Aladdin

Bento Lunch Box Set

Most of you that have been around for a number of years, will have heard the joke about the Irishman that read his flask kept hot food "hot", & cold food "cold", so put ice cream and stew in his flask together. Well if you haven't then you need to go to more pubs, & if you have, then the joke is now on the other foot as those clever people at Aladdin, have come up with a flask that allows you to keep hot food "hot" & cold food "cold" together in one package.

The Bento Lunch Box set consists of two vacuum flask containers which fit together to give a single solution to carrying around food on those short sessions. The two units work in the same way as any other flask works in that a vacuum chamber seperating the inner and outer capsules keeps the inner chamber at a higher or lower temperature to the outside depending on if hot or cold items are placed inside it. The seperate sections are constructed from polypropylene which is highly resistant to accidental damage as well as having a high melting point (perfect for keeping hot stuffs in). At low temperatures, polypropylene does not turn brittle like some other plastics. Using this material means that hot food can be heated in a microwave without worrying about the container melting, as well as being able to be placed in most domestic freezers for shot periods of time to chill down. If you are going to microwave food in either of the containers, please do not put the lid on else you risk an explosion within the microwave due to the air expanding and popping the lid off at high pressure.

The lids are constructed from the same polypropylene material as well as a silicone gasket to make sure that any leakage in transit is minimised as well as keeping the food fresh and hot or cold.

The two chambers fit together with a clever lid system that turns the lower chamber lid into a slot together mechanism which holds both sections as one. The way that the two containers fit together also stops the lower container being opened when seperating, and the force required to seperate is less required than opening the top lid. The lids will fit either of the sections and the sections are both recessed at the base to join up with the relevant lid.

The two main chambers are of different sizes. The largest holds upto 600ml where as the smaller of the two holds 350ml. The larger of the two also holds a removable semi-circle dividing container which allows for foods to be kept seperately from each other whilst in transit.

Final Thoughts

I have had a good play with the Bento Lunch Box Set and found that it is the perfect solution to the requirements for short overnight sessions or days. The chambers will keep food hot for several hours without any worries as well as keeping the other chamber cold. For maximum effect, I found that if the container with the hot food is kept at the top, and the cold container underneath, the laws of physics state that the contents will stay cold or hot for slightly longer (heat rises and cold sinks). The smaller chamber will keep foods at the original temperature for just over 4 hours before cooling or warming occurs and the larger will remain constant for a little under 5 hours (during our tests).

All I can say is that the Bento Lunch Set does exaclty what is has been designed to do and truely warrants the 2010 Red Dot Design Award and the iF product design award accolades that it won for Aladdin.

The Bento Lunch Set has a RRP of around £15 which is superb value for money as it has uses away from angling as well. The Bento is also available in a variety of different colours.

For more information about Aladdin products, please visit the company's website by clicking the image below.