We were recently sent a Yumbox to try out. I have seen these all over my Instagram account and I am always amazed at the creations that parents come up with for their children’s packed lunches. I looked at Yumboxes, but from the plethora of pictures online,I assumed that they were only for incredibly creative parents who had spare time to make creations worthy of an art gallery. I hadn't really even considered the fact that you could put normal looking food in them. Don't get me wrong, I would love to create masterpieces every day, but I am running Bed & Breakfast and am lucky if I have five minutes to put together her lunch, I simply don't have the time. So I thought it would be interesting to review it from a basic lunchbox perspective, looking at a ‘normal’ lunch.
My daughter is slightly fussy with food. She doesn’t really like bread, so I had been looking for a lunchbox which would be easier to fill with lots of little things. She really loves vegetables, fruit and humous, so I wanted something which would enable me to pack them all in one box, with no chance of leakage or spillage. My son was incredibly easy to make packed lunches for. With my daughter I would send her with sandwiches but she invariably wouldn't eat them, which was a waste of food.
Pack yoghurt next to crackers with no worries! Yumbox's unique single lid seals all food wells individually. Food won't touch or leak outside of the box. No need for plastic bags, cling-film or multiple lids (to lose!). The leak-proof lid is standard on both the Yumbox Classic design as well as the Yumbox Panino. Yumbox’s pre-portioned illustrated (and removable) tray guides you to pack a healthy and hassle-free lunch. The Classic Yumbox tray is divided into five ½ cup portions of the key food groups: Fruit, Vegetable, Grains, Protein, Dairy. Plus a small well for a dip or a treat. Yumbox is sturdy and compact with an easy-open latch. It fits neatly into standard size thermal lunch bags. The Yumbox Classic (fully filled) offers a nutritionally balanced meal for a child between the ages of 3 and 10. It is great for older children and adults for healthy snacks or for portion control. The Classic Yumbox is a great way to teach your child about portion sizes and different food groups. Offering a healthy variety of foods will instill good eating habits the fun way.
The Yumbox has been fantastic for my daughter. She is finally eating her lunch every day and I am getting a bit more inventive at finding different types of protein for her. It has really made me think about what I am feeding her every day, rather than simply putting sandwiches, some fruit and some crisps in. Since we have had the Yumbox, she very rarely leaves any food. I like that there are different compartments which are clearly labelled to separate the food groups. It makes packing lots of small options far easier and nothing spills or drips. She really likes humous, so it's great to be able to put a small amount in for her to dip cucumber sticks into.
The Yumbox is dishwasher safe which makes cleaning it incredibly easy. The only thing I would say about putting it in the dishwasher is that I haven't yet found a position for it where it doesn't gather water in it. All I do is to make sure I open the dishwasher as soon as it has finished and tip the water away, before placing it back into the dishwasher to dry out.
The Yumbox retails at £24.95 and you can find out more here. There is something about the Yumbox which just makes food look more appealing. I would like to eat my lunch from the Yumbox! It is definitely a hit in our household.
