My little guy only went to preschool for one year. Even that one year was 3 days a week for 3 hours a day…so what does that mean? He ate lunch with me everyday, which I loved. Eating lunch with my mom is something I always did and still do when I visit her. I never had to worry about packing a lunch EVER. It was awesome, there was no prep in the morning and it was a lazy wakeup around 8am for us.
Well, that all CHANGED this August. He started kindergarten!
Well about a week or two prior to school starting, I asked a TON of moms on various groups what the best bento box for school was. I also did what everyone mom does and went on Amazon to see what the reviews were as well.
Here is what I decided on…I loved the Planetbox (quality and durability) but what not thinking that spending $55-80 on a lunchbox was necessary. So I tried a couple options. I went with a two highly recommended BPA free, leak proof boxes that I could wash on the top shelf of my dishwasher. I won’t name names because these are highly loved and widely used. That is a must for me. I initially was super happy with the price and the quality.
So after a month of school, here are my thoughts:
- NOT SO LEAKPROOF…not always totally leakproof. We had some crushed raspberry juice disaster that leaked out the side.
- INTERIOR PLASTIC CRACK: Alright so I sanitize the bento box every morning with hot water from the water kettle. I just want to make sure there are no germs in the box before I load in the fresh food. So from the heat of the water it cracked the removable interior.
- SPACE So my little guy said he wanted a daily sandwich with a couple of fruit and veggie sides…well turns out that he rather have more of a smorgasboard than that. He likes a bunch of different small things that are more like finger foods. See picture below. So when I changed the box to one with more little spaces, they were not the right size. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime (doubting that they feel the same about me..haha)
So needless to say, 3 multiple purchases and returns later…I splurged and got a Planetbox, more specifically the Rover Planetbox.

So one week in, here is where I am:
- Loving the Spaces–my kiddo likes to eat a little of a lot of things…these spaces are working for us
- Food stays fresh for the day with the ice pack in the bag
- EASY to clean-I just sanitize at the end of the day with my hot water kettle and wipe out
- Dishwasher friendly (a must for me)
- Compact
- Durable
At the End of the Day…we are SUPER HAPPY with our new PLANETBOX ROVER!