Kids Tin Lunch Box

[street]

The other day I was at our local Clinic/Hospital and one of the Doctors walked in and was carrying an old tin lunch box and a couple of books. I had to chuckle to myself about that old tin lunch box that had our favorite hero on it, at the time in life.

I had one it might have been of Roy Rogers but can't remember for sure.

Anyone else have one of those tin boxes and some came with a small thermos that attached inside the box?

 

[Boho]

I think everyone did in my grade school in the 70s. I remember having one with no characters. I think it had a plaid pattern. I don't remember any kids with insulated bags like they have today, but recently I threw out an old vinyl bag with a zipper that my parents used when we went to the beach in the 70s and maybe 60s, that was probably insulated. It hardened and got crunchy.

I guess some kids had paper bags. I think I switched to paper.

 

[JoeWras]

Remember it well.

Also remember dropping it. Picking it up and hearing a broken glass sound when I moved it. Then came the slow drip of tomato soup everywhere.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Yep, had a few. Usually my Mom packed my lunch but one day, my Dad packed it and thought it might be a nice treat to put soda in the thermos. Yeah, that was a treat alright.

 

[pacergal]

Oh yeah-- Dale Evans on mine!
Had to get a new one every few years due to rust--lol.
I am sure I also had a Barbie one, too.
Then Mom went back to school and all 4 of us started getting "hot Lunch", Boy do I remember the "Lunch Ladies" and their hair nets. And getting scolded when we took our trays back and had food left on them that we threw out!

 

[Sunset]

One time while walking to school , a mean dog ran after me.
As I was running, my arms swinging back and forth, the metal lunch box kept hitting the dog in the face.
I got away, and was really glad I didn't have a paper bag holding my lunch

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Those old lunch boxes are seriously collectible -- I worked with a woman who had an array of them, which she used on a daily basis, so they were probably less-than mint.


This price list shows the Howdy Doody box going for a few hundred bucks. lunch box price guide, value, worth

 

[davebarnes]

Then came the slow drip of tomato soup everywhere.

Yup. More than once as I recall.

But, my mother did have a nifty trick. Thermos with hot tomato soup and a hot dog in the soup. I would remove the dog and put it in the bun with mustard and voilà.

 

[Gumby]

This was the lunch box that I carried to work until I retired. It was famous in my office and people would often stop me in the parking lot to ask about it.

 

[Time2]

If I wanted a super hero, I would have had to draw it on my paper bag.
I have a friend in his late 70s that says he got in big trouble if he didn't bring his brown bag home!

 

[MissMolly]

I remember those well. When we were little (late 50's/early 60's) and we would be waiting outside in the winter for the school bus, my brothers and I would slide ours down the driveway on the ice and crash them into each other No wonder Mom had to keep buying new ones for us.

 

[r3saving]

While I had a metal one at some point, I don't recall what was on it. This vinyl Cat in the Hat is the one I recall in detail:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465137467737472758/

 

[CRLLS]

Those old lunch boxes are seriously collectible -- I worked with a woman who had an array of them, which she used on a daily basis, so they were probably less-than mint.


This price list shows the Howdy Doody box going for a few hundred bucks. lunch box price guide, value, worth

I had some of these but can't remember what the theme was.

I bought a Howdy Doody lunch box at a garage sale, maybe 30ish years ago. There was no Thermos with it any more, just the little wire that held it in place. I paid 25 cents. I ended putting it up on eBay about 10 years ago. It sold for $225; 900 times my cost. That was maybe the 2nd best investment I ever made.

 

[Walt34]

Oh yes, we had those lunch boxes as well. I think we got a new one about every two or three years. For some reason I was rough on the thermos bottles, they rarely lasted a year and Mom would try to fund another one that would fit the lunchbox, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Generally me and "breakable things" didn't get along well together, the one exception being model airplanes. Those I valued.

 

[braumeister]

Never had a lunch box like that because my school didn't have a lunchroom.

The school was terribly overcrowded, with anywhere from 50 to 65 kids in a class, so school was just from 8 am straight through to 1 pm until I got to sixth grade. Then for grades 6 through 8 we had a lunch hour, but that just meant you walked or rode a city bus back home for something to eat and then back to school for the afternoon.

My high school had a lunchroom but the cafeteria food was so primitive that most of us brought our own lunch in a little brown paper sack and bought a container of milk to wash it down.

 

[rk911]

The other day I was at our local Clinic/Hospital and one of the Doctors walked in and was carrying an old tin lunch box and a couple of books. I had to chuckle to myself about that old tin lunch box that had our favorite hero on it, at the time in life.

I had one it might have been of Roy Rogers but can't remember for sure.

Anyone else have one of those tin boxes and some came with a small thermos that attached inside the box?

fess parker as davy crocket!

 

[gerntz]

Mine was a Lone Ranger. Somewhere along the line I broke the handle. So Dad ran several strands of wire thru the eye hooks & wrapped those in black electrician's tape. I was fine.

 

[Badger]

I may have had one but that was in 1954 when I was 6 yrs old so maybe not. I don't remember too clearly. Other than that it was paper bags. I do remember everyone being given a carton of milk and a small loaf of bread that was about 3 inches long. I guess that was to make sure everyone had at least a little something to eat. Lunch from home was usually a sandwich (peanut butter and banana or jelly) and a snack size box of raisins.


Cheers!