For months I came up with zilch.  I was buying those soft plastic lunchboxes that were made of toxic shit from countries with less than zero standards AND they ripped after a week.  For an eco-friendly mama like me who only half-jokes that toilet paper has 2 sides this was unacceptable.

Then I found Planetbox. It’s 100% high-quality stainless steel, free of BPA, lead, PVC and phthalates – meaning non-toxic and nothing yucky to leech into your child’s food. It’s dishwasher safe (hello, super easy to clean), durable (and with my girls that’s important because I’m NOT buying lunch boxes every year) and even dare I say…stylish.  For an OCD girl like me my favorite part is all those little compartments.  With the compartments I just need to invent a little something each day.  This product is great for the planet as you no longer have to buy plastic bags, lasts a long time so you are not buying (and throwing away) lunch bags every year and perfect portion size so you are not throwing away food creating more garbage. I bought my Planetbox a few years ago and Emma (age 9) still uses it daily. She picked out the unicorn rainbow magnets and then this year to spice things up a little, I bought her the Fairies.  Since Emma loved it so much my younger daughter Chloe (age 7) had to have one as well, so there’s a second Planetbox with Kitty magnets on it also sitting on my counter.  I love this “bento” style type of lunch case because it helps me give them a diversity of food and keep perfect portion control.

Here’s a typical lunch for either girl: Strawberries, cucumbers, carrots, sweet potato sushi rolls with edamame and just so you don’t think I’m too much of a freak – that’s M&Ms in the middle compartment.  Hey, you have to balance out the healthy with a little bit of fun.  I also bought the ice pack that fits into the side pocket of the carry case when you open it up so it keeps their food cold.  My husband had visions of the lunch scene from The Breakfast Club and didn’t want either of his girls getting made fun of for packing what he called a “Molly Ringwald lunch”.  Emma told me her friends think her lunchbox is cool and they were “totally jealous” that she had sushi for lunch.  Eat your heart out Judd Nelson.

I will warn you, the PlanetBox is not cheap. BUT I bought it because it’s eco-friendly, a great product and I’ll be using it for YEARS so if you price it out, it costs less than other products. I also like this better than other bento style boxes because my daughters are young and all the lids and individual containers would be hard for them to manipulate. Ok, that last part may be bullshit…I just don’t want to have to wash like 10 individual container every day after school. Mostly, I bought it because it was made of stainless steel and I didn’t have to figure out if the plastic was a safe plastic or a nasty one.   Eco-laziness at it’s finest.

My review of this product is based solely on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience. I did not receive any compensation – I buy their products with my own cold, hard cash.