Starting secondary - lunchbox recommendations??

[cornbunting]

My eldest is starting year seven next month, and a lunchbox is pretty much the last bit of shopping we need to do. Everything I see is aimed either at primary aged children (with Disney prints etc) or adult office workers (much too big to carry around in a school bag all day).

I've found a Thermos one which is pretty good, but is an incredibly boring plain blue.

Where do you get insulated lunch boxes/bags from that are small enough for a tweenage lunch preferably with a vaguely interesting pattern, but don't look too childish?

Hype?

My DC (age 15 and 13) just put a plain tupperware box in their school bag - they don't carry a separate lunch bag like they used to in primary school. I don't see any other DC carrying them either!

Mine has this with the three compartments when they started. Later on, after year nine I would say, they started using the ones they had had when they were little with walruses and lions on. That sort of thing.

Plain and simple is fine for secondary. DS has always had one of the sistema multi compartment tubs. Not insulated, but he hasn’t come to any harm. He usually makes and freezes cheese as ham sandwiches, they’re defrosted my lunchtime. Piece of fruit, packet of crisps and all good.

I have one of these (https://amzn.eu/d/6zggDnq) and got a bento box (https://amzn.eu/d/izCCwpQ - not available on amazon now but I’ve seen them on eBay - really good and very very leakproof) for DS. He has now pinched my bag and I use the bento box!

Plain and simple is fine for secondary. DS has always had one of the sistema multi compartment tubs. Not insulated, but he hasn’t come to any harm. He usually makes and freezes cheese as ham sandwiches, they’re defrosted my lunchtime. Piece of fruit, packet of crisps and all good.

This is reassuring, thanks! I used to have plain old tupperware when I was at school, but that was a long time ago 😂

I've got my son a plain black sistema
one and also a plain black metal drinks bottle
sad to see his football lunchbox go 🤦🏻‍♀️🥺🤣

Plain Tupperware will be fine. None of the kids take a separate lunch bag unless in the first week then ditch it when they realise no one does. Good luck for his first year at secondary 😃

Multi compartment sistema is the way to go. Nothing too 'fussy' ie don't use the little tubs for lovingly sliced fruit or anything that might give the impression that either he or, worse, you, have given it any thought.

Chunky sandwich in the big bit, handful of grapes or strawberries in one of the smaller bits, protein in the other bit (eg cheese cubes if sandwich is ham, chicken if sandwich is tuna, etc etc).

You can definitely get away with leftovers here so long as they can be eaten cold - bhajis, pizza slices, chicken drumsticks will all go down well.

Add a bag of popcorn & a water bottle & he'll be fine.

The impression your 11yo is attempting to project at this stage is that he's a badass self sufficient lad about town whose mum absolutely didn't cut his crusts off for him!

Agree that in y9 they all start 'ironically' rediscovering their kiddy lunchboxes.

My very small for her age daughter is unlikely to be trying to come off as a badass lad about town 😂 She's got oodles of confidence thankfully so if I/she/we get it wrong early on it'll be alright.

I'm so glad the answer is tupperware, that's so easy to find 🥳