The 8 Best Lunch Boxes of 2025

A classic bento box: Takenaka Bento Bite Dual

If you find yourself packing thoughtful lunches made of distinct components, and you place equal value on function and style, the Takenaka Bento Bite Dual could be a good lunch box for you.

While the double-decker container is great for carrying a small sandwich and a few snacks, like fruit and chips, its compartmentalized layout inspires a more traditional bento treatment. It’s not fully leakproof, so you’d want to favor drier foods, such as dumplings, rice, or steamed vegetables.

It’s well designed. The bento’s larger top tier fits the bulk of a meal, and a removable divider provides the option for two separate zones. (Since the divider doesn’t seal or suction to the bottom, it’s best for non-liquidy items.)

A smaller compartment is nestled underneath, with a silicone lid separating the two. The woven elastic strap that keeps them together performed well in our drop tests: Besides a few nicks, all of the components remained together and intact.

It can fit a hearty meal. We were able to pack a filling lunch of grain salad, dolmas, and sliced cucumber. We also like that the top tier is deep enough to fit a whole plum or a small peach, and either container can be used on its own if you want to pack a smaller meal.

It’s easy on the eyes. The Bite Dual comes in eight colors and features smooth lines that are attractive and convenient (no sharp corners for food to get stuck in). We also tested the Monbento Original Bento Box, which comes in 28 stylish colors and patterns, but we preferred the feel and function of the Bite Dual.

It’s pretty easy to clean. The Bite Dual is top-rack dishwasher safe, except for the thin plastic lid that separates the two tiers. For longevity, we’d also recommend hand-washing the top lid, which has a silicone gasket.

You can detach the gasket before dishwashing if you prefer and easily pop it back in afterward. (The PlanetBox Explorer has a similar removable gasket, but it’s trickier to work back into place.)

Tomato sauce didn’t stain the Bite Dual during our testing, though it left a faint reddish tint on the OXO Salad Container and the W&P Porter Bowl.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It’s not entirely leakproof. A few drops of water escaped during our leak test, and the movable divider doesn’t completely separate the foods. Some dressing from the grain salad made its way to the dolmas in our testing.

While that didn’t negatively impact the meal, it may be an issue if you’re separating sweet and savory foods or flavors that don’t mix. If you’re looking for a leakproof bento, you can try the Bentgo MicroSteel Lunch Box

It’s a little involved. For such a sleek, compact container, there are a lot of parts: a large compartment, a smaller compartment, a top lid, a gasket for the lid, a silicone lid with a plastic fork attached, a divider, and a woven elastic band. These felt like a lot to keep track of, especially when unloading the dishwasher in the morning.

If that seems like too much, you may want to try the Bentgo MicroSteel or the W&P Porter Bowl, which have far fewer components. Takenaka does sell replacement parts, so all is not lost if you lose any of them. They do not offer a warranty on their products, though, which is unfortunate for a lunch box that costs around $40.

The fork is flimsy. The Bite Dual comes with a plastic fork attached to the inner plastic lid. Though it works in a pinch, the small tines aren’t strong enough to spear hard foods or scoop up a large bite, so you may want to pack your own eating utensil.

A streamlined stainless steel bento box: Bentgo MicroSteel Lunch Box

If you find yourself frequently reheating leftovers for lunch, you may like the Bentgo MicroSteel Lunch Box. (An older version was a previous pick, but it wasn’t microwave-safe.) It’s also attractive and is easy to clean.

It’s microwave-safe and plastic free. This metal bento is microwave-safe for up to 10 minutes. We used it to reheat spaghetti Bolognese without incident. According to Bentgo, the low levels of copper and silicone in the material, combined with the container’s rounded edges, prevent the stainless steel from sparking. It also gets bonus points for being plastic-free.

It’s a good size. With the silicone divider, the Bentgo MicroSteel can fit a full meal consisting of two components, like pasta and a salad, or a large sandwich plus a side. You can forgo the divider and fill the single compartment—we liked it for rice and beans.

Despite being able to fit a big lunch, it’s compact enough to fit in all of the insulated fabric bags we recommend, which is helpful when you don’t have access to refrigeration. And if you’re trying to avoid plastic, you’ll find that most glass food storage containers are quite heavy, whereas the Bentgo MicroSteel weighs a relatively light 18 ounces.

It’s leakproof. The Bentgo MicroSteel aced our leak tests, and the divider did a great job keeping separated foods, like a sandwich and cut fruit, from mingling. It was the only stainless steel model we tested that performed this well.

It’s pretty durable. When we dropped the Bentgo MicroSteel onto asphalt, the lid dented, but we were still able to close it properly. It also didn’t show any stains from our tomato sauce test. The Bentgo MicroSteel is also covered for two years under Bentgo’s warranty. But at around $30, it costs significantly more than basic food storage containers.

It has style. With five metallic colors to choose from and pleasing rounded corners that make it easy to scoop out every bite, the Bentgo MicroSteel is decidedly more elevated than an average food storage container.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It may peel. According to Amazon reviews and long-term testers from Wirecutter, the exterior coating on the colored versions of the MicroSteel starts to peel over time. If that concerns you, you can opt for the plain stainless steel color.

It requires some hand-washing. Bentgo says that the container itself is top-rack dishwasher safe, while the silicone divider and the lid (which has a silicone seal) must be washed by hand. However, repeated dishwasher use may contribute to the problem of the peeling coating, so you might be better off hand-washing the whole thing.

A roomy salad bowl: Bentgo All-in-One Salad Container

The Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container might be niche, but if you’re a salad-as-a-main-course person, you can’t beat its convenience and organization. It could work for other meals, too, but its layout creates the perfect conditions for a fresh, crisp salad, even if it’s packed hours before. The bowl is pleasant to eat from, and it comes in eight appealing color choices.

It has thoughtful, tidy compartments. The Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container has an ample main compartment, a leakproof dressing container, and a divided tray that nestles into the larger bowl.

Together, they’re ideally suited for a generous serving of greens, dressing, and mix-ins that should stay separate until it’s time to eat. A chicken caesar worked perfectly in this setup: romaine in the bowl; croutons, parmesan, and chicken in their own nooks in the tray; and dressing in the container.

When it was time to eat, we combined the ingredients in the main compartment, popped the lid back on, and gave it a shake. (The only downside to this method is that the tray needs to be in place for the lid to close, so it will get covered in dressing.)

It’s microwave- and dishwasher-safe. If you end up packing leftovers in the Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container, it’s easy to reheat them, and the bowl can go straight from the microwave to your desk.

Unlike the Bentgo MicroSteel or the Takenaka Bento Bite Dual, it’s fully dishwasher-safe, and a cycle removed all traces of tomato during our stain tests. But its many components take up a lot of space in the top rack. If you prefer a more streamlined lunch container, you might like the W&P Porter Bowl.

It’s affordable. At around $15, the Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container is the cheapest of our picks, and Bentgo offers a two-year warranty.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It has some superfluous parts. The Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container comes with a small plastic fork that fits in the top lid, but we found it too small and preferred to use our own fork. And the clear plastic lid that fits over the fork often falls off and seems destined for the landfill.

It’s prone to breakage. Though most of the online reviews are positive, several mentioned that the clasps on the lid break easily and, unlike Takenaka, Bentgo doesn’t offer replacement parts.

When we dropped the Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container from waist height onto asphalt, nothing broke, but every component came apart, which would have resulted in a sad spilled lunch if it were full of food.

It’s not leakproof. Water flowed freely from the main bowl and the tray during our leak test. While we found the small dressing container to be leakproof, some online reviews say otherwise.

A streamlined and compact lunch bowl: W&P Porter Bowl

We like the W&P Porter Bowl as an elevated alternative to a basic food storage container. It’s a pleasure to eat out of and a cinch to wash—but tomato sauce stained the one we tested, which happened to be white.

It’s modern and minimalist. The Porter bowl would be at home in a trendy restaurant, with its clean lines and svelte shape. It comes in six subdued colors, and is constructed with matte plastic and silicone that is both elegant and practical (the bowl doesn’t slide around on the counter). A gasketed lid is held in place by a flexible but sturdy silicone strap

It’s durable. Wirecutter editors have been using the Porter bowl for years and have reported very little wear. According to them, neither the silicone strap nor the removable gasket have stretched out over time, and the bowl and lid have remained perfectly intact, with just a few scratch marks from repeated use.

When we dropped the Porter bowl from waist height onto asphalt, the bowl suffered only a few tiny nicks, and the silicone strap held the lid in place. It’s also microwave- and dishwasher-safe.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It stains easily. When we smeared tomato sauce on the Porter bowl and let it sit overnight, it retained a faint but undeniable reddish hue after washing. To be fair, the bowl we tested was white. Buying a darker bowl might help.

It is not fully leakproof. During our leak testing, some water escaped the silicone seal, and when we opened the gasketed lid, drops sprayed as the suction released. But a well dressed grain salad did not leak, and we don’t recommend packing soup or brothy foods in this bowl, anyway.

For added protection the Porter bowl fits nicely in all of our insulated bag picks (we like it with the Baggu for added chic factor).

It has only one compartment. The Porter lacks the divided sections of many of our other picks, which may be a plus, depending on your needs. For all-in-one meals, the Porter is perfect. But if you want to keep elements of a dish separate before eating, you may prefer the Bentgo All-In-One Salad Container.