41-Oz Zojirushi Mr. Bento Stainless Steel Insulated Lunch Jar Expired

I bought two more at this price. Previously bought for 32... This is probably the best it will get.

As far as food ideas, they are abundant, though probably not wrong to say that it is geared more toward variety than just bulk quantity.

For those who are complaining about the plastic, I trust that the company has a little more to say about the plastic than some no name brand stainless from overseas. Your meats most likely came cryovac in plastic, so ya.. kudos if you can stay away from it. It's a lot of give and take. If you need to use this, you already have other limitations in your life (like a microwave).

As far as leakage; these are meant to be stored upright. Guess what's your yeti leaks too when sideways and filled with hot liquids. Also if your whole meal is of hot liquids, then just use any food jar. You don't need compartments.

What I like about this vs the other types; the thermal Insulation is quite good. Ma y other companies relies on fabric insulation, or insulation is built in but not on the lid areas. The sleeve is also a leak catcher. Toss a few napkins in and now any leaks and condensation stay inside.

Some tips: don't crank down on the soup lid. Just finger tighten.

You can use a dishwasher, but only if it has a lower gentle cycle. Repeated dishwasher use can diminish seal life.

American food tends to be more greasy; microwave reheating in plastics is not recommended, and not exclusive to this company. As designed, bento boxes are to be made fresh in the morning to be eaten later.
I know very few Americans that are cooking a dedicated lunch/dinner at 6 in the morning. That said, boil water, pre heat container. Heat your food before putting into containers.

Cleaning; warm water and a sponge. Dawn spray is simply awesome for all things plastic. It just breaks down any grease. Spray it, leave it for 5 min, rinse and it's usually done.

You can be as crazy or as lazy as you want. People look at you crazy, until you pull out the Italian wedding soup, rigatoni with broccoli rab and sweet sausage, some sliced baguette, and some olives and mozzarella cubes... And yes I've done it.

You really want to have a ball? Prepare two identical sets, and invite a co worker to lunch .

I've had this for years and like it, although it doesn't get much use anymore because I changed jobs and don't need to carry my lunch around with me all day in my pack anymore (that's what made it really useful).

It's really nice if you have the specific need of a really portable container for a 3-course meal. None of the containers are completely spill proof for carrying soup, but two of them have screw on lids which are reasonably good at containing most things as long as it's not pure liquid ( foods with a bit of sauce are usually fine). The top (smallest) container has a looser lid and is better for something solid that can't leak. If something does leak, you've got the outer container as an extra layer of protection.

Other than that, my word of caution is it's only useful if you have 3 separate foods which each have small enough portions to fit in each container. Leftovers don't always end up in those perfect proportions, so this won't necessarily be useful every single day.


Also, keep in mind that there are 8 separate parts not counting the fork (3 inner containers + 1 outer container+ 4 lids), and if you lose any of them the whole thing is useless. So don't get it if you're the kind of person who always loses Tupperware lids.

The container is stainless. That's what keeps the heat in the containers that are in the vacuum chamber.

This is a great setup for people who want hot food but don't have a way to heat it. Or for the people who don't want to use the microwave that's at work (I've seen some I would never go near). And Zojirushi vacuum technology is second to none. I have two old coffee thermoses that I got at Starbucks many years ago and they keep coffee hot for hours.