To ask how you clean and dry lunchboxes?

[Mumof3xx]

I'm talking about the insulated zip up character kind?

We didn't have these last year and they get very mucky since school insist on children bringing home any rubbish and uneaten food

Do I use a cleaning spray?
Wash in the sink?
Washing machine?

Can they go on the radiator?

I'm guessing they would melt in the dryer

Washing machine, then line dry. They tend to melt on the radiator.

I wipe out with antibac wipes if not to grubby and leave to air dry or if really bad I wash out in the sink with soapy water trying just to wet the inside only and leave to dry on the draining board

I'm a textile technologist. I wouldn't recommend washing them. It will make the insulating layer separate from the rest of the fabric

Dishwasher then on the line or draining board.

I don't use them as I don't think there really is a way to keep them clean!

I wipe out with anti bac wipes if not too filthy. If a bit mucky, I wash up in the sink with water and washing up liquid, leave to drip over the tap till not dripping any more then dry on the radiator. (Mine don't melt)

They are a nightmare!! I don't know what DS did with his last year, bought him several as could not clean them properly. This year I bought a plastic lunch box that is so easy to wash. He was not happy not having the usual character ones but wouldn't go back to these again......

I used to stick them in the washing machine once a week. They survived ok. Well they fall apart after about a year but by then dc wanted a new one anyway. They used to dry out ok on the line, in the airing cupboard or just left open for a while.

I'm having more trouble with the super duper grown up compartmentalised hard plastic ones I've bought them this year.

Great lunchboxes, fiddly as anything to wipe out and when I put them in the dishwasher all the little holes fill up with water and dribble water everywhere over my slippers.

I'm not a textile technologist and I just stick them in the washing machine.

Leave in car overnight
Run outside in dressing gown to get them in the morning
Swipe them with a stinky dishcloth and a spray of bleachy kitchen cleaner
Dry with whatever's handy

Alternatively:
Leave on trolley at school and send DC in with their lunch in a tesco bag

Warm soapy water in the sink, hung over the unit doors to dry over night.

I put one of DD's in the washing machine and the inside pulled apart and stretched in to a weird long grey melty string of stuff.

Ok thank you!
Think I'll give washing machine a go at weekend! Stick to wipe with dishcloth til then

And I think I'll go to plastic ones when these die!

Daily wipe over with sponge and soapy water.

Occasional swim in the washing machine.

Crucially, though, putting the right things in it in the first place. No yogurt pots (tubes are ok), no bananas or plums, etc.

I found the hard plastic one didn't last a year. The plastic is fairly brittle and didn't stand being hurled around ::glares at 5yo::

Liking your style there Shrink. That's the way to deal with packed lunches alright (I've done all that too)

They are a nightmare!! I don't know what DS did with his last year, bought him several as could not clean them properly. This year I bought a plastic lunch box that is so easy to wash. He was not happy not having the usual character ones but wouldn't go back to these again......

i should add that a quick low temp wash cycle is enough. Not a 60deg two hour one

Dont put them in with clothes either or they'll tear everything else up.

yabu to ask here, when you know well its not an aibu.
Stick it in a washing machine. Better still, use tupperware.

Another one who puts the actual food in a tupperware lunchbox that clips closed.(DEFINITELY no yoghurts, tried it once.... oh my GOODNESS, the mess one child can make with one Petit Filous!).

My twins like to "help" me make their next day's lunch (for that, read - watch ME do it and ask to eat everything I'm putting in for tomorrow, NOW) and so I have this running commentary whilst we're talking about the different foods (for that, read - ME saying, "No, you can't have it now....because you've just had your tea.... no you're NOT still hungry....")

and I say, EVERY NIGHT, "... and remember, put all the empty pots and wrappers inside the box to keep clean....".

Amazingly, 4 days out of 5 this works.

On the ONE single occasion that DH made pack-ups, the whole thing came home like it had been in a nuclear war with the Slime Monster With Huge Feet. Chopped banana and Monster Munch wrapped (separately!) in a tidgy bit of clingfilm have not since appeared in DT's lunches.....

I used to swab out with running water, antibac wipe if muckier, and into the machine every so often. They dried fast on the draining rack. By the end of two years it was so manky-looking I didn't want to use it any more and went over to the blasted Sistema ones. You know the ones - they won't close on yoghurt tubs, don't fit a decent-sized ice pack and are very inflexible generally. I actually prefer the cloth ones - at least they're flexible and have an ice pack pocket.

Just a quick wipe out with some kitchen spray and a dishcloth. Dry with kitchen roll.

If you put a couple of sheets of kitchen roll in with the lunch it will absorb the worst of the mess.

After 4 yrs of yucky lunchboxes, i've discovered neoprene lunch bags, they're fab, still insulate, but they go in the washing machine and dry quickly. They are a bit stretchy too, so accomodate more stuff.
The one I've got is Nude Food, or something, but there are lots of different ones on Ebay.
No idea why I didn't think of these before, as DD has always had neoprene bottle holders ( and even had neoprene bibs as a baby)