I’m going to level with you: I don’t really get Steambox. I mean, I get what it is: It’s a self-heating lunchbox that uses steam to heat your food, and one that’s powered by a rechargeable battery so you could theoretically take it on the go. To our credit, it actually lives up to the idea of being a lunch box that heats up your food. I just don’t understand why anyone would pay $279 for that exact amount.
Before we get too deep into that, let me walk you through what this thing actually is. On the outside, it’s a shoebox-sized gray plastic box with a bamboo lid. (The dimensions are 11 inches long, 6.5 inches wide, and 3.5 inches high.) Unscrew the plastic wrap, and you’ll find a small metal bowl with its own rubberized lid, in which you can store food—up to about 3 cups, or 700 milliliters. Under it is a heating element, which you pour water on when it’s time to heat up the food. (The water is stored in a small measuring bowl that snaps onto the bamboo lid).
To turn it on, you flip a switch on the back, which is located next to the barrel plug you use to recharge its battery. (Yes, you have to use the included charger; at CES 2023, Steambox co-founder Kevin de Krieger said Techcrunch that it cannot be charged over USB-C “because of the way USB-C works.” OK) Next, you dump the water into the bottom, put the metal container back into the sans lid, and seal the box.
To choose how long you want your food reheated, tap a capacitive button that cycles between 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 minutes, indicated by a row of five lights. There is another capacitive button that starts the heating process. Yes, the fact that it doesn’t use physical buttons can be a little annoying — they don’t always register taps, and sometimes it takes a second to register the cooking time indicated by the flashing lights.
You have an alternative because naturally Steambox has an app (although you can use the device completely offline if you want). Unfortunately, the app requires an account to use it to the fullest exposed bones. Once you’re logged in and connected to Steambox via Bluetooth, you can see how much battery you have left, set a timer with an accuracy of one minute, and start or stop the heating process. That’s pretty much it; There are buttons at the bottom that promise tips, recipes, news, and FAQs, but clicking on them gives you a simple “coming soon” banner.
Well, why am I so excited? Is it bad to heat food and leave it cold and unappetizing? not exactly. I’ve found that it suffices in reheating most things I’ve thrown at it, like salmon fillets, cheese, chili, mashed potatoes, and more. It is important to note this word, though – Reheat.
Unlike more powerful electric lunchboxes or portable hotspots that plug into the wall, the Steambox isn’t really meant to cook your food. The company’s website warns you to “use caution when cooking raw meat, chicken, or fish with the Steambox” and says doing so is not recommended.
The FAQ page says that cooking vegetables should be a “no-brainer,” which I was very happy to hear. I was less than happy when I bit into broccoli that had been steaming for 25 minutes and felt the crunch of the mostly raw greens. (Though, honestly, it was just as good once I tossed on a little Tony Chachier’s dressing and some sweet chili sauce.)
Perhaps my biggest problem with Steambox: It’s slow. I had to reheat the macaroni and cheese you mention for about 20 minutes, while the microwave takes about two or three minutes. It’s also worth noting that the Steambox’s small size gives you a pretty hard limit on what you can reheat, and it fits way less than even a dorm-sized microwave. (I don’t think you can put a medium pizza slice in it.)
One of the elephants in the room when it comes to the Steambox is the microwave. Or at least they would be if the company (also called Steambox) didn’t constantly throw them into its marketing. “Bye microwave,” reads the quote on their website. “The microwave basically kills your food,” said de Krieger. Techcrunch. Perhaps the most offensive version is on its Kickstarter page, which claims that microwaves are “a great way to heat up your food, and a great way to destroy all the beneficial nutrients…before they radiate!”, adding that microwaves often make your food look “yuck.”
What? First of all, I’m not leaving this thing about destroying nutrients and irradiating your food unchecked because I haven’t seen any evidence of that. (The United States has many, a lot problems with its food culture; Relying on microwaves isn’t one of them.) But it also feels like an unearned trust. Maybe I’m just a microwave therapist, but the food I got from the Steambox was on par, not better than the food I reheated in the microwave. It was fun enough to eat, but I would have called nonsense if you told me the food that came out of it was straight out of the oven or stove. That’s certainly a bit disappointing for something that costs more than the price of three lower-end microwaves (more than enough to stock a desk, even if your boss isn’t the same) and takes longer to reheat food.
I have Steambox some The benefits compared to a microwave; In my tests, my house didn’t smell fishy when I was reheating a slice, while the microwave was on. Also, I can stand next to it while it’s reheating lunch without my AirPods breaking.
There are plenty of people who don’t have the option of plugging the appliance into an outlet who might appreciate a freshly heated portable lunch. and others who, for whatever reason, prefer not to cut their food. Perhaps you work outside or on job sites where there are no outlets or more important equipment.
When it comes to portability, the Steambox has a leg up for just about every device that needs to be attached to the wall. Its battery is good for about 40 minutes of cooking, which can reheat about two or three meals.
However, I often spend weekends in the middle of conservation areas building and maintaining hiking trails not even It is considered Taking Steambox on one of those trips. Even taking him to a nearby park for lunch wasn’t the perfect experience I had imagined. The problem is that it’s a relatively large and heavy device; According to my scale, the whole batch weighs about 4lbs, 11oz or just over 2.1kg before any food is added. (For reference, my backpack stove, titanium cooking pot, and backpacking gas can weigh less than a pound: 12.8 ounces, or 360 grams.)
That heft, and the fact that it’s a completely inflexible rectangle, makes it uncomfortable to carry around in a backpack. When I talked about the Steambox with an acquaintance of mine who works out almost every day, she cared less about the weight but also didn’t think she’d make it through her 30-minute lunch breaks unless she wanted to cover the food after 15-20 minutes of watching everyone else eat. I also wondered if it would hold enough food for an active person all day.
I did come up with a few use cases I hadn’t considered, though, suggesting snowmobiles might find them useful or people on a car camping trip might find them, assuming they have an easy way to clean them and won’t be outside for days. For her personal use, though, it didn’t seem like she was in a rush to buy one. She told me, “I think I’ll only try one if I find one at a thrift store for under $10… probably under $5.” (Maybe this sounds a little tougher than it actually is – it’s a legendary dreadnought).
There are cheaper and more packable ways to get warm meals on the go if you want to use insulation instead of reheating. A classic thermos can keep soup hot for hours, and it usually costs less than $50. The same goes for the Zojirushi Lunch Jar, which even includes small bowls that allow you to bring several different types of food. Even a standard insulated lunch box can do the trick, depending on your needs.
There are a few more points you can pick up with Steambox, while I’m at it:
- I like the stainless steel container, but the lid is hard to fit properly.
- It gets expensive when you want to prep the meal—the extra container and lid are $23, and the three-pack is $56. (The containers I use to microwave a meal are $30 for 5 people.)
- Unless you completely dry the cooking area after you’re done, there will be a fair amount of moisture left in it. There was visibly water dripping from it when I pulled it out of my bag, although I dumped as much of the excess as I could.
- You cannot use Steambox while charging; If the battery is dead, you will have to wait an hour or two to eat. Co-founder Amit Gora says this is because “running batteries, DC and water/steam at the same time has to be handled with care.”
- I have moderate concerns about quality control – my colleague Sean Hollister also sent him a Steambox, but it arrived not quite working. There was also at least one commenter on Kickstarter saying their unit had some scratches when they got it.
(However, I’ve seen much worse in Kickstarter feedback; feedback for Steambox seems to be relatively positive, though there are at least a few people who say they’re still waiting for their feedback.)
What rubs me off most with the Steambox is that it actually seems relatively competent at heating food. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s also not a disaster. Despite this, I find it difficult to recommend it to almost anyone. Maybe it’s a price swallow for those rich fish lovers whose co-workers hate the smell, or anyone truly He wants to eat warm food out of an outlet, but I think everyone would be better served by other, less expensive solutions like a microwave, insulated containers, toaster oven, or a wired electric lunch box. He is just very unhappy with a medium; It’s not really convenient to take it outdoors, and there are much better options indoors.
Perhaps the best way I can sum it up is with this anecdote: I’ve had a Steambox for a few months now, and I’ve tried over and over to get my wife—who takes a regular lunchbox to work every day—to test it out. Literally the whole reason I wanted to do this review was to see if my wife could cook fish at work without getting bullied.
Apparently, she didn’t think juice was worth squeezing because her response was always the same: “Why would I do that? I have a microwave at work.”