Lunch Boxes
May 28, 2019 8:53 PM Subscribe
Smithsonian Magazine writes about lunch boxes, and shares examples from the Smithsonian collection. Also, here's the online Smithsonian collection of lunch boxes. This guy sold his lunch boxes. This guy has a lot more lunchboxes. Here are photos of all those lunchboxes.
“Paileontology” (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
posted by sacrifix at 8:59 PM on May 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by sacrifix at 8:59 PM on May 28, 2019 [9 favorites]
HEERYOR LUNBOKS. HOFFA GUD TAY.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:11 PM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:11 PM on May 28, 2019 [4 favorites]
I just want a thermos that won't leak after a month.
posted by morspin at 10:50 PM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by morspin at 10:50 PM on May 28, 2019 [2 favorites]
I carried one of these all through high school. It was awesome.
posted by chavenet at 1:10 AM on May 29, 2019
posted by chavenet at 1:10 AM on May 29, 2019
My sister and I had these classic Tupperware lunch boxes. Mine was red like in the picture, and hers was State Park Brown.
Dad's was similar to chavenet's, but it was heavy black plastic instead of aluminum. And it had a little crack in it from where he threw it at me for making noise after he'd gone to bed.
If we spent a school night at Grandma's house, next morning she'd let me use the classic School bus lunch box with Disney characters the next day.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:30 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
Dad's was similar to chavenet's, but it was heavy black plastic instead of aluminum. And it had a little crack in it from where he threw it at me for making noise after he'd gone to bed.
If we spent a school night at Grandma's house, next morning she'd let me use the classic School bus lunch box with Disney characters the next day.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:30 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
{And now I have a craving for hot SpaghettiO's in a thermos.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:33 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:33 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
An article without bentos (wiki) and tiffin carriers (wiki) is useless.
posted by sukeban at 3:11 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by sukeban at 3:11 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
HEERYOR LUNBOKS. HOFFA GUD TAY.
IT TROO.
I wanted that Knight Rider lunboks so bad.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:16 AM on May 29, 2019
IT TROO.
I wanted that Knight Rider lunboks so bad.
posted by Fleebnork at 5:16 AM on May 29, 2019
chavenet
OMG, so did I! But mine was black. Did yours have a thermos (soup, always delicious soup)? Mine did,
but I can't find a pic.
posted by james33 at 5:21 AM on May 29, 2019
OMG, so did I! But mine was black. Did yours have a thermos (soup, always delicious soup)? Mine did,
but I can't find a pic.
posted by james33 at 5:21 AM on May 29, 2019
This was my lunch box all through grade school! I can't believe I found it! I would just sit and stare at the images all through lunch.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:28 AM on May 29, 2019
posted by Thorzdad at 5:28 AM on May 29, 2019
Came to snark.
Left with a burning desire for a Jonathan Livingston Seagull lunch box.
posted by MrVisible at 5:46 AM on May 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
Left with a burning desire for a Jonathan Livingston Seagull lunch box.
posted by MrVisible at 5:46 AM on May 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
The thing none of this captures: the smell. Those things developed a distinctive aroma over time.
Also, those thermos bottles had glass liners. Most 60s kids can recall dropping a lunchbox and knowing immediately, from the sound it made, that the liner had shattered and that your once-cold lunch milk was now full of mustiness and glass shards. Good times.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:51 AM on May 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
Also, those thermos bottles had glass liners. Most 60s kids can recall dropping a lunchbox and knowing immediately, from the sound it made, that the liner had shattered and that your once-cold lunch milk was now full of mustiness and glass shards. Good times.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:51 AM on May 29, 2019 [3 favorites]
This was mine, but I had it in red. I remember being envious of cooler ones, but so long as it was in good shape, my parents weren't going to spring for a new one. And it was apparently indestructible.
In case you haven't heard it, the Mystery Show on the Welcome Back Kotter lunchbox at the Smithsonian is a treat.
posted by Mchelly at 6:09 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
In case you haven't heard it, the Mystery Show on the Welcome Back Kotter lunchbox at the Smithsonian is a treat.
posted by Mchelly at 6:09 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
I think I posted an anecdote in another lunchbox thread on Mefi that a family friend worked for the Aladdin factory in the late 70s - early 80s. She got me the first Pac-Man lunchbox before it was available in stores.
Before that, I had the Marvel Super Heroes lunch box.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:27 AM on May 29, 2019
Before that, I had the Marvel Super Heroes lunch box.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:27 AM on May 29, 2019
In case you haven't heard it, the Mystery Show on the Welcome Back Kotter lunchbox at the Smithsonian is a treat.
The guy selling his lunchbox collection had the same Land of the Giants box that I think was also mentioned on that episode.
posted by haileris23 at 7:37 AM on May 29, 2019
The guy selling his lunchbox collection had the same Land of the Giants box that I think was also mentioned on that episode.
posted by haileris23 at 7:37 AM on May 29, 2019
The thing none of this captures: the smell.
Wow, as soon as you said that I was hit with the vivid recollection of a smell I hadn't thought of in something like 50 years!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:13 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
Wow, as soon as you said that I was hit with the vivid recollection of a smell I hadn't thought of in something like 50 years!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:13 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
The Aladdin Aladdin box from the SI collection is a fun pairing of marketing and manufacturer.
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:26 AM on May 29, 2019
posted by CheeseLouise at 9:26 AM on May 29, 2019
I remember brown bagging it at first, you were expected to bring the bag back for reuse. Bologna and mustard or PB&J, apple or carrots. There were 8 of us so my mother didn't get fancy. As time went on we got metal lunch boxes. I don't remember ever using the thermos, milk was subsidized 2 cents and later 5. A lot of the food in the cafeterias was government surplus so if you liked stuff like stewed prunes, you could fill up. I liked stewed prunes. They baked hot rolls in my high school so you could get a basic lunch, roll, margarine and a half pint of milk for 15 cents. My favorite thing they made was tapatillas, a flat crisp corn tortilla with refried beans, cheese and tomato and lettuce on top.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:39 AM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:39 AM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
Some of you may remember that this one was featured in Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time video. I was thirteen. My friend's four year old sister carried this lunchbox and I coveted it so badly (because of the video) that I somehow bribed it away from her (pretty sure there was cash involved...) Anyway, I still have it and I treasure it.
posted by tangosnail at 10:12 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by tangosnail at 10:12 AM on May 29, 2019 [2 favorites]
While these lunch boxes are pretty cool I don't see my favorite: the Canadian variation of the domed metal lunchbox otherwise known as the Miner's lunch box. They are engineered to be used, not only as a lunch box but, as a seat (something you need when you're underground).
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:42 PM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:42 PM on May 29, 2019 [1 favorite]
I'm relieved to see that Yogi Bear went from being a side character on the 1961 "Huckleberry Hound and his friends" lunchbox, to being the star of his own Yogi lunchbox a few years later in 1974.
posted by McNulty at 2:05 AM on May 30, 2019
posted by McNulty at 2:05 AM on May 30, 2019
In high school in the 1990s, my friends gave me a reproduction of the 1954 Tom Corbett's Space Cadet metal lunchbox, which I used with glee (it didn't include a thermos, but I just found an original set on eBay, which is super tempting).
I still have my repro, but it's now a case for our kids' magnets, or whatever toys get put inside. Now I'm tempted to reclaim it, but I realize my usual lunches wouldn't fit inside there, due to the size of my reusable meal containers.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on May 30, 2019
I still have my repro, but it's now a case for our kids' magnets, or whatever toys get put inside. Now I'm tempted to reclaim it, but I realize my usual lunches wouldn't fit inside there, due to the size of my reusable meal containers.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on May 30, 2019
Stickers licked on lunch boxes
Worshiping David Cassidy
I mooned him once, on Donna's box
She's still recovering
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:37 PM on June 1, 2019
Worshiping David Cassidy
I mooned him once, on Donna's box
She's still recovering
posted by Bee'sWing at 5:37 PM on June 1, 2019
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great post, thank you for sharing
posted by Hermione Granger at 8:57 PM on May 28, 2019 [1 favorite]