# Found a glass alternative to laptop lunches/bento box



## Lilcrunchie (Jun 16, 2004)

I have a 3 year old who is at home with me, and no plans for preschool. He loves the snack tray idea, but the stuff often gets dried out because I don't have a lid for my muffin pan. I love the bento style boxes ala laptop lunches, but really wanted a glass or stainless alternative. I found some stainless containers online, but I couldn't find what I wanted and I wasn't sure about how food safe some of them were, and whether some of them contained aluminum.

I've been looking at the Crocodile Creek lunchboxes and thinking it would be nice to find 4 or so glass pyrex type containers to fit inside to make a pseudo bento box (for DS, or even myself







).

Today I randomly wandered in this little privately owned cooking store in a local mall. I found 4 little lidded glass containers and thought, wow, they are cute







They were 5.50 each, so not super cheap, but not terrible compared to the laptop lunchbox price. The brand of container is Frigoverre. They are all glass, microwave/freezer safe, etc. like Pyrex, but unlike Pyrex (which I adore anyway) they are even recyclable







They are made in Italy. I can't find the official capacity on them, but they look to hold a cup or maybe a cup and a half. THe dimensions are something like 10cmx10cm square, and I'd say about 4 cm high. Oh, and they do say dishwasher safe, provided lids are placed on the top rack of the dishwasher.

We then went to a little independent toy store in the same mall and tried fitting them in a Crocodile Creek lunchbox. 4 fit pretty perfectly, with just enough room on one side for some utensils.

YMMV in terms of how comfortable you'd be with your child using such a container since they are glass. Also, I'm not sure how the schools would feel about these...I'm sure some would have a problem with them. THe fit in the Crocodile Creek lunchbox is pretty nice, and while I wouldn't recommend dropping the whole thing down concrete stairs, it does seem reasonably sturdy. Again, YMMV with your comfort level on glass mixed with kids, especially when they are transporting it. I had my 3 year old try to remove the lids on his own and he could without any major difficulty.

I have NO idea how to find a selection of Frigoverre. I've peaked around a bit online and saw lots of sets, but not the right size containers. I did find this site:
http://downtoearthdistributors.com/c...t=695413369445
which mentions a "mini" container by Frigoverre. Not sure of the dimensions or if this is the right one based on the description.

I'll keep looking around to see if I can find a good source of these containers online. In any case, I thought it might be worth a mention. I know I've been looking for a glass alternative to the bento style boxes for a while, so this made my day. My 3 y/o will probably mostly be using his with me around, so I'm comfortable w/ the glass aspect.


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## AJP (Apr 30, 2003)

I have a set of Frigoverre containers, larger ones that I got at the natural food co-op, and the glass seems to be rather brittle. I don't know if it's not tempered glass or just tempered differently than Pyrex, but I had a huge chunk break off the edge of one just from a very gentle bump in the cupboard, they don't seem as resilient as Pyrex.


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## Lilcrunchie (Jun 16, 2004)

Oh boy







Well, thanks for posting that, because I'd obviously feel terrible if someone's kiddo got hurt.







: It might be a good alternative for parents looking for a glass bento box or older kids then.

Thanks so much for your input!!


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