What lunch box/bag does your teen boy carry to school?

[AllisonK]

Insulated bag

similar to this.

I carried this same style lunch bag in middle school and high school(except mine was purple) and several of the guys I knew had it as well. LLBean backpacks were huge at my school and so a lot of us had the lunch bags as well - they held quite a bit of food but were still small and durable (mine still looks great and I bought it 12 years ago).

 

[SEA333]

None. DS15 barely has enough room in his backpack for his books and he won't carry a lunchbag/box around in his hand. He also has to carry extra clothes and sports equipment everyday, too.

We gave up - I just started putting money into his lunch account. He usually has open gym or weight training at 6am, so he gets breakfast after, then buys a lunch, then buys a snack after school on his way to practice or a game/meet.

In the beginning of his freshman year, I was buying all kinds of lunch stuff for him to make a lunch with and tried to hold out thinking he would eventually make a lunch or starve. He starved. sigh. I broke. (and I *am* broke paying for his lunches....his cafeteria has "pods" like Disney Food Courts. Pasta station, Wings station, Grill station...etc, that are upwards of $6-7. The "daily special", that was always gone by C-lunch, was $4.50.

 

[kidshop]

Hs age boy, takes a lands end lunchbox...it is plain navy. Same one for years, and I've never heard a complaint. He has never bought a hs school lunch, he refuses to on account of 'it's gross'!

Ms boy also has land end, plain black.

I don't think anyone cares here what you bring your lunch in, or boys just don't notice.

 

[Dizlvr]

My ds on't brown bag it because he hates when his sandwiches get squished. I got him this. The front isn't plain, its got white lines on it, that is his only complaint.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yeah, my DS would like to buy his lunch every day, but it's not in the budget. Even if he uses his own money I'm trying to teach him that he can't spend all his money on food when we have better food here to take. It's a challenge. (Especially during baseball season, when he and his teammateas enjoy driving to McDs to buy chicken sandwiches off the dollar menu! Daily, it adds up! Oh, and no, I don't like him eating that every day but this is what they do for several weeks each spring.)

DD eats in her restaurant class every other day, and on the other days she throws together maybe a sandwich and some snacks and puts them in her lunchbag. (Hers is lime green and girlie shaped, but still smallish.) They are allowed to eat snacks during class if they're not disruptive about it, so she'll often prefer snacks to a sandwich.

OT but I myself use a lunchbag for work like these as well. I think they're one of the best things every invented! When I went to school we had metal lunch boxes with a thermos inside. The drink inside the thermos always tasted awful!

BTW I added a pic of my DS's lunch bag in my first post in this thread as I couldn't find a good online picture. I buy new ones in the summer when they're on display. Buy them when you see them because if you don't, you regret it. They're cheap enough, and even if you find one you like better, you can almost always find a use for another one. Also, a daily wipe-out with a Lysol wipe keeps it nice and fresh inside.

 

[bethbuchall]

My son has a black insulated paper-bag shaped lunchbag. Or a grocery bag, lol.

ETA and since I can't find an online picture of it, here is his actual bag.

View attachment 104038

This is what my son has, too, though his is blue. He's a sophomore in high school (soon to be a junior...three more exam days left) and has been carrying this bag since 7th or 8th grade.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

This is what my son has, too, though his is blue. He's a sophomore in high school (soon to be a junior...three more exam days left) and has been carrying this bag since 7th or 8th grade.

They're nice! Come to think of it, we use two of these at WDW, also, for holding two waters and not making everything else in the bag wet. They're so small they easily slip into our bags.

 

[Poohforyou]

My dd is finishing her sophomore year of hs. She has me we bought school lunch. She takes an insulted bag that looks like a purse. She picked it out and likes it so that all that matters. I don't know what others kid's do and neither does dd. She marches to her own beat. OP, what does your son want to do? It he brown bags it you could freeze a drink pouch to keep things cold.

 

[Rhombus]

I don't have a teenage son, but DD used to carry one of those insulated bags. But she said it was rare for a boy to carry one. Brown bag only. It was just like that when I was in HS. Most teen boys would rather starve than carry around a "sissy" lunchbag. I usually bought lunch at the cafeteria anyway.

I use an insulated bag now. My first lunch box was an Astronaut themed one, since I started K in 1969 right after the first moon landing.

 

[DawnM]

Thanks all. It sounds like it varies. I do know a couple kids who go to their school and will ask.

It is a small charter school with only 100 per grade level. Until now we have homeschooled.

Here is what I am considering getting this in solid black.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDL3YCO...lid=2PEI3E41N5Y8G&coliid=I1KXQ2TFPVLUO1&psc=1

I like the idea of freezing the entire bag and not needing an extra ice pack.

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

Mine usually just chucks a sandwich box and reusable bottle into her backpack, but she's kind of a pain.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I didn't realize that people still use brown paper bags. They seem so wasteful.

 

[HM]

I think the one you're thinking of would be fine, OP.

Two things that we bought for our kids lunchboxes were plastic sandwich boxes to keep the sandwiches from getting squished, and blue ice for keeping the food cold until lunch.

Staple lunch for son was: sandwich, chips, yogurt, juice box (100%) or milk, with something else snack-y in case he was hungry later.

DD liked a more varied lunch and often included veggies and leftovers, so small tupperware things are useful.

 

[gwynne]

Thanks all. It sounds like it varies. I do know a couple kids who go to their school and will ask.

It is a small charter school with only 100 per grade level. Until now we have homeschooled.

Here is what I am considering getting this in solid black.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IDL3YCO...lid=2PEI3E41N5Y8G&coliid=I1KXQ2TFPVLUO1&psc=1

I like the idea of freezing the entire bag and not needing an extra ice pack.

If it were me I'd just grab a small package of paper lunch sacks. Let your son start school with those. Ask him after a week or two if he's happy with the bags, or if he'd prefer a little lunch box like you linked above.

I think high schoolers often have preferences about these things, and allowing them the space to make their own choice is a good idea. Most will want to start school and see what the norms are.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

When DS20 was in high school, I don't think he ever took his lunch. It was cafeteria food every day (UGH!). His choice.

DD16 occasionally takes her lunch and we have a couple of insulated bags that look like crinkled brown paper bags. So I guess it is the best of both world, looks like a brown paper bag, but is insulated. She uses it this summer to take her lunch to work.

 

[DawnM]

Eating hot lunch every day is out of the question. Since it is a charter, they don't have a cafeteria and cater lunches from places like Chick Fil A, Burger King, Pizza Hut.

Prices are $4 for a CFA sandwhich, $1 for soda, $1 for chips.

$6 x 2 kids every day is just too much and probably wouldn't fill them up anyway. I plan to let them pick a day per week to buy lunch if they want. Otherwise they will be carrying.

 

[jt'smom]

My son used a divided flat, ziploc container, since he liked things like cold chicken breast and salad. He would pack it full, then put it, along with a freezer pack in a plastic grocery bag and cram it in one of his bookbag pockets. He never died from food poisoning and when he did take something like a turkey sandwich, it never got squished.

 

[Kitty 34]

My boys took a paper sack.

 

[shoney]

d15 takes lunch in a brown paper bag and has since he started middle school.
ds13 buys lunch every day.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My kids used to have insulated bags. My son's was a Packers bag. But mostly they used brown paper bags.