LL Bean Flip Top Lunch Box The lining took too much damage during the stain test for us to recommend it, and the zipper was very slow to operate.LL Bean Expandable Lunch Box: This bag lacks the space to pack a simple lunch without crushing your bag of chips, and the liner stained heavily.While the stainless steel is durable, this one just couldn’t compare to others that offer insulation. Stanley Classic Lunch Box, Hammer Tone Green, 5.5-Quart: This lunch box did extremely poorly during our ice test.

It did fairly well at cold retention and the tough exterior is as durable as they come. YETI Daytrip Lunch Box: If we HAD to pick a hard-sided lunch box, we’d choose this one.We did appreciate the multiple compartments that come built in, which can be used to sequester away heavy or fragile items. Carhartt Deluxe Dual Compartment Insulated Lunch Cooler Bag: This lunch box holds a ton of cans or food, but the zipper can be a bit tricky to work.It could only hold five cans and the interior left room for a can to roll around and smash delicate things. Hydro Flask Large 5 L Insulated Lunch Box: Despite the insulation, this lunch box did not do well at preventing ice from melting.Serious Eats / Taylor Murray The Competition Closing Mechanism Durability Test: We opened and closed each model 10 times to determine how difficult it was and if any zippers got easily stuck or caught.After washing per manufacturer instructions, we looked for stains and gave each a sniff to see if any odors lingered. Stain and Smell Test: We smeared two tablespoons of spaghetti sauce inside each lunch box and let it sit for four hours.We assessed temperature changes (using an instant-read thermometer) over the course of an 8-hour day and at the end strained out any water and weighed the remaining ice to determine how much melted. Cold Retention Test: We filled each model with a sealed plastic bag containing four cups of ice.We then lifted and carried the bag around to simulate what it would be like using the lunch box in a real-world setting. Capacity and “Use” Test: We packed a lunch consisting of a simple sandwich, apple, bag of chips, and can of soda in each bag to determine how much would fit.

Can Capacity Pre-Test: We filled each bag or box with as many cans as would reasonably fit to determine its maximum capacity.

Yeti lunch