OmieBox Bento Box and Kindergarten

[purplepenguin7]

Does anyone kids have the OmieBox Bento Box?  I had my eye on it for a few years so my daughter could mix hot food (mac n cheese, pasta, chicken nuggets, etc) with cold stuff and I finally grabbed one on the prime day sale.  It just arrived and it's HEAVY.  My daughter is just starting kindergarten and I'm kind of worried it will be too heavy for her to lug around.  She's a tiny kid.  Does anyone have experience with it, especially compared to a regular bento box?  Besides being heavy, also wondering if it works well with the hot and the cold.  

[niq]

We used it for a while but gave up on it after a year. The thermos was too small to fit very much food. Weight wasn't a problem -- V could carry it to and from school, and the classroom teacher put all the K lunchboxes in a radio flyer wagon to carry them to and from the lunchroom.

Before we have up on it, we gave one to several friends. Some of them are still using it after over 5 years.

[UMaineTeach]

I know I bought it, hated it, and returned it. But I don’t remember why. I had to go back and look at the listing in Amazon to remember what it looked like.

I think it was too difficult to get the hot foods cover off or something like that.

[pinkplasticdoll]

We use it for my kids since they were 2.5 and 4.5, we love them. My kids say the food stays warm and dont have any complaints, we use it at least twice a week for our lunch rotation so they would definitely let me know if it sucked. My kids are petite and have never complained about the weight, they lug a lunch box, snack bag and water bottle each day to school.

[purplepenguin7]

Jul 25, 2024 13:18:34 GMT -5 UMaineTeach said:

I know I bought it, hated it, and returned it. But I don’t remember why. I had to go back and look at the listing in Amazon to remember what it looked like.

I think it was too difficult to get the hot foods cover off or something like that.

this is a good point!  I should make sure my daughter can get the lid off on her own before deciding whether or not to keep.

[pandora89]

We use it, I don't love it or hate it. We use it for the thermos and that is holds bigger portions compared to the other lunchbox we have (the planetbox). I just love the convenience of the planet box and being able to throw it into the dishwasher. The hot works fine, it's still warm when they each their lunch. It can be difficult to open so you do have to make sure you do not close it tight.

The omiebox can be a bit heavy, no problem when its just taking it to school and back but we packed it in DS's backpack when he went to camp and had to carry around his backpack all day. He did complain then about how heavy it is.

[noodleoo]

I’ve never seen that before but wow it’s expensive. We’ve sent DD1 hot food in this thermos since K and they work great. They are small and fit in a PB lunch box. We send fruit and snacks in small tupperwares. The key to keeping the food warm the thermos Is to microwave some water until it is hot and fill the thermos up for like 5 to 10 minutes to preheat it before you put the food in. Works awesome!

THERMOS FUNTAINER Insulated Food Jar – 10 Ounce, Pink
a.co/d/74deqdP

[lo]

I don’t love ours. I was excited for hot and cold in one box, but if you read the directions it says like don’t use ice packs if you have hot stuff in the thermos. So I’ve found it’s not really possible to have truly hot food and cold at the same time.

[dreamcrisp1]

We use it. No real complaints. Not my fave but still used daily. My son started using it at 4 when he started group 1 and managed fine with it.

[purplepenguin7]

Jul 27, 2024 8:40:42 GMT -5 noodleoo said:

I’ve never seen that before but wow it’s expensive. We’ve sent DD1 hot food in this thermos since K and they work great. They are small and fit in a PB lunch box. We send fruit and snacks in small tupperwares. The key to keeping the food warm the thermos Is to microwave some water until it is hot and fill the thermos up for like 5 to 10 minutes to preheat it before you put the food in. Works awesome!

THERMOS FUNTAINER Insulated Food Jar – 10 Ounce, Pink
a.co/d/74deqdP

we used to use a thermos in our old preschool but it was such a pain to pack multiple items. I was hoping this would be a good alternative.