Too much waste, and quality healthy foods ARE perishable

Good idea. I'd recommend looking at Asia for packaging designs. In Japan & Korea I've seen designs that blew my mind and I brought some home to my little ones and they raved about them. Look to Europe for recyclable packaging materials as they've already enacted legislation about this in many EU nations. Cheers.

as long as your packaging is recycleable...go for it...be an entrepreneur. never be discourage, only encouraged. we may need some pre-packaged lunches on our tour when the time comes, better than those the military offers; not that we want their food. i like your idea...you could even advertise on the boxes-educational things of course. people are dead-tired of companies selling to their children. i believe children have the right to choose-to eat well-as parents are too busy with thier lives, whatever that means; aren't children a great % of their lives? pace the peace~! inione.

I agree with all of the comments that this is a monument to wastefulness, duplicates lunchables, eliminates fresh food options. Two thumbs down. Why is the rating so high? that's not fairly reflecting the comments!

It's a great idea, and possibly would be good if they would be vegetarian or organic, as lunchable hasn't really made too many options in that area.

Thumbs down. Won't work as advertised. #1 - no easier than picking items in a grocery store. #2 What is the distribution model? Do lunchboxes get mailed to them? Are they picking these from a website? If so, distribution expense is way too high. Plus, website shopping for groceries is a pain. #3 Storage. If I have 3 kids, I need 15 lunchboxes per week. They won't fit in my fridge. #4 Expense. Niche product = high expense, and nobody wants to pay more for no apparent benefit.

hmm..seems unhealthy for the kids and the environment...unless you can find a way to pack in the nutrition and make the box biodegradable

From reading the comments here, your niche market is obvious. Create an environmentally friendly package (corn based items already exist) and then make a health conscious menu that is made fresh and delivered quickly, possibly have a local presence in your target market locations. Great idea!

i agree about the waste. the last thing we need right now is more trash and more disposable products. we need reusable products.

This is an idea that could appeal to upper-income families long on money and short on time, but I agree with those that say it's wasteful and unnecessary. How is a great time savings over grabbing a few things at the store and tossing them in a nondisposable lunchbox that won't contribute to our landfills? BTW, there's already something like this in New York, see: http://tinyurl.com/28amml

When are fruits and vegetables non-perishable? When they are processed and severely lacking in nutritional content. As for all the waste generated with the wrapping and the lunch box itself- it's just sinful. I know how time crunched we all are and are always looking for a little less stress before shooing the kids out the door in the morning so we can get ourselves to our jobs BUT- our kids should be the the most important thing. Starting with their food. Secondly with our contribution to our and their environment.

The LAST THING the world needs is MORE disposable products.

I do not agree with this idea. First of all, non-perishable = non-nutritious. Why do we want to feed this to our kids OR ourselves? Second, waste should be a huge consideration and it clearly is not. I am disappointed by how many people continue to ignore our individual and collective impact on our world. Where will all this non-biodegradable plastic go? Let's start thinking about the health of ourselves and our world.

Mac had the right idea. I was braindead till I read his comment. I think I have the solution to the disposable aspect. You might have to market your product in areas that have the the right consumer (animal) for the packaging. What do pigs eat, what do horses eat, what to goats eat, what do chickens eat, what do earthworms like, what do politicians eat, what do birds eat, etc... It would take some research, but surely a box could be made of compressed fiber of wheat, oats, barley, or some food source for some animal. Advertisements could be stamped in. Using beets or other natural ingredients for color might teach us "the old ways!"

Vote for me and I'll supply you with all your fruit needs. =) Actually, I think this could work at a local level where your supplying healthy food into a reusable package. I've seen it done at summer camps. You would want to find yourself in the refrigerated section of the grocery stores and even in gas stations. Heck, I would buy one myself if I could pick it up conveniently that same day and get a discount on my next purchase by returning the re-usable sack. Key ingredient though is keeping it local because then your not dealing with unhealthy preservatives.

You should use recycled biodegradable containers and natural organic products this would lower waste and some costs.

First of all aren't there already pre-packaged lunch boxes? Second of all this is a HORRIBLE idea. We already produce way to much waste as it is, why do we need to produce more?

I can rationalize this being a good idea - one person mentioned these things could be sold at whole foods or trader joes. Another person mensioned having recycled material with post consumerable waste - that is essential to stay green. I can definately see the need for this, i'm not sure if those lunchables are filling enough for a real lunch. What about different types of cheeses and smoked hams? What about lettice and tomatos? I think this is a great idea and it could be made even more green than perhaps what you can actually do at home.

I think it is a great idea. It isn't unlike packing the lunch anyway, you are using the same material, only this time, someone packs it for you.

Too lazy to even make a sandwich for your kid? Better idea: just buy a lot of small items (raisins,apples, yogurt, etc.) and throw them into a lunch box with one freshly made sandwich. 3 minutes max.

That's what we need, MORE GARBAGE!! I love to see how many people think this is a good idea! Maybe you could ship the disposable lunchboxes inside of even more disposable packaging. Way to go Disposable America!!

NetFlix meets lunchbox, fulfills a need. Can you recoup your shipping costs?

what about catering to the WholeFoods/TraderJoe's demographic and offering food that is FRESH--without preservatives. I think they'd like that. you just keep the lunchboxes in the fridge for the school week. and I like the lunchbox aspect... just add a little handle to the Lunchables design and, ta-da! it's a lunchbox.

I think this idea has potential It could also be packaged in a recyclable aluminum contianer.

Too much waste. I say no.

So much waste. Definitely not exploiting today's "green" marketing opportunity.

sounds like lunchables to me too. and the waste...

Putting any health and nutrition concerns aside, I for one am tired of all the over-processed, over-packaged products being marketed at children. I have two girls and every day it is a challenge to teach them that amount of trash we produce from our consumption is unsustainable.

Great idea with good income and marketing potential. Figure out a way to placate the trash demons and you have a winner. Waste is a relative thing. If the product is developed as a sound nutritional entity which retains kid-appeal and the cost is high, so what. Those who can afford it will buy it. Those who can't won't. Not everyone can afford a Bentley or Mercedes Benz, but there's no guilt in that. Plus, upscale products, IMHO, tend to survive where others may fail.

Sounds like a lunchable to me. And you can get those at any grocerey or 7/11 gas station. you need a little more edge and difference

Sounds unnecessarily wasteful.

My reaction is that it is wasteful. In order to make the food enticing to kids and less perishable, good nutrition would be sacrificed. I believe the cost to the consumer would be too high. Very much like Lunchables, but with more marketing opportunities.

As a parent this would be an amazing time saver. But it would have to be food that kids would eat as well as nutritious and at reasonable cost.

thit is a cool idea. i would definetely but these. save me a few minutes in the morning.

Assuming this isn't already being done, I like the idea. I think kids would pressure their parents into buying their favorite box designs and I see some of the revenue possibly coming from tie-ins such as movie releases etc. I think studios and TV networks would pay to have their new movie or TV show promoted in this way. Another tie-in is that food companies launching new products may pay to have their item inserted in the lunch box to introduce and try to build consumer awareness and base (these companies already pay to have samples distributed in many other ways). All-in-all I think this is a very good idea. Is there a way to patent this idea? Distribution will be a key.

I'm not so keen on the amount of waste generated by such a product - the plastic shrink wrap and the lunch box itself. It seems similar to the Oscar Meyer prepackaged chemical foods they pass as "fun lunches".