I first became a mum in 2001, at 19, and my lunch-packing days started properly when my eldest began transition in the Northern Territory. Back then it was the old Decor-style plastic lunchbox, removable lid, matching water bottle with the white screw cap, and that was genuinely the whole conversation. Nobody was asking about compartments.
Ten years later my second son started pre-school in New South Wales, and the whole problem changed shape. That's the twenty-year view behind our bento box range, and it's worth telling properly, numbers and all.
2001: One Lunch Box, One Job
The early 2000s lunchbox had one job: hold the sandwich. There was no thinking about compartments, no separating foods, no real conversation about what actually got eaten versus what looked good going in. You packed it, zipped the bag, and that was that.
2011: A Different Kind of Lunch Problem
My second son arrived in 2011, and by the time he started kindergarten, I was facing a completely different challenge. He had some sensory sensitivities that came with being born very premature, and food that touched other food was often a hard no. Suddenly a single-compartment lunch box wasn't a preference, it was the whole ballgame.
Once I understood what he actually needed, the compartments weren't random, they followed the same four categories every day:
- A protein: diced chicken breast, mini meatballs, tofu cubes, or diced sausages
- A carb to fill him up, since bread was never an option: savoury crackers or pretzels
- A fresh fruit piece: peeled mandarin, apple slices, or pineapple chunks
- A ready-to-eat veg: mini tomatoes, cucumber slices, or capsicum chunks
Nothing was ever mixed into one compartment. Each item stayed in its own spot, every single day. And I didn't land on the right container sizes by guessing, I packed, watched how much came home untouched each afternoon, and adjusted the portions from there, more of what disappeared, less of what came back. That trial-and-monitor process, repeated over weeks, is what actually set the sizes we now build our bento range around.
The Bit in the Middle Nobody Tells You
I tried a lot of combinations before landing on what worked, and none of them were quick fixes.
First was one large bento trying to hold the whole day's food in a single box. One drop and the entire day's lunch was on the floor.
Next I tried pre-portioned convenience snacks, muesli bar packs, mini veggie chip packs, straight into the lunch bag. Two things killed that one: his school ran a no-rubbish policy so individually wrapped packaging wasn't allowed through the gate, and buying everything pre-portioned like that was expensive, week after week.
As what felt like a last resort, I tried buying his lunch from the canteen instead. That didn't hold up either. The menu was short on variety for what he'd actually eat, most of it was sandwiches, wraps and rolls, exactly what he couldn't do, and paying for canteen lunch every single day added up fast.
What actually worked was three separate, right-sized containers, one each for fruit break, recess and lunch, that all fit into one lunch bag. I went through the same trial-and-monitor process again on this system, tracking what came home each day, until the sizes were genuinely right for him.
When Nude Food Policies Changed the Job
Around the time my second son started kindy in NSW, his school started enforcing a no-rubbish, nude food policy hard, notes came home, it went in the newsletter, it wasn't optional. At first it felt like it would make packing harder. It didn't. Cutting up fresh food instead of relying on individually wrapped snacks turned out to be quicker, it worked out cheaper than buying single-serve convenience packs, and I felt better knowing what he was actually eating across fruit break, recess and lunch was more nutritious than what had been going in before.
Where That Landed Us
That system, three containers, one bag, one backpack pocket for everything else, is the actual thinking behind Spixal's bento range and the whole kit working together as a system as it is today. Twenty years of packing lunches taught me that the lunch box matters less than whether the whole system fits together and works together as a set that'll save you time in mornings so you get to work and school on time and the kids end up with lunches that actually get eaten, which is part of why Spixal ended up looking the way it does.
We've now packed for more than 100,000 customers, and the site carries over 14,000 positive reviews, a good number of them from families with sensory-sensitive kids who keep coming back and reordering once they find the container sizes that work for their child.
What Other Families Tell Us
I'm not the only one this system has changed mornings for. A mum in our Facebook group told us she'd been so worried her child wasn't eating anything at school that she tried the three-container system, and her child started eating at school properly, and started enjoying school more because they weren't starving hungry all day and could actually focus in class.
Other reviews echo the same thing in different words, parents who'd tried a lot of other lunch boxes first, glad they found this one, mornings that got easier, lunches that got packed faster, getting to school and work on time. A few mentioned their kids loving the bright colours of the containers, feeling like they could express themselves through them, which isn't something I set out to solve, but I'll happily take it.
Related Reads
Shop the Bento Range
Shop All Spixal Bento Boxes
FAQs
How have Australian school lunches changed over the years?
The biggest shift has been from single-box lunches toward compartmentalised systems that keep foods separate, reflecting a much bigger focus on what kids will actually eat, not just what fits in the box.
Why did Spixal move to a bento system?
Twenty years of trial and error, including one son who needed separated foods, taught us that a coordinated system of right-sized containers works better than one big box trying to do everything.
When did nude food, no rubbish lunch policies start showing up in Australian schools?
From what we saw firsthand, schools began enforcing it hard through notes home and newsletters as our second son moved through kindy in NSW. It pushed families away from individually wrapped snacks and toward fresh, cut-up food, which in our experience turned out to be quicker to pack, cheaper, and more nutritious, not the harder job it first seemed like.
What actually goes in each compartment of a bento lunch box?
In our house it's always been four categories: a protein (diced chicken, mini meatballs, tofu, diced sausage), a carb if bread's not an option (crackers, pretzels), a fresh fruit piece (mandarin, apple, pineapple) and a ready-to-eat veg (cherry tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum), each kept in its own compartment so nothing touches.
Keep reading: See the full thinking in One System, Not Ten Containers.
From Decor Lunchboxes to Bento Systems: 20+ Years of Packing School Lunches
I first became a mum in 2001, at 19, and my lunch-packing days started properly when my eldest began transition in the Northern Territory. Back then it was the old Decor-style plastic lunchbox, removable lid, matching water bottle with the white screw cap, and that was genuinely the whole conversation. Nobody was asking about compartments.
Ten years later my second son started pre-school in New South Wales, and the whole problem changed shape. That's the twenty-year view behind our bento box range, and it's worth telling properly, numbers and all.
2001: One Lunch Box, One Job
The early 2000s lunchbox had one job: hold the sandwich. There was no thinking about compartments, no separating foods, no real conversation about what actually got eaten versus what looked good going in. You packed it, zipped the bag, and that was that.
2011: A Different Kind of Lunch Problem
My second son arrived in 2011, and by the time he started kindergarten, I was facing a completely different challenge. He had some sensory sensitivities that came with being born very premature, and food that touched other food was often a hard no. Suddenly a single-compartment lunch box wasn't a preference, it was the whole ballgame.
Once I understood what he actually needed, the compartments weren't random, they followed the same four categories every day:
Nothing was ever mixed into one compartment. Each item stayed in its own spot, every single day. And I didn't land on the right container sizes by guessing, I packed, watched how much came home untouched each afternoon, and adjusted the portions from there, more of what disappeared, less of what came back. That trial-and-monitor process, repeated over weeks, is what actually set the sizes we now build our bento range around.
The Bit in the Middle Nobody Tells You
I tried a lot of combinations before landing on what worked, and none of them were quick fixes.
First was one large bento trying to hold the whole day's food in a single box. One drop and the entire day's lunch was on the floor.
Next I tried pre-portioned convenience snacks, muesli bar packs, mini veggie chip packs, straight into the lunch bag. Two things killed that one: his school ran a no-rubbish policy so individually wrapped packaging wasn't allowed through the gate, and buying everything pre-portioned like that was expensive, week after week.
As what felt like a last resort, I tried buying his lunch from the canteen instead. That didn't hold up either. The menu was short on variety for what he'd actually eat, most of it was sandwiches, wraps and rolls, exactly what he couldn't do, and paying for canteen lunch every single day added up fast.
What actually worked was three separate, right-sized containers, one each for fruit break, recess and lunch, that all fit into one lunch bag. I went through the same trial-and-monitor process again on this system, tracking what came home each day, until the sizes were genuinely right for him.
When Nude Food Policies Changed the Job
Around the time my second son started kindy in NSW, his school started enforcing a no-rubbish, nude food policy hard, notes came home, it went in the newsletter, it wasn't optional. At first it felt like it would make packing harder. It didn't. Cutting up fresh food instead of relying on individually wrapped snacks turned out to be quicker, it worked out cheaper than buying single-serve convenience packs, and I felt better knowing what he was actually eating across fruit break, recess and lunch was more nutritious than what had been going in before.
Where That Landed Us
That system, three containers, one bag, one backpack pocket for everything else, is the actual thinking behind Spixal's bento range and the whole kit working together as a system as it is today. Twenty years of packing lunches taught me that the lunch box matters less than whether the whole system fits together and works together as a set that'll save you time in mornings so you get to work and school on time and the kids end up with lunches that actually get eaten, which is part of why Spixal ended up looking the way it does.
We've now packed for more than 100,000 customers, and the site carries over 14,000 positive reviews, a good number of them from families with sensory-sensitive kids who keep coming back and reordering once they find the container sizes that work for their child.
What Other Families Tell Us
I'm not the only one this system has changed mornings for. A mum in our Facebook group told us she'd been so worried her child wasn't eating anything at school that she tried the three-container system, and her child started eating at school properly, and started enjoying school more because they weren't starving hungry all day and could actually focus in class.
Other reviews echo the same thing in different words, parents who'd tried a lot of other lunch boxes first, glad they found this one, mornings that got easier, lunches that got packed faster, getting to school and work on time. A few mentioned their kids loving the bright colours of the containers, feeling like they could express themselves through them, which isn't something I set out to solve, but I'll happily take it.
Related Reads
Shop the Bento Range
Shop All Spixal Bento Boxes
FAQs
How have Australian school lunches changed over the years?
The biggest shift has been from single-box lunches toward compartmentalised systems that keep foods separate, reflecting a much bigger focus on what kids will actually eat, not just what fits in the box.
Why did Spixal move to a bento system?
Twenty years of trial and error, including one son who needed separated foods, taught us that a coordinated system of right-sized containers works better than one big box trying to do everything.
When did nude food, no rubbish lunch policies start showing up in Australian schools?
From what we saw firsthand, schools began enforcing it hard through notes home and newsletters as our second son moved through kindy in NSW. It pushed families away from individually wrapped snacks and toward fresh, cut-up food, which in our experience turned out to be quicker to pack, cheaper, and more nutritious, not the harder job it first seemed like.
What actually goes in each compartment of a bento lunch box?
In our house it's always been four categories: a protein (diced chicken, mini meatballs, tofu, diced sausage), a carb if bread's not an option (crackers, pretzels), a fresh fruit piece (mandarin, apple, pineapple) and a ready-to-eat veg (cherry tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum), each kept in its own compartment so nothing touches.
Keep reading: See the full thinking in One System, Not Ten Containers.