Review: Happy Tiffin Bento Box

I’d like to take a little bit of time to thank all of you. Sometime today, Adventures in Bentomaking reached 1.5 million hits! I didn’t notice until after it had happened, but I was pretty stoked when I saw. From everyone to the one time visitor to my regular readers, thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming here to read up on what I eat for lunch!

It took me three years to reach 1M, so for me to hit the 1.5M mark in just one more year makes me very happy. I really hope to help the bento community expand further this year.

Today’s bento box was provided to me by Happy Tiffin for me to review. This particular box is their “Oval Office” lunch container, which sells for a rather confusing $28.00-$35.00. Seriously, I don’t know what this means. If you do, please let me know.

The box measures almost 8″ x 5″ and comes with an inner container with a lid for putting side dishes in. The side dish has a rim around the edge that slips into the indentation in the main container. When I first examined the box, I wasn’t that sure of its quality as one of the latches kept swinging off without me doing any more than tilting the box back and forth. However, after I’d packed my lunch, I guess the food pushed it up enough to make the latch go on snug. If you get one, be sure to check the latches before shoving it into your backpack or something.

While I thought it was a lovely box, it’s painfully expensive for a stainless steel tiffin. At $35.00 per, that makes it basically twice the price of other stainless steel bento boxes that I’ve done reviews for. Usually, these single tier metal boxes are under $20. Sure, this one comes with a side container, but I would not have paid double the price just for that. So while I’d recommend it for size and functionality, I can’t honestly say I’d have purchased one myself after doing some shopping around.

I have one other box from Happy Tiffin to review, which I will hopefully get to in the next couple of weeks.

I had a bit of trouble filling it since I’ve been doing pretty small lunches, but I ended up putting in some leftover Beef and Bell Pepper Stir Fry from last night. In the side dish I have a lady apple, cauliflower, pickles, and a baby carrot.

Beef & Bell Pepper Stir Fry Bento Points Calculation

3/4 cup white rice – 4 points
4 oz sirloin beef – 6 points
fruits and veggies – 0 points

Total: 11 points

Snacks: SmartPop popcorn, apple

Weight: 149.9 lb!!!

Woohoo, I broke through 150 not next week, but this morning!! Eating right and walking everyday is really working out nicely for me. 😀