What sort of lunch box does your child use for school?

[melissa.r]

My dd1 is off to school next year and I was wondering if anyone wanted to share what style lunch box your child uses. There seems to be lots of different ones around. What are my options? What do you like/dislike in a lunch box?
Any ideas?

[Amberlea]

For the younger kids a lunchbox that is easy to open is a must.

My preppy has a cooler bag that has a simple lunchbox at the bottom in a zipper section and the cooler bag section at the top to put her fruit/drinks etc in.

Because they generally have seperate things for morning tea and lunch you may find they ask you to have two containers for them.. so they know what is for what break.

[Dannielle]

Yes, definately has to be easy to open and remember to label both parts if the lid isn't attached. When DD1 was in Kindergarten she lost her lid in the first week of school.

We are going to do a big lunch box to fit everything in and then put it inside a cooler bag with a little ice brick. I have found the coolers with a handle on top are the easiest to get out of their bag. DD1 prefers to just have everything loose in snap lock bags in her cooler. But she has had her lunch a little bit squashed once. (Someone accidently tripped)

Oh, and I know you didn't ask but a drink bottle with an insulated cover are the best. Then you can freeze it and it stays nice all day. Our school get them to bring in their drink bottles on hot days and leave them on their desk. Without the insulated cover or tea towel etc they make their desk wet.

[becsmum]

My DD uses an insulated zippered lunch bag and in it I put a sandwich container (from tupperware but you can get cheaper ones elsewhere) and then her fruit and play lunch etc...

Most of the kids in her school have this type of thing :)

[2s'nuff]

DD1 has an insulated lunchbox (zip to close). I bought some snackboxes from Bigw $4ish (like the tupperware sandwich box), they act like a clam, so she can't lose the top and snap together easily. She has a sandwich size one and a smaller one each day.

Frozen yogurt (with disposable spoon) and frozen juiceboxes are great for the hot weather.

We also use the small frozen bricks to keep her lunch cool. Tried the little frozen gel packs, but found they kept puncturing and leaking.

Lisa

[melissa.r]

Thanks everyone for your responses, sounds like the insulated type lunchbox is the go. Not sure how everything fits in though, particularly with an ice-brick in it as well. I notice lots of people don't use cling wrap or other types of plastic to wrap sandwiches etc, just re-use little containers -very environmentally friendly. I guess I might need to do a bit of experimentation.

[Dannielle]

There are a few little ice packs around that take up hardly any room at all.

We used to use a small ice brick that is just a small version of the normal bigger ones. A plastic thing filled with water or whatever it is. But even those do make a difference to how heavy their bags are.

I have seen 2 types of other tiny little ice packs. One is a gel pack and the other is similar but in a silver packet. They are both SO little they wouldn't make any difference space wise.

And something I didn't think of. I have been told to put the ice pack on top of the sandwich as the cold travels downwards.