How to choose a lunch box for your kid?
Image by jun yang from Pixabay
All the nutrition filled, organic, home-cooked meals in the world count for nothing if you don’t have the right stainless steel bento box to ensure every thread of nutrition is safeguarded for your kid’s benefit.
It is important to note that lunchboxes have come a long way since the days when you would just slap your kids’ lunch into a plastic container and send them on their way. Advances in technology now allow you to get a compartmentalized, lightweight, small, and appropriate lunch box that ensures your child’s lunch is packed properly.
So how do you choose the right lunchbox? Here are a few tips to help ensure you get the perfect fit.
Stick with stainless steel
Most people are still a bit attached to plastic simply because it looks cute, but the fact is, it deteriorates rather quickly. Another recommendable material is glass, but then again, you’re dealing with kids here, so the brittleness becomes a factor.
The most highly recommended material, by elimination, then becomes stainless steel. First, because it is the most durable, by a mile. This material doesn’t bend or break easily, and it doesn’t lose color or any harmful materials into your child’s lunch. If that doesn’t sell you on it, then consider the fact that you don’t have to worry about environmental pollution, as steel is substantially eco-friendly.
Lastly, of the various lunch box materials mentioned, stainless steel is one of the easiest to clean, so you don’t have to blow a lid because of stubborn grease stains.
Focus on compartments
Now kids are naturally messy, it is kind of an occupational hazard, however, neatly set up lunch box with compartments that align each food item will go a long way in ensuring your child develops and maintains some semblance of sanity.
Compartments give you options, allowing you to pack several different types of food without having to worry about them spilling into each other. You can go for anything from 4 to 6 compartments, or even 8, depending on how adventurous you are on your child’s diet. The key is to ensure everything is carefully laid out so your child can have a healthy, balanced diet.
Steer clear of plastics
As mentioned earlier, plastics do look cute, and they have plenty of design patterns, but that’s about as much advantage as you’ll get. Plastics lose color after several washes, they stain easily, and they have been known to have harmful contaminants that sip into your child’s food. Plastic containers are also known to be notorious odor retainers, which means a fish lunch, for example will leave an odor several days after you thoroughly clean it.
The lack of biodegradability is also something that should concern you, so if you want to get a good lunch box for your kid, then plastic probably isn’t the way to go.
Lightweight and compactness
It would be a little counterproductive to have a lunchbox that has all the above qualities, but is the size of a marine flashlight! Compactness and favorable weight are two very essential qualities that should be at the top of your list when finding a lunchbox for your kid.
The lunchbox shouldn’t be too heavy to carry, and it shouldn’t be too big, or too rough around the edges to fit into your kid’s backpack. You have to consider that it needs to leave enough room for other things such as books, an extra sweater, or even stationary that your kid requires for school. You can always go for one with a handle fitted to it to make carrying it that much simpler.
Bottom line
Finding the perfect lunchbox for your kids shouldn’t be rocket science, all you have to do is find the right blend of a durability, pocket-friendliness, easy to carry, easy to open and safety qualities to help you along.