how do you keep your child's lunch box from getting stinky? I wipe them down most nights with dishwasher detergent, but yet they still smell. I've also used baking soda, but I don't have the time to do that all the time - although it does work! I have extras bought to use throughout the year as they are hard to find later in the school year, but I was hoping to make it past 2 months before having to change them!
Are they hard or soft? My daughters have soft sided lunch boxes from thirty one gifts, I throw them in the laundry on gentle and let them air dry every Friday... no stink!
I think it may smell because it is getting too wet and then not drying properly. The smell is probably from bacteria. If I were you I would buy new lunch boxes and then clean them as other posters suggested.
Toss them in the washer. I do it weekly or when needed.
He's four and has SEVEN lunch bags. Damn you Target and your 75% off sale!
I spray lightly with lysol and wipe out.
I toss the insulated ones in the washer in the load with bleach. They come out fine. If they are really delicate you can fill them with hot water in the sink then splash some bleach in the water as it fills. It soaks in where the decaying food is gathering in the seams.
They have the Arm & Hammer discs now. But I use the Pack-It lunch bags. You store them in the freezer and they stay cold for 10 hours. I suspect that when the traditional lunch bags get warm is when they smell most.
Hope this helps.
Try baking soda. It gets the smells out of the refrigerator too.
I spray ours (they are insulated, soft ones) with solugaurd (it has a thyme smell to it - all natural can get from melaluca site) and leave it open and out to dry overnight. On weekends, I prop it up in the kitchen window on Saturday to get sunlight on it. Helps quite a bit!
I have used Clorox Wipes and sometimes even a disinfectant spray if it was bad enough. Sounds like it is a soft one (if it was hard sided, toss it in the dishwasher) so I would run it through a delicate cycle and air dry like others have mentioned.
I wipe them down with mrs meyers clean day spray. I don't know if that is why, but their lunch boxes (they have the soft kinds) have NEVER smelled bad. I guess I'm out of the loop on this one. I guess I also accredit the non-smell from my daughters not leaving any kind of open container of food or crumbs in there. If they have leftovers, they always keep the food properly packaged. They are 7 and 8. My two younger ones, 3 and 4 don't have lunch boxes, they stay at home with me.
