Lunchboxes these days are most often made of stainless steel, plastic or glass. All these materials have different pros & cons, depending on what's important to you.
In this article we will explore the different materials and their benefits & disadvantages.
Quick answer: Stainless steel and glass are the best materials for a lunchbox overall — both are non-toxic, hygienic, and score well for eco-friendliness. Steel is the better choice for most people, particularly kids and anyone on the go, because it's also the most durable of the two — glass is beautiful but fragile, and heavier to carry. Plastic and bamboo are cheaper and lighter, but fall behind on hygiene, durability, and non-toxicity.
But first let's take a look at some useful criteria:
Clean and hygienic: Is it easy to keep clean & free from bacteria & germs?
Durability & lifespan: How will it stand up to being used daily?
Versatility: Do you want to be able to put it in the freezer, oven or microwave?
Cost: Do you need the cheapest possible option, or are you prepared to spend more for better quality?
Non-toxic: Are the materials used safe for you & the environment?
Eco-friendly: How much energy is used to make the lunchbox & can it be recycled easily?
Weight: Will an extra few grams less make all the difference to you?
Most lunchboxes are made from plastic, glass or stainless steel. Let’s take a look a the pros and cons of each to find the best lunchbox for you.
|
Criterion |
Plastic |
Bamboo |
Glass |
Silicone |
Stainless Steel |
|
Hygiene & cleanliness |
Lower (per article) |
Not addressed in original |
Excellent — inert, no leaching |
Not addressed in original |
Excellent — won't harbour bacteria/smells |
|
Durability & lifespan |
Not addressed in original |
Not addressed in original |
Weakest — most fragile |
Hardwearing, durable |
Toughest of the five |
|
Versatility (oven/freezer/microwave) |
Not microwave safe - even when advertised as such, not recommended |
No |
Microwave, oven & stovetop safe |
Yes |
Some ranges microwave safe; oven & stovetop safe |
|
Cost |
Cheapest |
Pretty cheap |
Not really |
Cheaper than glass or steel |
Certified food grade steel products generally not cheap |
|
Non-toxic |
Flagged as a concern (microplastics & Bisphenols ) |
Most lunchboxes are bamboo composite melamine which can be very toxic * |
Inert, doesn't leach |
Safer than plastic and no bisphenols |
Non-toxic |
|
Eco-friendly |
Least eco-friendly of the five |
Not really it cant be recycled or composted if its a bamboo composite, rather than a single piece of bamboo. - |
Good — easy to recycle |
Mixed — petrochemical-based, needs specialist recycling |
Best — infinitely recyclable |
|
Weight |
Lightest (tied with bamboo) |
Lightest (tied with plastic) |
Heaviest — “pretty heavy” |
Lightweight |
Heavier than plastic/bamboo |
The vast majority of lunchboxes are made of plastic. Plastic is incredibly cheap, lightweight & versatile!
But it’s arguably the least eco-friendly option for a lunchbox. The downsides of plastic are numerous, it’s incredibly polluting, it sheds microplastics & it’s reportedly pretty bad for human health.
If you’re on a tight budget, choose the highest quality plastic lunchbox you can afford and make sure its Bisphenol & pthalate free. If you can spend a bit more, read on!
So if we are steering clear of plastic, what are our options?
Bamboo is seen as a very eco-friendly option compared to plastic. It’s fast growing & doesn’t need pesticides or herbicides to make it grow. But a word of warning, bamboo cups and lunchboxes are made with bamboo fibre pulp mixed with glue and contain a melamine resin that can contains formaldehyde, so possibly the least eco-friendly & toxin-free option after all.
Glass is the ultimate in style & luxury for a lunchbox. It’s also got pretty good eco credentials - it’s incredibly easy to recycle and, like steel it’s inert, which means it won’t leach chemicals or flavours into your lunch.
The big drawback that will put most people off is that it is the most fragile material of the bunch! It's also pretty heavy. A good choice if you’re super careful and don’t have far to travel, but definitely not recommended for kids!
If you're buying for a child, our kids' lunch box range sticks to steel for exactly this reason — same hygiene and benefits as glass, without the breakage risk. We've written a dedicated guide to the best material for kids' lunchboxes if you want the full comparison for school-age children specifically.
Silicone is great for creating leakproof seals and lids, & sometimes a whole lunchbox. It has similar properties to plastic, both are lightweight & flexible. But the similarities don’t end there. Far from being a natural product, silicone is made with petrochemicals and you can only recycle silicone at specialised facilities.
Silicone is safer than plastic and doesn’t emit microplastics, and is hardwearing and durable. On balance silicone is a better choice than plastic.
Lunchboxes have been made from metal as far back as the 1900s and it’s coming back into fashion as people make the switch away from plastic.
It's not hard to see why there has been an uptick in popularity; it’s the perfect choice in terms of its green credentials; it's infinitely recyclable & incredibly durable.
Plus, a stainless steel lunchbox is easy to clean, non toxic and won’t harbour unwanted bacteria, stains or smells.
The durability of steel makes it the perfect choice for people who work outside, kids and an on-the-go lifestyle. There are now microwave safe steel food containers on the market, you can find these here.
The most eco-friendly and food-safe options for lunchboxes are steel & glass, plastic performs the worst. Steel & glass also come out on top for hygiene & general cleanliness. The toughest lunchboxes are made of steel while the lightest are plastic or bamboo.
Versatility is important, and this varies by material. Many lunchboxes are leakproof nowadays and plenty have handy compartments or removable sections. Most plastic, steel, silicon and glass lunchboxes are dishwasher safe. If you’re heating your lunch? You can’t microwave bamboo and we wouldn't recommend putting any kind of plastic in the microwave, but glass is fine as is some microwave safe stainless steel. Steel and glass can also be heated in the oven or on a stovetop, which makes it a great option if you want to batch cook your lunches for the next day.
If it's food storage rather than lunch-on-the-go you're after, the same steel and glass principles apply — take a look at our stainless steel food storage range for fridge, freezer and meal prep.
>>Check out range of microwave safe steel and glass range of lunchboxes and food containers here<<
We may be biased, but we reckon stainless steel is the best material for your lunchbox over all the criteria we've been talking about. It wins hands down on style, eco-credentials, healthiness, durability, & cleanliness.
To be fair to the other materials: stainless steel isn't the cheapest option, and it isn't the lightest either — plastic and bamboo both beat it on price and weight. If those two criteria matter most to you, they're still reasonable choices. But across hygiene, durability, non-toxicity and eco-credentials — the criteria most people actually care about for something that touches their food every day — steel comes out ahead, and that's the trade-off we think is worth making.
We hope this article has helped you narrow down your choices. Once you’ve got a lunchbox you love you’ll use it everyday and get the benefits of making your own healthy varied lunch. You’ll save money and wave goodbye to dodgy supermarket sandwiches!
>>Click here to see the full range of Elephant Box Lunchboxes<<
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Stainless steel and glass are the best all-round options — both are non-toxic, hygienic and score well on eco-friendliness. Steel edges ahead overall because it's also the most durable and far less likely to break. See our full range of stainless steel lunch boxes.
Stainless steel wins on hygiene, durability, non-toxicity and eco-credentials. Plastic wins on upfront cost and weight. If you're using a lunchbox daily for years, steel's durability tends to make it the better long-term value.
Both are non-toxic, inert, and hygienic. Glass is more fragile and heavier, so steel is the more practical choice for kids, commuting or anywhere it might get knocked around. Glass suits a calmer, more careful routine.
The raw material is — it's fast-growing and needs no pesticides or herbicides. But bamboo lunchboxes are typically made with bamboo fibre pulp bound with a resin, which can contain formaldehyde, so the manufacturing process undercuts some of that eco advantage.
Yes, more so than plastic — it doesn't shed microplastics or contain bisphenols, and is generally considered safer. It's still petrochemical-based, though, and only recyclable at specialised facilities.
Plastic and bamboo are the lightest options, followed by silicone. Glass is the heaviest, with stainless steel in between.
Stainless steel — it's the toughest of the materials covered here and comes with a 15 year warranty on our lunchboxes.
Not all of them — it depends on the design. Our meal prep containers are microwave safe; our everyday lunch boxes aren't. See our full guide to microwaving stainless steel for the details.
Stainless steel — it has the same hygiene and eco-credentials as glass without the breakage risk, which matters for school bags and playgrounds. Browse our kids lunch boxes, or read our dedicated guide to the best material for kids' lunchboxes for an age-by-age breakdown.
For most people, yes. Plastic lunchboxes tend to crack, stain and need replacing regularly, while our stainless steel lunchboxes are backed by a 15 year warranty. The higher upfront cost is offset by not having to replace it every year or so.
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