A Little More on the Topic of Lunch Boxes

I use re usable glass containers. Target had some small kid sized ones that fit into the lunch boxes. I would love to have a planet box for my kids, but they are too expensive. For their lunch box, I just use soap and water and then let them air dry. I put the containers in the dishwasher.

I would not use lysol to clean what they will be eating out of. I do not even use that awful stuff on my counters or bathrooms. There is no way I would eat off of it. Sorry, but soap and water is best

I found some zippered pouches for cheap in the baby food aisle. No lids to worry about and they stack easily in a drawer. Snacks that are dry ...like pretzels and snack crackers go in there. Then I can just shake it out and once or twice a week I throw them in the washer. They are water proof, so I can also use them for veggies and fruit, but I feel like I need to wash them immediately after use with "wet" foods.

Edited for grammar and to add one hint:
I don't find it hard at all to clean the bento box my daughter uses (Cool Gear brand).
Here's what we do with food containers. When the lunch box arrives home, I open all of the little compartments/cups and put them in a bowl of warm soapy water until after dinner. When I wash the dinner dishes, I pull the bento box parts out and they are really just in need of a swipe and rinse at that point. Even the stickiest and most stainy sauces have already been soaked away.
Even very young children can help create individual serving sizes using ziplock bags. We do this on rainy Saturdays. I buy 4 regular-sized bags of different types of healthy chips or crisps. In less than an hour we have roughly 40-50 bags ready to go into lunches or pop in a daybag for an outing. My younger daughter, Chickpea, practiced counting by 2s and 5s by making her own "snack packs" of gluten-free treats. Best of all, we use the time to talk, laugh, point out the odd chip that looks like Santa or Elvis or a monster.

At your kids' age, they should be able to pack their own lunches, and wash their own containers with dishsoap when they come home. Regardless the container type.

If you're worried about losing lids, buy the Gladware type that won't break the bank if they don't come home. And charge the kids $1 each time they lose or throw one out.

Why not just buy the small single servings of stuff. If you take into consideration how much water, soap, electricity and natural gas you're using up to wash those items you do come out ahead by simply buying individual servings in some things.

If the kids eat them that is. I often see kids come into the lunch room, dump their lunch box stuff into the trash can's so mom won't find out, then they eat stuff off all their neighbors lunch trays.

Kids don't want to be singled out by being the only ones that don't get to eat a school lunch. SO they do what they have to do to get what they want to eat.

I use Ziploc reusable containers and tubs similar to these. http://www.amazon.com/EasyLunchboxes-3-compartment-Contai...

The Ziploc version have held up to daily use and they were constantly in and out of the dishwasher. They only cost a couple of bucks so they aren't a big deal to replace either and held up fairly well with two kids using them daily. (I think I ended up with two being damaged by the end of the school year.)

I also used small circular containers for snacks but I made life easier by only buying one size and stuck to one brand so I didn't have to sit there and try to match what went with what. They are also all recyclable to boot and were easy for the kids to handle.

For fun I would decorate them with stickers. This method ended up working best for me, the kids, their health, and the environment. I still bought some pre-packaged items for days when we were ran out of fresh items, but for the most part this was win-win for everyone.

We use a bento (Goodbyn). My dd used it since 1st and is now going to 4th. There is only 1 lid for the entire box and it is hard to misplace. I usually freeze a milk box and it keeps what needs to be cold, cold. For snacks, I make my own bags for dry stuff and fruits. So easy to make and I just throw them with the wash.

This is my first year making lunches for the kids (they always bought in the past). We have 5 in school this year. School started 2 weeks ago. It's like an assembly line after dinner, getting lunches prepared for the next day. So far, I make them each a sandwich and put them in baggies. When they want chips, I buy big bags and put a handful in a baggie. But everything else is usually prepackaged (granola bars, fruit snacks, fruit cups, etc.) I did buy a big box of prepackaged cheezit's from Costco because they were on sale. But I haven't bought prepackaged chips because I think it's expensive. I think I saw them on ad this month, so I may end up buying some after all.

We do a little of everything. Dry goods are packaged in those little brown waxed paper bags (we reuse them if they aren't dirty). Wet things go into containers... I often use the stackable plastic freezer jam cups that Kerr or Ball makes, or we reuse the clear plastic containers we get from the olive bar at the store. The olive bar ones can be used a couple of times and then are rinsed/recycled.

I handwash everything anyway, so I don't sweat it. And then, with the olive bar ones, if the container is accidentally tossed at lunchtime, I don't worry about that either.

Another tip-- if you don't want to send plastic spoons,etc, but don't want to risk losing them, consider going to a thrift shop and buying a handful of expendable spoons or forks for lunchbox use. That way, if they accidentally get tossed in the trash, no biggie.

I am only packaging my own lunch, so it is easier for me to keep track of the things.

That being said, I use plastic ware containers since 75% of the time I take leftovers. I just toss them in the dishwasher. When they wear out, they get tossed. (I buy inexpensive ones.)

However, I also use baggies for things like chips/celery, and re-use those for several days. Since I am the only one handling the bags and lunch items, I don't think it is a problem with contamination.

I put them in the dishwasher.
Not sure if the Lysol wipes are good for something they are going to eat out of.
I like pre-package stuff (peanut butter cups, pre-cut carrots etc but that
can get expensive.).

We always went with prepackaged because it was such a time saver for us.

My daughter bought her lunch most of the time in elementary. When she hit middle school, it was much easier to go the prepackaged route and throw everything away.

She just graduated high school and took the prepacks of apples and carrots daily. A bit more expensive but it was so worth saving the time.

As a regular sub in elementary school, I see a lot of prepackaged items and not a lot of individual containers except for the Thermos when children bring something hot.

I guess bottom line... what is your time worth with all the extra effort? For me... my time = $$ and I could be a lot more productive elsewhere which ends up making us money than slicing, dicing and separating lunch.

ETA: I second Gamma... I also see a lot of kids throwing away an entire lunch so mom does not know they didn't eat it. We've actually had some children pack the lunch back in the pack and teacher sends an email to mom explaining that the child is throwing away and not eating if someone is doing this on a daily basis.

I use Rubbermaid containers and they just go in the dishwasher like everything else. Our school strongly discourages any prepackaged items as we are an environmentally friendly school and do not allow anything to be put in the garbage from lunches. We have a compost bin and a recycle bin. If it is not recyclable or compostable it is sent home in the lunch boxes. I also buy freezer bags instead of sandwich bags and wash and reuse them until they can no longer be reused. I don't think I would use Lysol wipes anywhere near where food is kept. Sounds kind of gross. Just wipe out lunch bags with a wet soapy cloth.

At least one of the field trips for my younger boys each year has been an environmental theme and the goal is to have no garbage at all other than items that can be composted. Such a PITA LOL! I loathe packing that lunch because all of those little containers are really bulky - one for a sandwich, one for the pretzels/crackers, one for pudding or apple sauce, a thermos for juice. Shoot me!

So I try for a happy medium - sandwiches get a zipper bag or plastic wrap, dry snacks I buy in bulk and portion into a zipper snack-size bag, pudding, yogurt or apple sauce will either be single-serve portions or spooned into a little tupperware container, etc. They bring thermoses of hot food and I expect them to bring utensils home but buy cheap ones in case they get thrown out by mistake. Salads and dressings go into tupperware. Produce is bought in bulk and put into tupperware if needed (grapes, carrots, pepper strips, celery sticks, cherries) but mostly I try to get them to make life easy and eat whole fruits.

At one point I bought washable sandwich and snack bags but they were very expensive, a total pain in the neck, and got lost. So for my own sanity, that was a short-lived experiment.

My kids pack their own lunches and unpack them (put the containers in the dishwasher after rinsing and put their lunchboxes in the pantry).

The only prep work I do for their lunches is pre-wash, cut, and pacakge the fresh fruits and vegetables. This is a great go-to snack for all of us and it makes lunch prep so easy.

As far as chips, pretzels, popcorn, etc...we buy the prepackaged individual stuff. I don't have time for measuring and washing everything.

They all have sandwich boxes, because it prevents them from getting smashed, and those get rinsed or washed in the dishwasher, depends on what was in there.

We do a little of everything. If you buy the lunchmeat in the plastic container, you get a free container. Use it til they break it. We got a set of plastic containers at IKEA and are still using them a year later. I'm starting to lose track of some of the little lids, but so far so good. I also got some glad or off brand round containers - good for fruit and cut veg. If it comes back, horray! If not, well, um. Hope she remembered to hit a trash can. I put our little containers in the top rack. They turn out OK.

I also use sandwich baggies when I need space. Can't get it all in? Put the lunchmeat in a snack sized baggie (my DD eats deconstructed sandwiches) and shove it next to the freezer pack.

DD gets what she'll eat, even if it's the same cheese stick, fruit, ham, and tortilla every.single.day.

My DD has the the same Yubo box she'll use again in the fall. My biggest problem with that is that someone other than me put the faceplates in the dishwasher and they peeled. She is unexpectedly getting new faceplaces (but not lids). The rest of the thing is DW safe.

One day she may do like her sibs and brown bag it but for now, we're using the reusable daily lunchbox.

I use reusable plastic containers. Have had the same set for 7 years now. I do occasionally use a sandwich bag for odd shaped fruit (grapes) where a serving is bigger than the container. I don't buy prepackaged foods. DS gets a protein (nuts, grilled cheese, yogurt, peanut butter) and either 2 veggies and a fruit or two fruits and a veggie. I don't see making his lunch as wasting my time. I see it as providing him a healthy nutritious lunch of fresh food. Containers go right into soapy water when they get home. Hand washed with the dinner dishes. Takes all of 2 minutes, maybe.

The teachers at DS's Montessori watch the kids and report back on what they eat or don't eat. There doesn't seem to be an epidemic of kids throwing out their healthy lunches in favor of pre packaged imitation food.

We do re-usable containers. Tupperware is top-rack dishwasher safe. However, we use the little take-and-toss containers (like from the baby aisle!), or gladware - very inexpensive, but also dishwasher safe. When they eventually wear out, or if they don't come home, we replace them.

The kids' drinks, though, are typically juice boxes that can be tossed. They also both take a bottle of water with a straw-type lid. Those are rinsed every day, and they go a couple of days between soap-and-water washes (since they're just water - if it were juice, I'd have to wash it every day).

I use the Go Green Lunchbox which is similar to a Bento. It's very easy to use and pack his lunch in. Plus my son LOVES it. It comes with a thermos that is still cold when he gets home. The lid is attached or he can remove it if he wants to. The best part is no plastic baggies! www.gogreenlunchbox.com

This question came up on our mamafriends facebook page. I can't keep track of all our little containers either. Many moms I know use Planetbox. http://www.planetbox.com. It's like a divided Bentobox. I'm trying them this year. Pricey, but other moms say worth it. We shall see!

I buy the real cheap glad reusable containers.. I just got an 8 pack of the small cups for $3.50. the kids lose them but at the end of the year we still had 4 of the original 8 left.

Not sure it is that much cheaper than the little packs.. but I mostly use the cups for grapes and cut up fruit..