Lunch Boxes Power Midday Meal

The lunch box--besides being a safe haven for peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches on the go and being filled with funny (or frustrating) tales from mom or its patient packer--is an object of mystery and suspense: “Did the food get eaten, or possibly thrown out?”

For the child, the question is, “Is my meal different from yesterday’s?” Or, “Will I get a new kit this year?”

Lunch-box styles don’t usually undergo drastic metamorphoses. Shapes are basically the same, but cosmetic designs do change. In yesteryear’s lunch boxes, sports activities, cartoon and storybook characters were the popular print designs. Oval or rectangular in shape, ‘30s lunch kits were made of metal and looked more like old-fashioned cookie tin boxes with handles that swing down to the side.

Then came the character metal lunch kits. Their real glory days were from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. That’s when we saw more of the Lone Ranger, Davy Crockett, Batman and Robin, Peter Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, and teen idols like the Beatles and Bobby Sherman. The selection of personality attractions was endless, enough to please baby boomers in their time.

A Ban on Metal

But gone are the days of these steel boxes, which are now precious collector’s items. (Rambo, the last version, was pressed in 1987, phasing out the metal models more than a decade after a mother brought a lawsuit when her son got struck in the head with one; she won the case, resulting in a metal ban in Florida.) The lunch box for the baby boomer’s school child is now only available in lightweight acrylic plastic and choices are few. A sampling follows:

Kids won’t miss the bus with Lunchtime ($24), the world’s first clock lunch box. It’s not only a time-teaching tool for children, but it helps them with their appointments. Introduced by Metrokane, the high-tech lunch box is equipped with a battery-operated quartz clock with a large, highly readable clock face located on the top cover.

This colorful new bucket is oblong with four attractive color combinations: pastel turquoise, pink and purple; primary red, blue and yellow; black and white; neon black, red and purple. Inside Lunchtime is a canister-type eight-ounce thermos that comes in matching colors. For convenient carrying, the box has an adjustable shoulder strap.

When the heat is on, it’s nice to have a cold drink from the lunch pail. Thanks to the freezer gel or ice block, it’s now possible to keep cold foods cold in a container for a few hours. Snack & Sip from A. K. Das ($12.99) is one of those lunch boxes that comes with this reusable ice block. Designed to fit as the lunch-box cover is its one-pint liquid canteen that comes with a cup on its top. Rectangular in shape with a short handle, the product is available in a combination of hot pink and aqua, red and black, and blue and yellow.

Another lunch-box unit from A. K. Das is The Car ($12.99). Reminiscent of the VW Bus metal lunch box of 1960, The Car this time looks like a Volkswagen bug in eye-catching bold colors of red, yellow or royal blue body and black wheels. An impulse buy or a toy, the Car is cute but for lack of inside space, square sandwiches may need some reshaping into smaller pieces to fit. The box comes with a short thermos-like jug with a cup.

What Goes Inside

Now that you’ve pleased your child with his new “toy” tote, the question about what’s in the box or brown bag (or a pretty paper one) is another challenge. The “Penny Whistle Lunch Box Book” (Weidenfeld & Nicolson Publishers: $9.95) is dedicated to all mothers and fathers (bless their kind souls) who take time to make their children’s lunches each and every morning. Authors Meredith Brokaw and Annie Gilbar have come up with over 100 recipes and solutions to packing up an appetizing and tasty child’s meal.

Easy to make, the recipes include breads and muffins, cheese/milk and egg dishes, fish, fruits, meats, poultry, soups, snack foods and vegetables. Of course there’s a peanut butter chapter that goes beyond the classic peanut butter and jelly filling. The offering consists of granola bars, ladyfingers, salads, cookies and even an old-fashioned peanut butter.

Besides the jovial black-and-white drawings, the fun part of this book are the little anecdotes and helpful hints on the side of the pages as well as the great tips, including healthful, nutritive suggestions and psychological ones.

They write, for instance, “If your child is like any of ours and has a favorite joke book, choose some he loves and copy them on a card. Include the card in the lunch box.” The authors also feature international menus, a sampling of a lunch menu for a month, plus a brief nutritional chart for recipes and ingredients.

The A. K. Das Lunch Boxes are available at May Co.

The Lunchtime from Metrokane is available from By Design and Silver Skillet (Del Mar).