Another Cool Lunchbox Idea

I found a cool, new, food packing gadget that I wanted to share!  Originally, I came across these in a One Step Ahead catalog and contemplated ordering them immediately.  They were just so cool!  But I put it off because I didn't want to pay shipping and I really only intended to use them for picnicking in the park or at the zoo or whatever.  OSA was charging $6.95 for each of them.  (Side note:  that green thing in the back is not the same.  It's a sandwich-only container from Tupperware that runs 2 for $11.  Eek!  I got suckered into that at a party.  ;)

Anyway, I had to stop at Old Navy one day on my lunch break to return a clothing item that I'd purchased online and didn't want.  And low and behold... the cool, lunch cubes were for sale there of all places!!  For $5!!  With no shipping!!  (Duh.)  What luck for me!!  So I got one for each of the kids and we've used (and loved) them several times now for various outings.

I still plan to use the Planetbox's exclusively for school lunches.  There's just no comparison to them.  But if you were looking for something inexpensive and handy to pack lunches in, this is fantastic!  There could still be room for error (read: a big mess if opened incorrectly) with the youngest lunch packing set, and I found the bread on the sandwich to be just slightly dry by the time we ate, but overall, they're great!  And the kids LOVE them.

I'll show you the step-by-step fold up here.  It's not rocket science, but it's a very clever idea.  And just to clarify, the larger compartment where the sandwich and pretzels are does not have a divider.  The other side does.

There's a lid that snaps closed over the non-divided compartment.

And then you can fold that covered compartment right over the divided compartment.  Here's where the error could occur for little people.  If, when opening, they have the divided compartment on top and try to lift that side up, everything would fall out of the divided compartment.  But kids are quick learners.  And... it's not rocket science.

Once folded into a cube, there's an easy but sturdy latch that seals the whole things shut.  Then, as you can sorta see, our pretzels and half sandwich got all mixed together.  But the kids didn't care, and maybe you'd pack a whole sandwich for your child?

After purchasing from Old Navy, I then saw them at Meijer too!  They were clear at Meijer with colored latched/seals only and this particular style cube only cost $4 there.  Nice!  There's actually a whole line of different food storage items by this company.  On the One Step Ahead site, they're called KLIP IT, but on the latch of the container it says SYSTEMA.  They make cool salad with dressing containers, sandwich-only containers, cereal with separated milk (or could be yogurt with granola, etc) containers, etc. etc.  Check them out if you're looking for a lunch packing solution!