Best Kid Lunch Containers and Water Bottles

It’s back to school time and my little girl will start first grade, she is growing up so fast.  I get the question all the time of what containers do you use for snacks and lunches and what do you pack. Well this post is all about snack and lunch containers and water bottles.  I have been packing snacks and lunch for my little girl since she was one years old so I have tried many of the containers out there.

First of all I do not use any plastic.  I only use glass or stainless steel containers and water bottles.  Plastic is an endocrine distributor and there are already too many factors around us that we can’t control that are endocrine disruptor so I am not going to add to that list if I can.  Stainless Steel is best because it is light and will not break, especially if your child likes to throw their lunch box or backpack on the ground.  Some schools do not allow glass so always check with your daycare, preschool, or school first.

Kid Lunch Boxes

My favorite lunchboxes are Lunchbots and Onyx Containers.  Lunchbots has bento boxes, insulated containers, and much more.  I used the bento boxes a lot.  These are the ones that I have.  I also only get the Stainless Steel color.  I don’t think there is any need to get colors for your bento box, just another part to wash.  I also put a rubber band around the Lunchbots bento box because my daughter throws her bag on the ground and I would hate for it to automatically open up.

Onyx Containers is another great one.  The reason these two layer bento boxes is because it is compact, it has two layers and it has clip-ons so it is secure.  I can make a sandwich, or quesadilla or whatever your lunch is at the bottom and then on top add fruit or vegetables, and you only have to worry about one container.

There are other Stainless Steel brands too like Planetbox, U-konserve, Eco Lunchboxes, and Kids Basix.

• Planetbox I do not like because they have way too many dividers and we just don’t eat that way, also too cumbersome to make so many different things daily. My child has 20 minutes for lunch only two things get eaten.
• U-konserve has silicon lids and I will always choose stainless steel lid over silicon or plastic when I can. There is no other reason their containers look really cute. However, I do have U-konserve ice packs I really like those.
• Eco Lunchboxes are adorable and seem awesome, the have all kids of different sizes and fully Stainless Steel I just have never tried them but will sometime in the future. If you have tried them let me know how they are.
• Kids Basix is another one that has cute stuff but silicon or plastic lids. However, I do like their sippy cups.
• Thinksport – also plastic lid so haven’t tried it yet.

Thermal Containers

If you like to provide your child soups to school then here are some options for you.  We never do soups, my daughter just prefers other things we have tried some of these and they are great but I think it depends on the kid if they like to have a thermos or not.  Here are some options for you, Thermos, Lunchbots, Kleen Kanteen, Thinksport.

Snack Boxes, Bags & Wraps

We do have tons of snack boxes our hands down favorite are the Wean Green glass containers.  They are perfect size I have used them for 5 years and not once has one broken and I use them daily. I sent them with my child to daycare daily too. Our other favorite option that is not glass is Tavva Kitchen (20% off link) they are stainless steel. They are light and have a silicon lid. But there are tons of other options Like Eco-Lunchbox, Lunchbots, and Planetbox that are not glass and stainless steel.

If you are looking for snack bags or Sandwich bags I use LunchSkins a lot and they are washable which is great.  Other bag ideas are – Keep Leaf and Stasher Bag.

There are also options for Reusable wrapping for sandwiches or other food items like Bee’s Wrap or Meli Wrap.  I have tried them both and I just don’t like them.  They are too much of a burden for us, kind of sticky, smelly and hard to wash,  I just rather use a stainless steel container.

Adult Lunch Boxes

My husband loves the Onyx Containers he uses the these two layer bento boxes but if you are bringing a salad to work I use Onyx airtight Stainless Steel bowl with a lid.  They are great, lightweight and big enough for my large lunch salads. I used to do glass but my lunch bag ended up being too heavy. Also any of the other Kid’s Lunch boxes I posted above will work for adults too.

Water Bottles

My favorite is Kleen Kanteen (20% off link) they just work for us stainless steel and simple to clean.  I will never have a plastic bottle and also any bottles that is complicated to clean and has any kind of straws, too many possibilities for mold growth.  There are many good options here are the good ones – Pura Stainless, Planetbox,  Hydroflask, Thinksport, and Lifefactory.

Other Great Sites:

If you are looking for other sites to look into Stainless Steel containers and non-Plastic eating items I really love this site – Life without Plastic and also Mighty Nest.

I want to hear what you use please comment below.  Would you be interested in the same write up on baby bottles and food storage items etc?

Also if you are interested in looking what I pack for lunched each day to get some ideas, I will be posting pictures of my child’s lunch box on Instagram. I have created an account for snack and lunch pictures only – follow me along on MyKidsDailyLunchBox.