Get the Bentgo Kids (or the Yumbox if your kid is extra picky)

Bentgo Kids is the right lunch box for most picky eaters who need their food in separate little compartments.

It has five compartments that are actually small — kid-sized, not adult-bento-sized — so you can give them six grapes, four cheese cubes, and two crackers without it looking sad or swimming in empty space. The lid seals well enough that yogurt or applesauce won’t leak onto the other sections, and the whole thing goes in the dishwasher. It survives being dropped, which is the real test.

If your kid is truly extreme about food touching, get the Yumbox instead. The wells are smaller and deeper, and the lid presses down over each section individually, so a smear of hummus basically cannot reach the strawberries. It costs a bit more and holds less food, but for a kid who rejects anything that so much as glanced at another food, it’s worth it.

Skip the big one-tray bento boxes and honestly the PlanetBox too — the metal one looks great but the sections are bigger and the lid isn’t leak-proof, so wet stuff migrates.

Paying a little extra for food separation is cheaper than a lunch that comes home untouched.