How five kids built a better lunchbox

Between summer camp and school, tossing an ice pack in with a sandwich, apple and yogurt is pretty much a no-brainer at this point. But when you consider that not all lunch boxes and ice packs are made for each other, there are plenty of times when I hesitate to pack a yogurt or a container of sliced fruit.

Challenged with that scenario, a group of five smart kids came up with a lunchbox design that ensures cold food stays safely cold. And their design is so smart, one of the biggest retailers has snatched it up and made it available to all of us.

Lands End’s MadBox lunchbags incorporate smart design features like velcro around the seams, as well as a large, adjustable ice pack, to insure that contents in the bag stay safely cold for five hours–enough time between lunch packing and lunch eating.

But what is even more cool is that these bags were developed by a FIRST LEGO League team of kids (we profiled FIRST here.) One of their challenges was to come up with an idea that would help to keep food safe, and they chose an area that was near and dear: Their own lunches.

I love that Lands’ End has not only used their design in their lunchbag line, but prominently credits the kids for their work on their website and in this info-packed video about the lunchbags.

As for the style, the six designs range from the cool international patches design at top to colorful checks. And, since these cool bags could be very hot this upcoming school year, I love the optional monogramming Lands’ End offers for a few dollars more, to keep your kid’s pack separate from the pack. –Christina

Lands’ End’s new MadBox lunchbags are for sale now at LandsEnd.com.

Tags: back to school, food safety, lunch boxes + bags, school lunch help, school supplies, summer camp

3 Comments

Mel on July 16, 2012 at 1:18 pm

It is TOO COOL that kids helped design this bag. I’m loving this.

Debbie Lillard on July 24, 2012 at 5:21 pm

I saw this too in the catalog. The question is, how can I motivate my middle schooler and high schooler to use the reusable lunch bags & containers? They insist on throwaway lunches!