Thinking inside the box — Lunch containers go fancy and functional

For boys, it was between G.I. Joe and Star Wars. For girls, My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake.

A generation later, the back-to-school ritual of selecting a new lunch box involves much more than choosing among pop culture icons. Upgrades in style, storage and technology — not to mention changes in eating habits — have redrawn the lunch box landscape.

Will it be a soft-sided, multipocketed tote, variants of which are pushed everywhere from Wal-Mart to Pottery Barn? Would your budding gourmet prefer one of the fancier bento box-style carriers, long popular in Asia but now catching on here? Maybe your tyke is ironic enough for the retro metal box of your youth, albeit with some upgrades?

This year, Americans will spend some $18 billion on back-to-school shopping, with more than $3 billion of that going to school supplies, the retail category that includes lunch boxes, notebooks and folders, according to the National Retail Federation.

But lunch boxes no longer are just a back-to-school industry. In part because of healthy eating concerns, more adults and teens are packing lunches, and that has forced manufacturers to rethink form and function, says industry leader Thermos. The results can be elaborate.

Consider the new Zojirushi Mini Bento Stainless Lunch Jar ($48 or $52): It includes a vacuum-insulated main bowl, two smaller lidded bowls, chopsticks and chopsticks holder, all in a metallic blue or cheerful avocado-colored print bag.

Tupperware last year introduced the Meal Solutions to Go (regularly priced at $30), a set of four stackable blue containers in a stylishly coordinated brown and blue bag. At Lands' End, it's all about compartments, with the soft-sided Hot Stuff lunch box ($29.50) offering three storage areas, a mesh pocket and an insulated soup or beverage canister. The Container Store sells a soft messenger bag-like Lunch Tote ($12.99) intended to be filled with their line of small plastic containers.

Until the early 1990s, most lunch boxes were aimed at children. The gaudy metal or plastic boxes offered little insulation and even less protection for their contents. (Raise a hand if you remember hating sandwiches and chips smooshed by drink bottles.) Manufacturers also had to bet on what character would sell well — harder today with more media-savvy kids.

"These days, once kids get past about the second or third grade, they don't want to be seen with a licensed (character) lunch box. It's just not cool," says Andy Birutis, director of marketing for Toronto-based lunch box giant California Innovations.