AIBU in thinking that it should be easier to find a decent sized lunchbox and non-leaking waterbottle??

[Purplemoon]

Ok, help required pleeeeeaaaaaaase from all you knowledgeable folk.

All I want is lunch boxes for DC large enough to contain average packed lunch contents e.g, round of sandwiches, two pieces of fruit, a flapjack or something similar plus a drinks bottle that sdoesn't leak after a week!

DD3 really needs one with a handle and I'm really not keen on lunch bags because I find them harder to keep clean.

Oh and I would really like one large enough to be able to use a reusable tub for sandwiches as I prefer not to use disposable sandwich wrapping, even though I know it saves space.

I'm not asking for that much am I?

Should I just send DC to school with one of these

I use lunch bags and rinse them out most evenings. Also train your child to put the rubbish in the sandwich box to contain most of the mess

you can put the lunch bags (I assume you mean the ones shaped like lunch box things but not in hard plastic/metal) in the dishwasher. I put them in on the top shelf open (i.e. unzipped totally and insides down) and they come out really clean.

There's also a lunch box cube thing you can get from places like Lakeland that is a sort of square thingy divided up into different compartments (V poor description!)

this is the type we have but we have a Dr Who one and a sporty one

this is the lunch cube here

you need one of these my brother lives in switzerland and bought one for ds for his first christmas. its battered to hell now and goes in the dishwasher, but hasn't leaked yet and has been used almost daily since he was about 9months old, he's 2 1/2 now.

you can get those sigg bottles in John Lewis/Bentalls. They are slightly heavier/bulkier than normal water bottles but they do last really well. My children destroy water bottles (I don't know what they do to them ) but I agree, our sigg ones have lasted despite being thrown/dropped/bashed/kicked.

I'd never imagined the lunch bags would be ok in the dishwasher, what sort do you have foxy?
The Sigg water bottles sound good...I'll save up ( need 4 of them
Thanks guys.

Anyone else have any more recommendations? (I'm a girl who enjoys a choice to help with my indeciseiveness )

Oh Duh!! You already showed me Foxy >

foxinsocks - what size would you say for a 6 and 3 year old? (sigg bottles/ am hovering over the submit button here....!)
cheers

foxinsocks - what size would you say for a 6 and 3 year old? (sigg bottles/ am hovering over the submit button here....!)
cheers

They have little stubby ones and medium sized one and big ones I think? Can you show me the link?

I got ds a small one and dd a medium one when I bought them I think. (just because the smaller one is less heavy to carry) but I think they have ended up both using middle sized ones (we have 4, 3 middles and a small). The drinks also seem to stay colder in those sigg bottles.

You know, I normally end up buying about 10 of those Tesco/Sainsburys/Woolies £1 bottles too (though I HATE that plastic taste that comes with them).

I bought one of these for ds's sandwiches and it's really good.

Does it clean up ok Bran?
I saw a thread with a link to these a while back but was concerned they would be a bit hard to clean, i.e water being trapped between inner and outer layer etc? (there's a bit of a theme emerging with me and teh cleaning thing )

yes PM, once I discovered the dishwasher trick we were away. They wash really nicely actually (and mine make a terrible mess with theirs). I don't do them every day, a couple of times a week though.

They do last but i probably buy them a new one every year - lunch boxes are only around £8 anyway so I don't begrudge that.

I wipe it with a cloth most days and bung it in the washing machine occasionally. It's waterproof on the inside but ordinary cotton on the outside so it dries perfectly well.

They sell the sandwich wrap things here as well - bit cheaper.

I second the sigg bottles - just forked out a few weeks ago after months of deliberation! We got the smalls (250ml? or 300ml?) for DS and DD, ages 2 and 4, and they are fine - a good size for them.

Hmmm, maybe I will give the wrap thingies a go. Thanks guys
I was annoyed 'cos I bought some reusable sandwich box thingies a few weeks back with the intention of fitting everything into the DC Addis boxes, but it didn't work because the drinks bottle don't fit in with the drinks bottles . Wraps and Sigg bottles and a lunch bag it is then I think
Thanks.

We use the little treckers (trekkers?) website - too tired to link. They sell a good selection of thermos lunchbags and siggs bottles. We have the thermos lunchbag with the side pocket ofr water. I don't use plastic bottles just in case of the chemicals, etc, etc...

I refill sports evian bottles-they don't leak until they've been REALLY chewed!

little trekkers here
www.littletrekkers.co.uk/shop/

think I will get .6L for them,
thanks

Just ordered some of those wraps .
Working up to Sigg bottles £££££

You lot are good.

those wraps are great as well
I went for more expensive option first
eek!

I have those same wraps as Bran for my kids packed lunch. Washed them in machine for the first time yesterday and they were perfectly fine.

Is it just me, or do those wraps look really easy to make? Are they really floppy, or are they like the oil cloth stuff you use for table covers?

They would be really easy to make, they are heavy duty plastic on the inside and ordinary cotton on the outside. It is sewn right-sides together and then flipped out and the last seam closed. There is a velcro closing on the outside. They're not particularly floppy, but they're not nearly as stiff as oil cloth.

It wouldn't be worth your while doing it for just one or two though, by the time you've sourced the plastic and cotton (or even used some old cotton clothes) it wouldn't work out much cheaper than just buying it. If you allow for your time then it definitely wouldn't work out cheaper. (Plus I would never consider it because I'm very very lazy. )

I thought the same..."easy to make..." and then I bought some