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Lunchboxes, snacks, groceries, dinner

Should I pack this?

Take a photo of the lunchbox and find out. Same for a snack in the cart, two yogurts in the aisle, or the dinner you were already making.

One email when the app opens up. Nothing else.

Read the lunchbox guides

Lunchbox Review

Ham sandwich, cheese stick, apple slices, crackers

Packed for a 7-year-old

Example

What's working

  • The ham and the cheese stick cover the protein.
  • The apple comes home eaten.

What might be missing

  • Bread and crackers are both refined. Not much here lasts past 1pm.

Easy add-ons

  • Yogurt tube
  • Grapes
  • Hummus cup

The actual problem

It's not one big nutrition decision. It's twenty small ones.

  • Breakfast, at 7:04am.
  • The lunchbox.
  • The 3pm raid on the pantry.
  • The snack the teacher asked for.
  • The grocery aisle.
  • “What can I make with this?”
  • Dinner.
  • “Will they actually eat it?”

None of them is hard. There are just a lot of them, and most get decided in under a minute while you're doing something else.

SmarterEats takes any one of these and tells you what you'd change.

Mornings

Lunch looks a bit light?

Snap a photo. You'll see what to add or swap, from what's already in the fridge.

Lunchbox guides

Lunchbox Review

Turkey wrap, pretzels, grapes, cookie

Packed the night before, for a 9-year-old

Example

What's working

  • The wrap is carrying the lunch.
  • The grapes get eaten.

What might be missing

  • Pretzels and the cookie are both quick carbs. Together they crowd out the part that lasts.

Easy add-ons

  • Cheese stick
  • Yogurt
  • Edamame

The app reads the box you photographed.

In the aisle

Two bars. Which one?

Scan both, and you'll see what separates them.

Compare foods

Which bar for the lunchbox?

MadeGood Organic Chewy

100 cal · 2g protein · 6g sugar

Better at
Nut-free, so it clears a strict classroom. Soft enough for little kids.
Watch out
Light on protein. Runs out fast if it's the whole snack.

RXBAR Minis Nut Butter & Oat

100 cal · 5g protein · 6g sugar

Better at
More protein and some fiber, sweetened with dates instead of added sugar.
Watch out
Contains nuts, and it's dense and date-flavored. Plenty of kids won't take to it.

The read

These two have the same calories and the same sugar, and they score the same, so the score won't settle it. If your kid's classroom is nut-free, take the MadeGood and send a cheese stick with it. If nuts are allowed and your kid will eat dates, the RXBAR keeps them going longer on its own.

Figures from our reviews of MadeGood Organic Chewy and RXBAR Minis.

Adapt any recipe

Start with the dinner you already make.

Need it faster? More filling? Something your kid might eat? Same recipe, a few changes.

Tonight's dinner

Spaghetti bolognese

Example
  • Stir a can of lentils through the sauce. It disappears into the ground beef.
  • Swap half the pasta for whole wheat. Half, so the texture holds.
  • Cucumber and hummus next to the garlic bread, not instead of it.

Also in the app

Four more questions you can ask.

You can ask about anything in front of you.

  • Packing lunch

    Lunchbox Review

    “What's missing here?”

    Photograph the box, get one or two things to add.

  • After school

    Compare Foods

    “Which of these will keep them going until dinner?”

    Two snacks side by side, and what separates them at 3pm.

  • Grocery aisle

    Check a Food

    “Is the more expensive one actually better?”

    A read on one product, and what it pairs with.

  • Dinner

    Review a Meal

    “How can I make this a little more balanced?”

    See what's in the meal and what you might add.

Underneath

The situation changes the answer.

A label describes one food on its own. SmarterEats also knows whose lunch it is, what else is in the box, and when it gets eaten.

Ways in

Scan it
A barcode, or the Nutrition Facts panel.
Search it
Four million products.
Photograph it
A packed lunchbox, or a plate.
Import a recipe
Something you already cook.

About the score

There is a score. Comparisons show it when the number helps explain the choice. The score is not the recommendation.

What SmarterEats doesn't do

  • Rank a food good or bad.
  • Ask you to track what anyone eats.
  • Grade you, or your kid.
  • Give medical advice.

Opinions

Four things we won't budge on.

  • 01

    Good enough is fine

    A change you'll make on a Tuesday night is worth more than the one you won't.

  • 02

    It has to get eaten

    A lunch that comes home full didn't help, whatever was in it.

  • 03

    Often there's nothing to fix

    If the lunch is fine, we say so and stop. Not every box needs a suggestion.

  • 04

    No food morality

    We'll explain a trade-off. There are cookies in the lunchboxes on this page.

Guides & comparisons

We do this in writing, too.

198 guides and product reviews. Free, no app needed.

View all guides

Latest guides

All posts

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