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Rocky and Bullwinkle (I know, I'm old) pb&j or bologna & cheese or tuna fish. A thermos of white milk and if we were good (;-D) fritos and always an apple or banana.

Oh god, I haven't thought about this in ages. I remember hating it at the time, but now I look back at how endearing it is. My dad was TOTALLY out of touch with any thing cool, anything popular or anything American. He would pack my lunch, which usually consisted of Mexican food- like beans and chorizo or soft tacos- and put it in tupperware, which he would then place in a plastic grocery bag! It was always mortifying, but as I look back I realize I had the best eats in the school yard.

@Pumpkinbear: You know it now! I got a brown bag and homemade food. It seemed like everyone had the coolest lunchboxes and I was not a part of that. But in hindsight, that fresh food probably did me ten times the good when my body was growing up! I was embarrassed sometimes, but now, when I see my peers and see what kids are eating, I'm kind of glad I got that treatment.

During the school year, it was a brown paper bag. My lunch of choice was Oscar Meyer bologna on white with yellow mustard or Oscar Meyer liversausage on white with yellow mustard. Small bag of chips and a piece of fruit.

During the summer, it was a Chicago Park District Day Camp lunch bag, canvas. My father would stop at the deli and buy me a salami and cheddar sandwich. On white bread, with yellow mustard.

I hated day camp, but here's an ironic twist: a few years ago, when I was visiting my mother, we went to the Unique Thrift Store on 45th and Kedzie. There, in a pile of bags, I found my Chicago Park District Day Camp lunch bag--about 25 years after I attended camp.

I knew it was mine, because it had my name written on it.

Oh gosh, kids are so deprived of metal lunch boxes nowadays!

My absolute favorite: The Snoopy Peanuts yellow metal lunch box with him as the 'Beagle Scout Leader' of a tribe of Woodstocks, decorated by strips from the series.

I'm a Peanuts fanatic--when living in the UK, I visited the comic book museum in a remote London suburb because they had a Peanuts exhibit. Heaven bless Charles Schultz.

I also had a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox, destroyed by bullies but remembered fondly.

The thermoses were adorable, but I didn't like the juice they usually contained, preferring the dangerously squeezable boxes instead.

No cafeteria at my school, but foodwise I liked the outside of the box more than the inside--lunch from my mother was usually Skippy smooth pb with grape jelly on RYE (ugh) bread with seeds, still frozen to prevent spoilage. Or tuna with no mayo and great hunks of untorn iceberg lettuce hearts and too thick tomatos. I usually threw out my fruit and if I had money got an ice cream sandwich or Dixie cup of vanilla chocolate. School milk in cute packages was okay if not warm.

I swooned during one hard time when I actually got a blueberry or lemon Hostess pie. Much preferred making my own pb and banana sandwiches at the correct temp, no seeds in the bread for imaginary camping expedidions.

@heart-ditto on the metal lunch box comment!

I had a metal Pigs In Space (from The Muppet Show) lunchbox first, 'til I beat it all to hell. Followed by plastic Strawberry Shortcake & Garfield boxes. Usually filled with sandwich (ring bologna & cheese-yuck!), chips, fruit and I had to buy milk. I hated milk-still do. The best was the Little Debbie treats or Tastykake we would sometimes find in there. I loved the Little Debbie Star Crunch-mmmmm!

Trigger and Roy Rogers (I was and still am horse crazy, and yes, I'm really old). Bologna & cheese, pb&j, tuna or egg salad. A piece of fruit and a cookie and a thermos of milk.

This was in the 70s to early 80s so don't laugh. I had several lunchboxes. Star Wars, entire NFL team logos on one, Peanuts, Dukes of Hazzard, and some others. When I was in intermediate/high school, I would bring Hello Kitty lunch containers.

Nowadays, I carry either Sanrio metal lunchboxes (Bad Batz Maru, Chococat, or Hello Kitty) or leftover shopping bags from Target. Depends on how I feel.

I loved my lunch box, everyone had cartoon boxes but mine was a blue background with a full bloomed wghite rose. Inside was whatever happened to be leftover from the night before, or a sandwich made with sliced italian bread and bologna and mustard. on occasion I got some kind of treat but that was rare. usually it was a a sandwich and a piece of fruit or some pretzels. I miss that lunchbox!

I think my mom gave up making my lunches when I was in third grade (they were usually leftovers or like, hard-boiled eggs and carrot sticks, anyways.) So my dad started making my lunches, and I never knew what I was going to get...once I got a can of crab meat and some olives in a bag. Oh and then there was the day he put tonic water (I used to drink tonic water as a kid, don't ask) in a tupperware sippy-cup and it exploded when I opened it...sticky stuff all over my hair and clothes for the rest of the day, it was a traumatizing middle school event.

By 8th grade he had wised up and started packing me Italian subs wrapped in foil, Arizona Iced Tea and Hostess cupcakes. I think he was trying to fatten me up, I was very thin, and every day after school he'd either take me to KFC or out for pizza (Dad logic). I blame him now for my Popcorn Chicken cravings.

A yellow plastic Mork & Mindy lunchbox. It was a Thermos.

It was my older sister's box, but she started buying lunch so mom gave it me. I didn't mind the hand-me-down 'cause I loved the show, too! Nanoo, nanoo.

oh and occasionally, my mom would make me a lunch of kimbap (korean sushi type stuff). needless to say, I'd hide my lunch or all the kids would be in an "eww that's gross" uproar. sigh.

Contents, right. I mostly ate PBJ and turkey-cheddar sandwiches. Nothing special. For the most part, I "ate to live" back then. Pretzels, Pringles, ants-on-a-log, tiny Sunmaid raisin boxes and cut carrots typically accompanied the sandwich.

Capri Sun and Lunchables were special treats my mom rarely bought, but I thought they were the coolest back then and begged for 'em. Sadly, the other kids did judge you by your lunch and, of course, I wanted a favorable judgement.

@Machellebelle: I went through a phase in intermediate school where I was so embarassed about what I brought for lunch, even in Hawaii where Asians are a majority. My mother being from Japan would always pack a Japanese food or style lunch. It was BAD to be unamerican (oh the irony), and the school I went to made you aware of it, to the point where they told my mother to speak English because she lives in America.

My mother would make nishime (Japanese "stew"), sukiyaki, etc. and each item would be in its own compartment. I'd have musubi with salmon on the side. Some days I had yakisoba.

Sandwiches weren't so bad because they looked "normal." I hated the edges of bread since I was a kid, so she would always cut them off. We always bought bread from Japan. Thin slices of cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, and roast beef, with mayonnaise. On the side, I had carrots in the shape of flowers, etc.

It was something different every day because my father would not eat leftovers, so we never had leftovers that extended beyond that meal. Also, my mother didn't repeat main entrees over a span of over a month.

When I was a junior in high school, my friend and I would occasionally bring in steak knives, (real) silverware, crystal wine glasses, table cloth, cloth napkins, and either eat our school lunch (lol) or bring in food from home and eat in the cafeteria. That was fun. Our cafeteria had rows of those long benches that were put together and went across the entire width of the cafeteria.

In retrospect, after thinking about all this, I feel badly telling my mother not make lunch on some days. We had a menu and I liked certain meals so I'd plan for those. Lunch was very filling and only 45 cents, milk or juice included. Other items that were available daily: malt shake; chef salad with some kind of vinaigrette; fruit salad bowl; and chili with rice. All were 45 cents each.

What memories!! I had a plain old lunchbox with a Thermos in the lid. It looked like a barn. Tuna fish, sliced cheese, PB&J or bologna. A piece of fruit and always a Tastykake of some sort. But in junior high I began to brown bag it. I came from a kosher home so the only days I could buy lunch was of course Fridays. Meatless Fridays!!

This is an amazing thread--it reveals so much about when all of us grew up, our families, and different food tastes!

One last thing--I remember that the 'coolest' luncher of all was the kids who brought in cold pizza (on a couple of occasions I think I did) in silver foil, and a coke (also in silver foil, although we never had cans of coke at my home).

I can't believe how little some of us (including myself) drank back them--just a squeeze box of sugary juice and maybe some water from the fountain or a tiny box of milk.

I am old, though--I just realize I predate lunchables, although surely some of today's Lunchables will outlast me...

RichardCrystal--meatless Fridays?

I carried a Hopalong Cassidy lunch box until about 1955 when my mother got tired of buying replacement Thermos bottles. (They broke real easy) I still brought a packed lunch, but it was "cooler" to just brownbag. I bought milk in the cafeteria - 3 cents for 1/2 pint or 6 cents a pint. Sandwiches were tuna, pb&j, leftover pot roast, and (believe it or not) cream cheese & olive. The box looked exactly like this:
http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/pic/1999/hopalongb.jpg

Did no one else have the late 80's plastic lunchbox with the shoulder strap? Mine was purple and was made of thick, rough plastic and had indented diagonal lines on both sides. It had blacks snaps that closed it and a black shoulder strap. You carried it like a purse. No one? I loooooved that thing!

Inside, I had a ham and cheese sandwich on toasted wheat bread with a little mayo and mustard or a little butter. A small bag of plantain chips as a side. (Family is Cuban - no Lays or Doritos for me!) I ended up hating plantain chips for years because I got them every day. Occasionally, tuna sandwiches (always tuna sandwiches Fridays during Lent).

No Capri Sun, no fruit roll-ups, no Hostess anything - no matter how much I begged. Sometimes I got a Chips Ahoy chewy cookie, but that was rare.

Thursdays I was allowed to buy lunch at school (since it was the only day they served lunch). It varied between gross pizza and even grosser hot dogs. Wednesdays, my grandfather gave me a quarter for a red snow cone after school. Ah, memories...

During High School I bought my lunch and always got tuna salad and bagel with Mountain Dew. Salad bar if I was feeling adventurous and the chicken patty sandwich if I wanted to splurge!

Interesting comment about the metal pudding containers (which I remember, and on special days, I would get one in my lunch!). I just purchased fruit cups for my nine year old that came in metal containers. I was quite surprised. This brand (it is a generic) used to come in plastic but has switched to metal (perhaps not permanently - I know generics often get stuff from other companies and relabel it).

I had a plaid metal lunchbox (dweeb that I was), and my mom unfailingly packed a pbj (grape jelly, chunky peanut butter, white bread) and a thermos of hot chocolate, which other kids envied and commented upon and about which I was much embarrassed. My mom once tried to slip a ham sandwich past me, but I set her straight that afternoon, and she never did it again. I never could break her of the habit of buttering the bread before adding the peanut butter and jelly, though.

@bitchincamero, I had one of those "purse" lunchboxes!! I had forgotten all about that. It was quite the popular thing in my day. One of the very first lunchboxes that I remember though, was a blue plastic one with a picture of the Mapletown rabbit family on the side. I wanted that lunchbox so badly, and I finally got it as a first day of school treat.

I usually packed my own lunch, because I was inordinately picky and Mom wouldn't put up with it. Usually some kind of sandwich, with a side of apple or carrot sticks, and a little dessert, like a Little Debbie brownie or something. Of course, I always envied everyone else's lunches. In high school, I mostly ate cereal for lunch. No milk, just dry out of a baggie. At the time, I was also very serious about ballet, so although I was never anorexic, I did take watching my diet to a bit of an extreme. Can't believe I missed out on some great eating!

What a cute post.

I had a metal Walt Disney lunch box. Trimmed in yellow, Minnie, Mickey, Goofy all over it. I only used it for a year or so before it was cooler to eat the school lunch. My grandmother would pack the weirdest sandwiches (hamburger with a fried egg, sigh) or my mom would bring something from her restaurant (fried chicken dinner) and I would be soooo embarrassed and wish mightily for a pb&j just like everyone else. Funny bc now I think how awesome a hamburger with a fried egg would be right now.

A Rainbow Brite lunchbox, with peanut butter and strawberry jelly on wheat bread and green grapes. I ate that for three years straight (first through third grade) and then one day declared that I hated peanut butter and jelly. But who could blame me! I think my mom tried a few new sandwiches, but when I was still coveting my neighbors lunch and complaining about it, she threw up her hands and that's when I started making my own lunch.

And, come to think of it, that's probably the exact moment I developed an interest in food.

@anntr - Yes! I thought I was the only one!

i remember my lunchboxes well... i remember I had a Holly Hobbie metal one, then to prevent rust, my mom got me a hideous Alladin lunchbox that was orange on top and yellow in the bottom... I hated the Thermos inside because it had yellow, orange and green circles - sooooooo 70's.

Then I was in heaven when I got my patent leather light blue Charlie's Angels lunch box... I carried it like a purse and it was sooooo cool.

For lunch... my mom used to pack me ham sandwiches with jelly and mayo - at the time I did not like American cheese in my sandwiches. There was a time I used to get fruit and cottage cheese in a thermos that you can freeze the cap to maintain the contents cold. Other times my mom would give me hardboiled eggs with a little foil packet holding some salt. Some mini bags of chips - lay's, fritos, doritos, etc. And almost always some cookies - chips ahoy, oreos, etc. or a handipack of cereal, like frosted flakes. Thank god I danced ballet so much, because if not I would have been huge!!!

I was soooooo glad that my mom never gave me spaghettis or rice or any hot meal for lunch... that would have been dreadful to me...

I rocked a plastic barbie lunch box with a thermos in kindergarten/1st grade. I made the switch to a soft LLBean later on but I always forgot it at school so I usually went with a brown bag.

My mom almost always made me some type of sandwich (tuna, turkey, peanut butter and jelly) and it was always on whole wheat or some kind of whole grain bread. I always had fruit and/or carrots/celery and another snack like a granola bar or crackers. Oh, and a juice box was essential.

There was always "that" kid I would be jealous of. You know- the one who ALWAYS had the new kind of lunchables. My mom refused to buy them and now I understand that being deprived of fake cheese and meat "product" was for the best.

@embolini - I haven't laughed this hard all week and it is /tuesday already. Thanks for that!!

I had a Disney lunchbox in first grade and Holly Hobby lunchboxes in second and third grade.

My mom packed my lunch every single day for three years and all the kids thought I was such a weirdo. If I had a dollar for every time my classmates asked "Why does your mom make you bring your lunch everyday?" over the course of three years, I would have a small fortune. And no, I still don't know why she packed my lunch everyday!

Jelly sandwiches (I hated PB&J) and green grapes got pretty old but when wintertime rolled around, I got Campbell's Chunky Chili Beef soup in a thermos and I thought I was one lucky kid. Cold meatloaf sandwiches made from leftovers were always good for a lot of "What IS that? Oooh, that's so gross" comments but I still like a good meatloaf sandwich every now and then. I think I was in my 30's before I met another human being with a fondness for meatloaf sandwiches.

Ahh, it's great to remember the reasons why I got picked on in the lunchroom! LOL

Oh, and I don't even want to talk about the homemade tapioca chilled in a half-size thermos. Grade schoolers can be so brutal. :)

@holdthemayo - Ditto embolini9's post. Exactly.

@britj8585... I GOT NKOTB TICKETS FOR THE CLEVELAND SHOW!!!! YYYYIIIIPPPPPPIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure, but I think Chelley is happy to see NKotB.

Oh yeah, and I love meatloaf sandwiches, too! When I was a kid I liked catsup and mayo on white sandwich, now I like it best on Italian deli rolls, still with catsup and mayo, but now with horseradish, too.

I had a green Little Mermaid plastic lunchbox as well as a bright pink Barbie plastic lunchbox; they rotated on and off for the majority of elementary school. I refused to eat anything except for peanut butter on wheat - no jelly! - for all six years, with the exception of leftover pizza or cheese wrapped in tinfoil along with a baggie of crackers. I don't know how my parents put up with me! I almost always had an apple and a sandwich bag that held one or two cookies, too.

I was only allowed to drink Mott's or Juicy Juice since they were 100% juice, unless I got a carton of milk for a quarter. I would get so upset at my mom for not buying Capri Sun or Mondo like the other kids - even then I knew they weren't good for me, but who doesn't want to drink a bright blue drink when they're 8 years old?

Never had a box ;~( My parents were hot lunch proponents and delivered a quarter to me every morning. I traded that in for a tray and a place in line. The meals got a little more expensive as time passed but I could probably count on one hand the number of times I carried a "lunch sack" in my twelve years of schooling. I ate cafeteria style through college and still find myself in lunch lines throughout town, forty years later... I've heard the horror stories of school lunch programs but I always seemed to luck out with good cooks and well prepared/planned menus. Yes, I know the difference...

Heart of Glass....Meatless Fridays..back in the 60s the Baltimore County school system still deemed Friday as meatless per the Pope. No meat on Fridays! So..it was fish sticks or (my favorite to this day) grilled cheese & tomato soup!

I went to a school that had "hot lunch" in the cafeteria every day so, no lunch box for me. What i do recall, however, are the faces and sweet attitudes of the people (two ladies and a man) who worked in the lunch line... The adage about " always be nice to the lunch lady" is so-o-o true! I recall trading plates with a classmate one day when we wanted each other's chicken- i always got this huge breast , she always got a thigh and when the sweet lunch lady( who prolly thought she was helping a kid out) saw that trade, well, needless to say i was getting just a wing from thereon. I can remember being envious of the kids who brought thier lunch, though; they always had thecoolest simple stuff like a pbj or a tuna salad sandwich and some chips.

@Susquehanna: Totally hear ya on being judged about lunches. I was (still am) really good about fruit, so anything was game. I used to LOVE prunes. One day, my mom packed them for me as my fruit. Needless to say, that was the last day they were packed. Haven't had them in a while, but I still like them.

@Chelley: I WANT TO GO!! I think I had everything NKOTB at one point. Pins, posters, clothing, purses, puzzles, etc...

What or who is Holly Hobby?

I had metal and plastic. Rainbow Brite, Barbie, a Butterfly one-my fave (shocking, I know), She Ra,and Wonder Woman. It usually contained either a pb&jam, ham/turkey and cheese, tuna with any type of fruit, ssips drink box or homemade iced tea and pretzels or if it was a cookie day (rare)-exactly 3 (but only Oreos or Homemade Choco Chip). I used to hate it when she would make homemade turkey/chicken salad sandwhiches-I just didn't like it. I would always ask her why and she said it was good for me. All I wanted was soda (not allowed in our house) and Lunchables-apparently that was too much to ask for, since I NEVER got either one.

I must have had more than one along the way, but the only lunch box I can remember had the Harlem Globe Trotters on the side. Not with photos of the team though. They had their own Saturday morning cartoon in the 70's instead. I still think it was "supercool" and wish I still had it. What was inside was not so wonderful. PB&J on pepperridge farm white bread. I still like pb&j but not after its sat in a locker for 3 hours and the jelly has sunk into the bread. Baloney wasn't too good but held up better somehow.

I remember coveting a classmate's Josie and the Pussycats lunch box as well.