Lunch boxes

[cornflakegirl]

DS starts school in September. What sort of lunch box should I buy - tin, hard plastic, soft plastic, insulated? I'm due to give birth in the middle of August, so want to be a bit organised!

[nametaken]

I always preferred the soft plastic ones as no matter how many times kids drop em they don't break , plus you can put them in the washing machine on a delicate cycle.

[cuppateaplease]

I always have an insulated one and put an ice pack in. Schools are always really hot - both summer and winter. It's not unknown for the crate of lunch boxes to sit next to the very hot radiator all morning!

[MadameCastafiore]

Send then in with a carton of juice that is out of the freezer - craftaly doing away with the need for a wet ice pack!

Agree with name taken - soft insulated ones - we get the hungry jungle ones.

[cornflakegirl]

Those hungry jungle ones are gorgeous - think I'm sold!

[ellingwoman]

Whatever you get, label it on the outside in permanent marker. No one will take it by mistake then. If children have similar lunchboxes then someone else could munch their way through most of the contents before the mistake is spotted. It happens often

[cornflakegirl]

But how could I deface such a beautiful lunch bag?!

[RustyBear]

You will do it with the second one you have to buy....

[cornflakegirl]

[melissa75]

I agree...the insulated ones are the best ones, and include something cold as described, as it is so true, for some reason the lunch trolleys always seem to be put by the radiators...well thought out placements
Good to try to avoid the popular ones, as I have 10 boys in my class with the exact same Ben10 ones! IT can cause controversy...especially when names are not written on!

[RustyBear]

"lunch trolleys always seem to be put by the radiators"

Probably because in most schools, this is the only space that isn't occupied by a table or a cupboard.

There is also a universal school rule that no horizontal surface will remain clear for more than 10 minutes....

[serin]

Don't bank on frozen cartons of juice being defrosted by lunchtime. I worked as a classroom assistant for a few years and they were usually still blocks of ice.

[cuppateaplease]

Our school always requests that resealable bottles of drink are sent in rather than cartons as some children only drink half the carton and then put it back in the lunch bag. As you can imagine that can leave the lunch bag rather wet and sticky by the end of the day! A really 'good' leak of juice can affect several of the other childrens lunch bags too if they are all left in the lunch crate! or you can even get a lovely wet dribble down your own leg as a DC proudly hands over their lunch bag at the end of the day

[ABetaDad]

We have soft inulated sandwich box with a carrying strap (Thermos) and got small plastc sandwich box to put inside that have lids with liquid in that can be frozen in the freezer like a little ice pack but that does not take up much room.

The box and the plastic snadwch boxes with the freezable lids I think came from Robert Dyas.

[ManicMother7777]

Hmmm have to disagree here....perhaps it's just my messy dc but I found that soft insulated ones get very mucky with bits of food and they're not easy to clean. Hard plastic ones can be washed in hot soapy water or put in the dishwasher and then sprayed with anti-bacterial stuff.

Whatever you buy, get at least 2 - they get lost/forgotten a lot!

[ABetaDad]

ManicMother - yes two is definitley a good idea.

I know what you mean about the cleaning issue as well. We spray out the inside of the soft insulated sandwich box every day with ani-bact and wipe with a dry piece of kitchen paper to get rid of crumbs, youghurt etc without soaking the box and then once a wash the entire box on a gentle cycle in the washing machine.

They are age 7 and 9 though so past the really messy stage (on most days ).

[cory]

Ds takes his lunch to school in an old margarine tub. But at least it's easily washable. And I needn't feel bad about defacing it.

[fatjac]

Buy a key ring with your childs name on it and attach to the lunchbox. Write full name in permanent ink on the inside.