Grand Trunk Stainless Steel Food Carrier

Great quality, limited practicality
October 19, 2010

I have both the 2 x 12 and 3 x 14 sizes and use them to carry lunch/snacks to school. These containers, made by Zebra Stainless, are the Thai version of the classic "tiffin box" used in India to deliver food from home to the office. PROS: Extremely high quality and very durable. With proper care they'll last a lifetime. Non-leaching and a cool alternative to plastic lunch boxes. Definitely a conversation-starter. Hardly a day goes by on campus without someone asking me about them. Great for sandwiches, snacks and foods that are best served at room temperature or for short commutes to the office refrigerator. For camping these would be good for dry snacks/foods. At home they make interesting nut/candy dishes. CONS: Non-microwaveable. Keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold is problematic as the bowls aren't insulated. The unit is also not spill-proof (you'd want to keep thick-gravy foods in the top tier). In India and elsewhere many of these tiffin carriers are placed into an insulated hard pack fitted with a shoulder strap. Unfortunately these are hard to come by in the US. On the three-tier unit I've often placed re-useable ice substitutes in the middle bowl. For camping, you'd definitely want to hang these from a high tree branch to keep the animals out. You'd also want to secure the latch with some sort of locking device (carabiner) as the flip top bail can come undone without too much effort. In short, these containers are of great quality but their practicality "as is" is somewhat limited.

sturdy, good quality
April 23, 2010

I was looking for good quality stainless steel (not tin) and these carriers are just perfect, very happy with this purchase!