It depends on your intended use - for children's lunch boxes you might want to go for a sturdy plastic bento box. If you're looking for something more environmentally-friendly and traditional, opt for bamboo or stainless steel. Are bento boxes microwavable?

The Sistema Salad to Go is a great little lunchbox that will hold a variety of foods. It has a removable top tray, a lidded pot suitable for liquids such as salad dressing, and even a collapsible knife and fork set that attach to the lid. Like most Sistema products, it's good quality butvery reasonably priced. It'd say that it would be a good sized lunchboxes for a range of ages.For more details see my Sistema Salad to Go review. Suitable for adults and kids alike, this two-layer bento box comes with two removable and microwaveable compartments, plus a handy pot for fruit or yoghurt. The Yumbox Classicis now available in the UKfrom the Eats Amazing Shop! As well as theyellow box pictured above, it is also available in several other colours, both pastels and brights, with two cute choices of tray design. We've recently fallen in love with the Monbento Tresor bento box, which is a gorgeous little lunch box designed especially for kids from Monbento. Despite its compact size, it can hold a surprising amount of food, so is perfect for a range of ages.For more details see my Monbento Tresor Bento Box Review. We use Sistema too. They wash and wear well and don't seem to taint.” (Recommended by Mumsnet user SpeedofaSloth) Our verdict

Top 5 Bento Boxes

Use a variety of colours and textures in your bento to make it visually appealing as well as delicious.

The Yumbox Panino shares many great features with the Yumbox Classic, butthe removable tray is divideddifferently andincludesa large compartment that is perfect for holding whole sandwiches, wraps or salads. Like the originalYumbox, itis brilliantly designed to beleakproof, easy to clean, easy to open for small hands, compact, durable andgreat for portion control, and is perfect for all ages from pre-school children to adults.For more details see my YumboxPanino review, or see the Yumbox Panino in action here on the Eats Amazing blog. I really like the fun shaped TUMTUM Trainee Lunch Set. The proportions of this lunch box make it great for bento style lunches, and it has a handy removable lidded container that sits neatly in the middle as a divider and holder for food or dips etc. It'sthe perfect size for younger children.For moredetails see my TUMTUM Trainee Lunch Set review and TUMTUM BUGS Lunch Box review. We scoured the Mumsnet forums to find out which bento boxes our users rate highly - and which ones they weren’t impressed by. Bento boxes direct from Japan! Present your lunch beautifully – at home or on the go – with our range of Japanese bento boxes.This compartmented lunch box by Addis is very reasonably priced and a perfect box for bento style lunches. It is shallower than most lunch boxes, which means that food is less likely to end up moving around too much during transport, and it comes with three removable compartments and a lid which clips on securely but is easy to open for little hands. This box would be great for a range of ages. They arestarting to becomeavailable in specialist shopshere in the UK, but are not always easy to find - you can find a selection of Japanese bento boxes particularly suitable for childrennow in the Eats Amazing Shop. This sleek Japanese-inspired bento box, complete with bamboo-look lid, will bring a little bit of class to your midday meal. As you’d expect from a Sistema product, this box is robust, doesn’t leak and is 100 percent dishwasher-safe so is easy to clean too. Granted, it's not the prettiest bento box around, but if you’re looking for something reliable for the whole family and at a great price, the Sistema To Go Bento Box really can't be beaten. For a handycomparison chart of the finer points ofmy top12 bentolunch boxes pleasesee my Ultimate UK Lunch Box Guide.