’d have a lot of feelings about the bag that lunchbox goes in once she gets to elementary school, so I’m not sure I’d place too much emphasis on that aspect at this point.
They take the food out, reheat on china, and put it back in the original receptacle. Haha, whatever happened to tinfoil and saran wrap, ya know? I want a system! LOL.