Now that the Center for Environmental Health is suing makers of vinyl lunch boxes for harmful levels of lead (yikes!) it’s time to invest in a new carrying case for the pb&j.
San Francisco-based Mimi the Sardine makes reusable lunchbags called Lunchbugs, and while they’re lead-free and eco friendly, they look more like something you’d find at Barney’s than at a Greenpeace rally. The Lunchbugs come in fifteen patterns, and mercifully, not a Dora or an Elmo among them. 
Don‚Äôt be fooled by the cute exterior; the coated cotton is entirely water and soil resistant, and the interior is lined with black nylon to handle the occasional juicebox gone amok. Now all you have to do is pray the kid doesn’t leave it on the bus. -Liz
You can read more about lead in lunchboxes, how to test for it, and the CEH recommendations here.
Make mine a bologna on white, hold the lead.
Very cute. I would use that apple one as a purse 🙂
In researching this I came across a great site — reusablebags.com. They carry mimi the sardine lunch bags and have several other non-vinyl lunch bag options including thermal ones and whole section on non-leaching reusable water bottles too. Quality of all the product I bought are excellent. Worth checking out.