Children during the day are busy no less than adults, and therefore the issue of nutrition for a student is acute. The time when an apple taken from home dangled lonely in a briefcase or lay, dirtying notebooks, a sandwich in paper, has passed. Today, caring parents have adopted lunch boxes - a practical embodiment of European traditions.
What it is?
The lunch box is a box made in the form of a chest or tightly closing container for food. The food container holds not only the food itself, but also the cutlery. Any food can be carried in the lunch box - from soups to salads. Convenience lies in the fact that a lunch box for children can accommodate more than one dish, but a full multi-course lunch.
The lunch box is not spilled, and therefore soup or gravy gets on the textbooks and notebooks of the child in the knapsack is completely excluded. Some containers have a full carry handle and can be carried separately from the rest. A child will not look ridiculous and funny with such a lunch box, he will not be ashamed of it, because sometimes such devices look like very fashionable cases for gadgets or beautiful handbags.
Today, lunch boxes are sold in children's and school stores. This is considered a useful acquisition by September 1st. But, in addition to the fact that a high-quality children's lunch box will help the child not feel hunger during the day, it will be useful in order to organize a picnic with friends in the park at any time, to have a quick snack after a workout, if the child is accustomed to proper and healthy nutrition.
In different countries, lunch boxes are called different terms, for example, in Japan it is "bento", and in Indian schoolchildren take "dabba" with them to study. For the first time, lunch boxes began to be used at the beginning of the last century in the United States, and the first boxes were made of metal. It took almost a hundred years for manufacturers to master other materials as well.
Kinds
There are several types of lunch boxes, including children's ones. And the question of choice lies in practicality and personal preference. The most common plastic food boxes are made of non-toxic and completely safe materials that do not change the characteristics of the food. In addition to food grade plastic, the food container can be made of stainless steel, glass. The latter option is not the best for children, since the child can drop the box.
There are foldable models, disposable and reusable. If parents want their child to eat warm homemade soup or stew, they will buy him thermobox with heating.
Plastic
Food grade plastic containers are the lightest and most affordable option. The simplest are boxes without dividers. They can carry one dish. If the task is to collect a full meal for your child, you should pay attention to lunch boxes with dividers, separate sections for different dishes. The lid is sealed, it will not allow the student to spill or scatter the lunch taken from home. Moreover, tightness is a condition that even manufacturers of the cheapest boxes observe.
The advantage of plastic models is the low price, large selection and compactness. But, for example, they cannot keep the temperature of hot soup.
Metallic
Usually presented by boxes made of food "stainless steel". In terms of practicality, such containers are more convincing and adequate. In them, food retains its beneficial properties longer, the temperature of the food is maintained for a longer time. Expensive models have a double layer of the case, which ensures the preservation of the temperature of a hot dish up to about 7 hours. The downside is that metal lunch boxes are more expensive than plastic ones.
Glass
Does not absorb odors over time. They can be used to heat up lunch in the microwave. But they are completely impractical for children, as they can break.
Heated
An excellent, although not the most budgetary option, for parents of schoolchildren. These boxes are sealed and keep food temperature longer. There are even devices that you can connect to your computer or laptop via USB to warm up your meal.
Folding
By the general principle, they resemble a nesting doll - individual containers can be folded into one another. As soon as the child eats, boxing, thanks to this ability, will quickly become small and compact and will no longer take up space in the knapsack, since it will perfectly fit even in a pocket.
Disposable
As the name suggests, intended for only one meal... Then the child simply throws the container into the trash, and the next day he takes a new one from the house. There are quite economical options - 5–7 rubles apiece, and there are unexpected branded solutions - from 350 rubles, with which a simple homemade lunch turns into a restaurant meal.
Popular manufacturers
A children's lunch box is not the same device for an adult. It must meet high safety standards, be small, compact, reliable, airtight and strong, it must keep the heat and quality of the products placed in it longer. If we are talking about a baby or a child of primary school age, it is desirable that the container has an interesting children's design, which will seem attractive to your son or daughter.
When choosing a container for food for a child, you should pay attention to several manufacturers who have long established themselves in this market.
Iris
Boxes made in Spain, which come with a handy bag for carrying. The bags are sewn from practical, stain-resistant fabric, they easily fit several containers, which will allow your child to assemble a full meal of several dishes. Each container has dedicated cutlery sections. The cost starts from one and a half thousand rubles.
Lock & Lock
These boxes are manufactured in Korea. The manufacturer's favorite material is plastic, but it is really high quality and safe. Caps can be silicone or plastic, but both are equipped with an elastic band that ensures tightness. These containers are very easy to operate, easy to carry and easy to clean. From this manufacturer, you can find both simple containers for 100 rubles, and multi-level devices, the cost of which is again quite affordable - from 700 rubles.
Black + Blum
Under this brand are presented very original models of boxes, stylized as books, a construction set, models with cartoon characters, fairy-tale characters and superheroes. The lid in all models is vacuum-sealed, which is guaranteed to prevent spillage. The cost of such containers is quite high - from 2 to 3 thousand.
"Owl"
This is Russian boxing, which is stylized as a funny owl. There are several color schemes, but the inner space of the box is unchanged - two sections for a school lunch. The cost of such a container is low - from 350 rubles.
When choosing, evaluate not only a specific manufacturer name, brand, but also practical advice that will help you make the right and economical choice.
Selection recommendations
Recently, the attitude towards lunch box has been formed as a school accessory, and they usually buy it during the period of getting ready to school, and therefore in a hurry they not only forget about practicality, but the child's opinion in matters of choice is ignored. The child must decide how the container for food should look like, and all other characteristics should be taken into account by his parents. And the choice of a suitable children's lunch box on closer inspection is not as easy as it seems at first.
First of all, evaluate the ratio of form and spaciousness. The shape should be small so that the box does not take up too much space in the knapsack, but at the same time it should be roomy enough so that you can place a lunch for a student in it. Further, be sure to consider the following.
- Too cheap reusable boxes are suspicious, since no one will trade at a loss. Accordingly, manufacturers save on something. Most likely, on quality material. Low-quality plastic can be toxic, especially the release of toxins and phenol when exposed to hot food dishes.
- Pretentious and fanciful design models do not guarantee that the product will last long. If you really want to buy a stylized container for your child, make sure that it has good fasteners, does not leak liquid, and is sealed.
- A high price, as well as too low, does not guarantee that the container will be durable and reliable.
Decide what kind of food the child will carry - if these are hot meals, then it is better to choose a thermo or a metal box with double walls. If fruits and sandwiches, you can do with plastic. Imagine clearly how much food will need to be put into it, so that later you do not stain the large box with one spoonful of porridge or try to fit into the small box what cannot fit into it according to the laws of physics.
Boxes with 1–2 compartments are best suited for a student. More food sections are not required, they will "stand idle" without being used.
It is important to know that it is very important for your child what his snack or lunch container looks like. He should like him, and then the student will not hesitate to get the box and eat what his parents put with them.
For girls, models that are stylized like characters from fairy tales and cartoons are more suitable. Schoolgirls are usually happy to choose boxes with pictures of pets. For boys, the best solution would be a container that looks like a book, device or construction block. If a boy loves superheroes, do not deny him this - you can find boxing with any character of "boy" cartoons.
If the primary classes are already behind us, then bright and cartoonish boxes will be inappropriate. You need to choose more rigorous models - plain or multi-colored.
Having settled on a specific model, move on to the last and most important checkpoint - evaluate the quality... Plastic, if we are talking about such a material, should not have a chemical smell, strange cloudy spots on the case, cracks. The lid must be tight and reliable, and the fasteners, if any, must be strong, otherwise they will quickly break from constant use.
Metal models should not contain signs of violation of the integrity of the case, should not smell unpleasant. Do not hesitate to open, smell, knock on the case - the sound should be even, monotonous. This is a guarantee that you are not deceived with the presence of double thermo-walls.
It is preferable to buy a container for baby food in specialized stores, which can confirm the origin of the product and its safety, presenting a certificate of conformity at your request.
Do not buy secondhand lunch boxes for children, even if branded and expensive, but previously used dishes are sold. The boxes have a lifespan.
For an overview of the "Owl" children's lunch box for food, see the next video.
