By: Angela Fulo
We gave our Gear Lovers one job:
Find the best and most popular products and review them.
Our review team always considers durability, price, quality, and value in their reviews.
It’s one of the most popular and perhaps the most affordable bento box available: The Sistema To Go. Sistema is a New Zealand-based company that has been providing environmentally friendly food accessories for a while now.
Their Clear Bento Box is widely used for good reason. We’ve used Sistema containers for our hiking and paddle boarding trips because of their ease of cleaning and design. A design that allows for some more interesting meal combinations.
It’s not ideal for wet lunches, packed in a knapsack that will fly about. Saucy meals can leak a bit. Nor is it intended for that as far as we can tell. Its budget price point reflects this as well.
It gives you bento lunch versatility and practicality in one food container, like other models but with a better production process and cheaper price. It’s made with BPA- and Phthalate-free plastic, and it’s dishwasher-, microwave- and freezer safe.
This bento lunch box from Sistema has two layers of compartments in one bento. There are two hinged trays (the biggest on the left can fit half a sandwich and a small tray half its size on the right, plus a 5 oz. round container with a screw lid next to it).
Our Overall Review
We have thoroughly tested - and read reviews from other experts and users. In summary, this is what we think:
Things we like:
-
It’s a 2-level bento lunch box -
On track to go carbon neutral
-
There are two removable hinged compartments and a 5 oz. round container included
-
Easy to open
-
No harmful chemicals
-
Dishwasher-friendly and microwave-safe (just remove the lid)
-
Very affordable
Things we don't like:
At this price, nothing
At this price, nothingWhere to buy:
Specs & Features
- Material: Food Grade Plastic
- Dimension: 8.62” x 7.32” x 3.2”
- Weight: 10.7 ounces
- Capacity: 42.27 ounces
- Number of compartments: 5
- Available colors: Clear and Blue, Clear and Pink, Clear and Green
A Cheap Bento Box
This might be cheap, but its higher quality exceeds any expectation. The Sistema is made in New Zealand with a regulatory system there that ensures this lunch box tray system contains no harmful chemicals.
Further concealed by the low price is the thoughtfulness of design that went into the trays. It’s a clear bento box, but it’s not the most elegant one. Rather the design focus is one of practicality.
For reference, the Sistema Go has very similar features as the more expensive, premium Umami Sushi Set. But, whereas the Umami has clean Japanese elegance, the Sistema’s success lies in providing good organization and versatility for sandwiches as well as separated meals.
As a Lunch Box and Food Prep Container
It might be the ultimate worker’s lunch box. In other words, executives and snobs will shy away from this lunch box option–even if there’s elegance in its simplicity.
There are different sizes to match the needs too. We had the 55.75 oz model, which, admittedly, is a tad big for light lunches. On the other hand, it works great as a food prepping container.
The Sistema is both microwavable and dishwasher safe. At the price available, it’s really only the aesthetics that will turn people off of this incredibly reasonable bento box.
At the very least, it should be considered for kids’ lunches.
Related Reviews
Our Overall Review
We have thoroughly tested - and read reviews from other experts and users. In summary, this is what we think:
Things we like:
-
It’s a 2-level bento lunch box
-
On track to go carbon neutral
-
There are two removable hinged compartments and a 5 oz. round container included
-
Easy to open
-
No harmful chemicals
-
Dishwasher-friendly and microwave-safe (just remove the lid)
-
Very affordable
Things we don't like:
- At this price, nothing
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