For Built-In Cutlery, Get a PlanetBox

PlanetBox is the best lunch box with a built-in cutlery holder, because its magnetic utensils actually stay put.

Most lunch boxes “with cutlery holders” are garbage at this. They give you a shallow slot or a loose elastic loop, and by the time you walk to work your fork has slid into your sandwich. PlanetBox solves it with magnets: the fork and spoon snap into the lid of the Rover and one latch holds everything shut. You can shake it, throw it in a bag, or drop it off a bike and the cutlery stays there.

The tradeoff is that PlanetBox isn’t leakproof. The lid seals by pressure, not a rubber gasket, so soupy stuff needs a separate container anyway. And it’s pricey — around $60. But if the whole point is keeping utensils secure, this is the only design that does it without constant fiddling.

If you don’t want to spend that much, your better move is a cheap lunch box plus a separate cutlery roll (like the ones from To-Go Ware). That usually works better than any middle-priced box with a half-baked built-in holder. But if you want the real thing, PlanetBox is the answer.

Just don’t expect it to hold soup, and you’ll be fine.