1-23-11 Lunch Boxes

I miss lunch boxes. Every start of the school year, there they would be at the front of the store, all lined up and shiny and waiting for you to pick out your current favorite. They'd all be lined up in the cubby area, every one different, filled with the matching thermos, with sandwiches, chips, and -- the best part -- dessert, usually a Hostess cupcake or Little Debbie cake roll. When the kids who got in the cafeteria line had to wait, you got to take your little box and pick the best seats at the table with your other lunch box friends and compare, trade, bargain for your favorite stuff from other people's pantries.

I don't remember anyone having a lunch sack -- it was a fantastic box or the cafeteria line. They'd get beat up over the year, the metal ones turning a bit rusty on the edges from repeated washings, with that squeaky sound from the handle. The plastic ones didn't fare much better -- scrapes across the front and peeling from the washings made them look battered pretty quickly. The Thermos decals were always almost gone before the end of the year. But maybe that was just me. I wasn't the gentlest thing.
I remember this one pretty vividly -- it was one of the few metal boxes I remember choosing.

I usually went for plastic, and I loved the construction worker style, although those weren't made as often. Mostly it was the basic rectangle.

Part of the appeal of the construction box was that cool spot in the top to hold your thermos. It didn't crush the poor sandwich as you banged it about on the bus.

From my dim memory of the cafeteria over the years, these are some of the boxes I remember at the table. It's odd which ones are stored in the memory banks, though. Some are obvious. Others are pretty obscure, but still a fun trip down memory lane to see them again.