In the weeks leading up to school resuming, if you all are anything like me, you take stock of everything your kids used the previous year (and everything teachers sent back home in May) to see what can be re-used. Unfortunately, my girls’ lunchboxes had seen better days and we were going to need to replace everything from containers to the ice packs (mainly because Ms. M threw two away last year…grrr!), and the actual boxes themselves. Bummer…because the $200 I’d already spent on classroom supplies wasn’t enough.
Imagine how thrilled I was to have the opportunity to review the majority of the very items I needed to purchase: food containers, ice packs, and spill-proof water bottles! Woot!
I’ll start by reviewing the Contigo Kids Autospout water bottles. When I was first shopping lunchbox items, I had noticed the Contigo bottles at Target and placed them on my short list of spillproof water bottles that could go into lunchboxes. Here is what I loved about these bottles at first sight: they are leak and spill proof; they are BPA free; they have a drink spout (versus a lid that screws on and that my kids have to try to get off after I’ve screwed them on tightly); and they have a lifetime warranty. Not to mention, they have some super cute colors and designs on their bottles! Anyway, I was hesitant to just stick these water bottles in the lunch boxes because past experiences with thermoses, or anything with a lid, had resulted in wet packs when the girls come home. Not so with these! My girls loved the drink spout, which pops up when you depress the button on the front of the bottle, and there was no spillage in the backpacks when the girls came home. They are simple to disassemble, they’re top-rack dishwasher safe, and they came through the dishwasher in perfect condition! A+ for these babies!
Moving on. The Rubbermaid LunchBlox were super exciting to me when I was asked to review them! I knew I needed new containers that could fit into lunchboxes, but it was really hard to find sets of lunchbox-sized containers that didn’t also include large containers for meal leftovers. These LunchBlox are the perfect solution for lunchbox organization because 1) they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, 2) the lid seal is tight and they do not leak, and 3) they come with a freezer pack that snaps onto each block so that each container stays good and cold throughout the day.
We’ve used these containers for a solid week and taken them everywhere from school, to the zoo, and to keep lunches fresh for play dates. The smaller blox are ideal for my girls’ lunchboxes, and their food stayed cool and fresh all day long! The fact that the flat ice pack snaps onto the lids of the containers is so convenient when it comes to space issues in the lunchboxes, and because it doesn’t accidentally get mixed in with the trash and thrown out. The larger blox set I’ve found to be ideal for fitting into my Thirty One lunch tote; it’s larger and flatter than the others, and just seems to fit into that bag like it was made for it. My experience with the food I’ve packed in this set was the same as my girls’ experience: the food stayed very cold and very fresh, and I love the variety of container sizes because it allows me to pack a variety of foods (or dips…because my kids love to dip fruit or veggies into stuff) in kid-sized servings.
Solid A for these products! I’m thrilled overall!
