Pack an Eco-Friendly Lunch with PlanetBox

Welcome to the second annual Green Your School Year Giveaway Hop, hosted by Happy Mothering, Easy Green Mom and Brittleby’s Corner through the Green Moms Network! We’ve teamed up with a group of bloggers to bring you the chance to win prizes that will help you kick your child’s school year off on a green foot! After entering my giveaway, be sure to hop around and enter all of the other #GreenSchool giveaways listed on the linky at the bottom of this post for your chance to win more eco-friendly and healthy giveaways!

It’s Back to School time! Have your kids started the school year yet? Are you homeschooling? Do you pack a lunch for yourself to take to work everyday? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you’re going to want to check out today’s tips for packing an eco-friendly lunch!

Whether it’s at work or school, the amount of waste generated everyday from lunch is unbelievable. We’ve become so accustomed to convenience packs, single-serve sizes, foil, plastic wrap, etc., and although these things make packing a lunch quick and easy, the environmental impact that they carry cannot be ignored. 

So what’s the solution? Pack an eco-friendly lunch, of course! Starting with the basics, the smallest changes we can make all involve ditching the single-use, disposable products for their reusable counterparts. Are you drinking from plastic water bottles or juice boxes? Invest in a reusable stainless steel or glass water bottle to carry your beverages. Instead of asking for plastic cutlery at the lunch counter, consider bringing your own silverware from home or buying a set of reusable utensils just for your lunchbox. Ditch the single-use napkins and paper towels, and treat yourself to a set of nice cloth napkins that can be washed and reused over and over again.

A few simple steps is all it takes to make a huge impact in the long run. Although our family usually brings our own lunch and snacks when we go out to the park or for a walk, the thing I’ve been really missing is a nice lunch box to carry it in. That’s why I was so excited when the friendly people at PlanetBox contacted me to review their eco-friendly lunch boxes!

PlanetBox Eco-Friendly Lunch Boxes

PlanetBox is the smart, eco-friendly lunch box that’s part bento box and part TV dinner tray. They’re made of high quality, food-safe stainless steel and independently certified to be free of lead, phthalates, PVC, PBA, and other toxic chemicals. The lunch boxes themselves are also 100% recyclable, meaning less waste in our landfills!

I received a PlanetBox Rover Complete to review. They carry three different sizes; the RoverBox is the middle size, but it has the most compartments. The Rover Complete Kit includes a Rover lunchbox, the Big and Little Dipper for wet messy foods, your choice of super fun magnets designs, as well as a Rover Carry Bag for easy transport available in a variety of vibrant colors.

What I Love

After using my PlanetBox with my 3-year old son on our walks and park trips, there’s a lot that I’ve come to love about this neat little lunch box.

• Compartments – Even though the Rover box is not the largest, it does have the most compartments. This is great for my son who is a total snacker and likes to have a variety of foods to munch on when we’re out.
• Foods Don’t Touch – If you have a toddler, you’ll most likely understand why I love this. My son can’t stand for his foods to touch, so the divided compartments are really awesome in that sense. Nothing ever spills over to a different compartment.
• Dippers – The big and little dippers (cute names, right?) are so handy – I totally recommend including them in your kit. They’re great for dipping sauces or yogurt and messier meals like rice and beans or spaghetti. They also have a great seal so no worries on them accidentally leaking in the box.
• Size – I love how compact these boxes are, and yet they still hold a good amount of food. 
• Durability – We haven’t really put our box through that much so far, but just the way the box is made I can tell it will last us a long time. The latch that closes the box is very sturdy and secure, and if you get the carry bag as well you’re good to go.
• Carry Bag – The bag is optional, but I would absolutely recommend it. It not only keeps the lunch box padded and secure; it also has a nice amount of storage space as well. On the outside, I can fit my son’s 12 oz stainless steel water bottle, and there’s a large pocket that we use for our napkins or extra snacks. Inside there are straps for your utensils, as well as a large mesh area which is meant to hold the optional cold pack.
• Easy Clean-Up – The PlanetBox is very easy to clean, and it’s dishwasher safe – even in the bottom rack! You just have to remember to remove the magnets first if you’re using them.

Some Things to Keep In Mind

There’s not much that I don’t love about the PlanetBox, although there are a few things that do need to be mentioned.

• Price – The Rover Complete Kit that I reviewed sells for $59.95, so it’s not exactly inexpensive (The very smallest, basic box they carry is $34.95). However, it really is an investment in a quality lunch box that will last for years; not to mention how much it saves in disposable products, as well as the amount of waste it diverts from the landfills. 
• Size – I really do love the compact size, but at just 1.5 inches tall, the Rover box could use a little bit of height to accommodate a thicker sandwich (like a bagel), or even a small muffin. The other two sizes (Launch and Shuttle) stand at 2 inches tall, so that may actually be better. Also, the sandwich compartment seems a little small – I usually have to cut a little off the ends to make it fit; but my son doesn’t like the crust so I’m usually cutting it off anyways.
• Dippers – The dippers are so useful, but if you’re sending them to school with little ones they may have a hard time actually getting them open. My 3 year old can open the little dipper without a problem, but his little hands couldn’t grasp the big dipper enough to open it. Just something to keep in mind, as your child may need to ask for help from a teacher to open them at school.
• Lay Flat – When the box is open, it lays completely flat, so it takes up double the space when you’re eating. I wish there was a way to keep the lid standing up. I’ve found that you could place it in the carry bag and kind of zip up the bag a little bit on each side so that the bag’s cover stands up; that way the lid on the lunch box could just lean against the bag’s cover. If the carry bag or the lunch box had a way of keeping the lid up when it’s open, that would be really helpful.

Final Thoughts on the PlanetBox

I absolutely love our PlanetBox lunch box! It makes packing a lunch for our days out so much easier, and dare I say even pleasurable? Even my son seems to be eating a wider variety of foods just because of the way they’re presented in the lunch box, so that’s a huge plus for me as he tends to be a very picky eater. The lunch box is very sturdy, and it seems like it will last us a very long time. Would I buy another one? Absolutely!

Connect with PlanetBox

You can purchase PlanetBox’s eco-friendly lunch boxes from their website or on Amazon. Be sure to connect with them at the links below for the latest on sales and special offers!

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Disclosure: This post was proudly sponsored by PlanetBox. A sponsored posts means I got compensated via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”