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23 Feb, 2009

A Happy Tiffin Anytime – Lunchboxes and Picnic Gear

Posted by: Meg In: Lunchbox Products

tiffin-carrier

Medium 2 Tiered Tiffin

My 6 year old daughter loves her new Happy Tiffin. It is very cute, well-sized, and is fully dishwasher safe stainless steel, so I love it, too! My daughter has felt proud showing it off at school, and now asks in the morning “Did you pack my Happy Tiffin?”

Large Tiffin

Large Pyramid Tiffin

Based on tiffin carriers commonly used in India, Happy Tiffin manufactures their tiffin lunchboxes of food grade 202 stainless-steel and are 100% BPA-Free. The lunchbox choices are many at the Happy Tiffin site, with various sizes and numbers of tiers to choose from. They also make a cool line of pyramid tiffins that would be fabulous for picnics or camping. There is now a pyramid tiffin on my birthday wish list!

For use as a kids lunchbox, we chose the 2 tiered medium tiffin carrier. It is a perfect size for my daughter, but could easily hold enough food for an adult’s lunch box. At 1700 ml capacity, the 2 tiered medium tiffin could hold roughly 1700 calories of food, so obviously we aren’t packing it full! However, I like having extra room for using silicone cup dividers, a big sandwich, or whole fruit. I chose the medium tiffin over a small one, since there is only a half inch difference in the diameters–5 versus 5.5 inches–but it makes a big difference in capacity. To subdivide the containers, I have relied on heart shaped silicone muffin cups (see pics below).

And what have we happily packed so far?? These are the ones I had an extra minute in the morning to take a picture…which doesn’t happen very often!


Tiffin Lunch #1

Tiffin Lunch #1: Top layer has peanut pretzels, carrots, and tofu with soy sauce. Bottom layer has Phony Bologna (vegetarian bologna) dinosaur sandwiches.

Tiffin Lunch #2

Tiffin Lunch #2: Top layer has half a banana, peanut butter pretzels, and a cookie. Bottom layer has turkey rolled in a tortilla and some cheese cubes.

IMG_5785

Tiffin Lunch #3

Tiffin Lunch #3: Top layer has half a banana, carrots, and a cookie. Bottom layer has a slice of cheese pizza–good cold, too!

In summary:
THE GOOD:

  • reasonably priced ($16 for medium 2 tier)
  • many size choices
  • dishwasher safe
  • cute
  • waste-free
  • easy for a 6 year old to open
  • made of safe materials
  • mostly (fully ??) water tight
  • company is owned by a woman promoting eco-friendly eating

THE (maybe) NOT SO GOOD: (may or may not be an issue, depending on your needs…)

  • shape is awkward to fit in a school backpack (we carry the tiffin separately)
  • may be hard for a kid age 5 or under to open independently
  • no drink holder
  • lunchbox is non-insulated (but you could put in an ice pack)
  • May not be entirely water tight ?? (I don’t think I would trust it laying sideways on the floor of our van with soup inside… but I would consider the tiffins mostly water tight!)

Happy Tiffin stands behind their products and insists on happy customers. For more information or to order online, visit the Happy Tiffin website.

To see how the parts fit together (and to show the tiffin holding water quite impressively), watch this Happy Tiffin video:



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13 Responses to "A Happy Tiffin Anytime – Lunchboxes and Picnic Gear"

1 | Diana Thurman

February 26th, 2009 at 6:54 pm

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I think this looks pretty neat, although I do think my almost 4-year-old wouldn’t get it all packaged up properly. I had a bunch of questions as I started to read, but you summed up everything in your pros and cons section. Very helpful! Thanks!

2 | Meg

February 27th, 2009 at 6:50 am

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Diana, Thanks for your nice comment. I have a 4 year old, too, and his hands aren’t big enough to get the top part separated from the bottom part. I think the pyramid ones are really cool, though… we are thinking of getting one for picnics. Little plates separate the pyramid tiffin layers, so you can pack food and plates in one! I love that they are waste free and fully washable.

3 | Pages tagged "lunchboxes"

March 1st, 2009 at 5:32 am

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[...] bookmarks tagged lunchboxes A Happy Tiffin Anytime – Lunchboxes and Picnic Gea… saved by 5 others     hargreaves5 bookmarked on 03/01/09 | [...]

4 | Dave

March 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm

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A friend of mine has some of these and uses them for “grown up” lunchboxes and picnics. They’re also great for taking light appetizers or “Pupus” to other peoples houses.

5 | Meg

March 4th, 2009 at 8:25 pm

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Dave, thanks for the great idea :) Bringing “pupus” or dinner fixings to friends or family in a tiffin would work out great. I always end up putting food in plastic containers with lids to bring to my sisters house, they end up in bags and they leak or the tops pop off…. I love that the pyramid tiffins stack neatly and securely. I bet they’d work great at the beach, too!

6 | Jon

March 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am

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These look pretty cool. The stacking seems to be a reoccurring theme in Asia. It reminds me of the Japanese stacking bento boxes or Chinese bamboo dimsum steamers. My first thought though would be that in metal, all the heat or cold would escape quickly. Put an icepack in one and you’ll have water dripping on the outside…

7 | Meg

March 11th, 2009 at 7:27 am

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Jon,
Yep, they are cool. I don’t feel like we have an insulation problem b/c I pack my kids lunch in the morning and she eats at school at 10:50. However, insulation would be an issue over a longer time period. It would be great if Happy Tiffin came out with a double walled stainless container–would be a great insulator then! Thanks for visiting :)

8 | Outdoor Preservation and Picnics Can Go Hand in Hand | Lunchbox

April 4th, 2009 at 9:21 am

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[...] (like polypropylene). Another good picnic option is a pyramid tiffin carrier, you can see one at my Tiffin Carrier [...]

9 | A Rainbow of Choice in Bento Lunch Boxes | Lunchbox

September 15th, 2009 at 8:28 am

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[...] steel tiffin carriers modeled after the tiffins carried in India and Asia. As I mentioned in my Happy Tiffin post, I have used one of these cool little carriers for my first grader for the last couple of months [...]

10 | Andrea

September 16th, 2009 at 11:03 am

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Hi, wanted to let everyone know that we now have tiffins available in 8 colors, new Square tiffins, and have brought back a”classic” – the original reusable plate aka a 6 compartment stainless steel “mess tray.”
Thanks!
Andrea
Happy Tiffin

11 | Ara

November 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am

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Great! Thank you for the lovely email you have sent to me. I’m glad that you had a wonderful experience in using the happy tiffin lunch boxes. I, too is very delighted with it. =)

12 | lisa

November 4th, 2009 at 7:55 am

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where did you get the little red heart shaped containers?

13 | Meg

November 4th, 2009 at 8:07 am

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Lisa,
I love the heart shaped containers! They are Wilton brand silicone muffin/cupcake molds that I bought at Target a couple of years ago. I have also seen them at the AC Moore craft store. They are a great size for separating foods in a lunch box, and they have held up great through dozens of washes.
Thanks for visiting xobobox!
Meg

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About

I'm Meg, a stay home Mom of 2 interested in promoting healthy, low waste lunches for kids and grownups. I aim to present good recipe ideas for packed lunches and to analyze lunchbox products currently available. I encourage involving your kids in all aspects of food. From gardening, to nutrition, to enjoying recipes and making some up... there is a lot to learn and enjoy. Cooking with kids in the kitchen is both spectacularly messy and fun, and generally well worth the extra cleanup time...