Lunch Bags

When Mason started daycare, almost 2 years ago we didn’t really know what the other parents had purchased for their kids for lunches so we went with an environmentally friendly option.  A Monkey cloth bag from Kradles in Courtenay BC ( with Nuby tossable reusable plastic BPA free containers.  (You can find them at Walmart) 

Mason has never gotten a ‘small’ lunch, his Dad and I always figured it was better to give him a ton of options and let him choose what he wanted to eat.

After a year that little lunch bag got pretty worn and it was time to upgrade to something bigger and more durable so I went back to the same store (Kradles) and bought this:


Well after another year and a few milk spillages, it was time again to upgrade.  The daycare Mason is currently at requests that upon drop off the parents transfer the food items into a basket in the fridge and the bag gets hung up.  When Mason was recently (and temporarily) at a different large daycare there was no fridge for the kids so his food would stay in the backpack all day (which introduced me to the wonderful world of ice packs).  I didn’t like this option much.  I have horrible memories of drinking warm milk by lunch time when I was in Elementary school.  YUCK.  And of course my favorite memory of forgetting my lunch at home in Grade 1 and my Dad brought it to the school and my milk was ice cold.  Mmmmmm.  Even though I don’t drink milk anymore (I’m off dairy) I still love that memory.

The other parents at daycare have random lunch bags from something an adult would take to work to the simple ‘lunch bags’ we used in the 90’s and a few actual lunch kits made of the heavy plastic.

I think I had a Strawberry Shortcake lunch box complete with thermos.  My brother had a Garfield themed one.

 

Another lunch transport option for Mike and I were the ever popular brown paper bags (hence the term brown baggin' it) but of course the Weir's took it one step cooler.  My Dad worked at the local Pulp & Paper mill and often he came home with McDonalds bags they made there that had defects on them so instead of throwing them out (remember - no recycling back then), he gave them to my Mom to send our lunches in.  Well this was a 'cool factor' but also looked like we ate nothing but Mc'Donalds every day.  And much to the disappointment of us kids who thought we were getting a hamburger only to find a cheese & lettuce sandwich.  (I will point out that my Mom did make us amazing and healthy lunches (still does) and they were the envy of my classmates.

I'm not sure what lunchkits cost back in 1984…but in 2012 I got a rude awakening when I priced out options for Mason.

I ‘liked’ the Weelicious page on Facebook that has awesome lunch ideas for kids.   Each day they post a different picture with ideas and after seeing the same ‘container’ that it was in, I went exploring on the Internets to see if I could buy one.

Oh and I found what I was looking for.   Introducing Planetbox


A cool stainless steel compartmentalized tray that fits into a sturdy case, easy for transport.  Oooh, oooh I want one!  I want one right now….oh, you can only buy them from the US? Oh…and they are HOW MUCH? $60.00 for a LUNCH KIT for a 3 year old…what’s that? Shipping is $25.00.  ARE YOU INSANE??

Oh what’s that now? Pottery Barn carries them, right.  Let me go to the bank so I can take a loan out so Mason can have a ‘cool’ lunch kit.

I even went as far as to join Planetbox’s FB page so I could bitch that a) they didn’t have Canadian distributors for such a neat product and b) the pricing was insane.   They weren’t much help.  I even entered a Canadian contest to win one of the damn things (I wasn’t selected as a winner). 

And after Mason some Christmas money I almost caved and ordered one but no, what a waste of money.  Yes it would probably last forever and is ‘worth’ the money (some consumers that owned them either praised them or said they weren’t worth the $$$).  So being as frugal as I am…I went off in search of a slightly less cool replacement.  Preferably Canadian made.

After extensive searching, I stumbled onto www.easylunchboxes.com and thought that their lunch bag + stacking containers combo 
would be a good alternative.  I threw down $34.75 including shipping (came from California).  It took 16 days total to arrive in
Vancouver and I didn’t receive a tracking # so it was a long wait.

Now that I’ve got it here, this is what it looks like:

I love the color!
 
Fits perfectly inside with room for ice pack and thermos
The sections looked small at first but once I started putting in Mason’s lunch items, they fit great.  
The company stated that the lids aren’t a super tight fit (so little hands can remove them) and so they aren’t suitable for liquids.  
Here is a vid on how they were created:
Now I just need to pick up an ice pack and get some labels so the pieces don’t get sent home with another kid and we are set!
Also dishwasher safe (a great plus IF I had a dishwasher) 

Go Back

Comment