Product Review: Laptop Lunch

No doubt you already know that packing a lunch to take to work or school each day is a great way to cut costs and boost nutrition. But it's unlikely that you'll stick with this habit if you subject yourself (or your child) to a tuna sandwich and an apple everyday. Alternatives like frozen entrees and pre-packaged disposable trays of food tend to contain loads of additives, unhealthy fats and high amounts of sodium. All that packaging is also hard on both your wallet and the planet. One alternative that's gaining popularity is an American-ized version of bento lunch common in Japan (Lunch in a Box is a great blog by a former Japanese expat for an introduction to that tradition). One of the most popular brands is Laptop Lunches.

The Laptop Lunch (LL) consists of one outer plastic box and 5 smaller containers (including a small dip container) that fit snugly inside. Other than the dip container, only one of the inner containers has a lid. This lidded container is intended for "wet" foods. The large outer box serves as the lid for the other compartments, which prevents having multiple lids that could easily be lost. The LL also includes a small set of silverware and is marketed as allowing you to pack a "waste-free lunch."

I've been using these lunchboxes for a couple months to pack daily lunches for myself, my husband, and our 2 year old. We ordered directly from the manufacturer since they offer a price break on multiple boxes and make it easy to order exactly the color you want. The LL is currently available in only one size and when ours arrived, we were a little skeptical that one size WOULD actually fit all. Certainly it's easy enough to partially fill the containers to create a smaller lunch for a child and use the extra space to include "treats" like small toys, stickers, notes, etc). For a grown up lunch, we had to learn to use space wisely- packing each container full to the top and occasionally using silicone muffin cups to further divide the cups. Here are my son's and husband's lunches for today:

Both lunches have golden rice with peas and garbanzo beans (left over from dinner). My husband gets a larger portion that's packed down tight with a sprinkle of cayenne on top. Both get cheese and salami strips and plenty of fruit. For my son, I've included sunflower butter dip (he's in a nut-free classroom) while my husband has a tahini-honey sandwich that he'll most likely eat as an afternoon snack. You'll notice we haven't included the silverware; we tend to keep utensils at work and the utensils that were included aren't dishwasher safe so we're less likely to use them. This also provides a bit more space to include food like the carrot sticks in my husband's lunch.

The LL have worked very well for us so far. They've held up to multiple washings and, though the clasp on the outer box seems a little weak, they haven't let us down yet. While the unlidded containers hold dry food very well, we've found that packing anything even slightly wet (watermelon chunk, lightly dressed salad) in them results in leaking. However, the LL fits perfectly in a gallon size ziptop bag or a piece of cling wrap can be place around the individual container. We've also learned that the LL is best used to replace the plastic containers in which you'd pack food rather than a lunch box itself. That is, we carry the LL inside a reusable lunch bag or insulated box along with an icepack (sleeves and bags are also available from the manufacturer for this purpose). The LL is small enough to fit inside a standard size bag or box easily.

My son is too little to really give me much feedback on whether he likes his LL, but he sure seems to eat from it with gusto. The adults in the family are also quite happy with the way it makes the presentation of lunch visually appealing (for inspiration on this, regardless of your dietary preferences, try the archives of the Vegan Lunch Box blog). My husband was notorious for leaving containers at work or failing to notice one of the items I'd packed. Both of these problems have been eliminated with the LL. Finally, having four compartments to fill provides a little nudge for us to pack a large variety of foods each day, which in turn provides plenty of choices for picky toddlers and the best chance at a balanced meal for everyone.