When I was a kid, I wasn't a picky eater, but I was difficult when it came to school lunches. I hated buying lunch at school, but I wasn't a big fan of sandwiches, mostly because of the squish factor. I also got tired of things easily, which made it hard for my mom to keep track of acceptable lunch bag contents. I really liked taking yogurt and granola to school, but I got teased mercilessly for having food that seemed too healthy (you must remember that we're talking about the late eighties here, when eating locally and organically was not the norm).

Cookbook author Keri Fisher currently has a post up over at Culinate that addresses the question of the lunch box. She talks of her own struggles making lunches for the kids in her household and offers a few of her suggestions for successful and kid-approved meals. I particularly like her Frog in a Bog Muffins, as they are essentially a healthy version of a corn dog. And who doesn't like corn dogs?

As the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The same sentiment holds true for kids, who can be quite stubborn where food is concerned. At home, parents can monitor what their child is - and is not - eating to make sure they learn to make healthy choices. Now that the school year has started, however, ensuring that the kids get a healthy lunch can be harder.

One thing you can do is, as we have mentioned before, get your child involved in preparing the lunch. S/he can pick out the fruits and snacks that look the tastiest from the healthy foods you have available (aiming for fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein most of the time, of course). If it is hard to get your child going in the morning, however, you might not have time for this bonding activity. So, other tips include:

The four nesting layers of these lunch pails were inspired by an Asian design of stackable lunchboxes. They are made of food-grad stainless steel, and are a very adult way to take your lunch to work.

The advantages to such a lunch box are mostly that the things in each container are kept separate and that the containers can be joined together and carried as one unit. While you could achieve the same type of separation with Tupperware, you won't end up with the same easy-to-carry stack. If you're not taking a lunch, the containers can be used for snacks, like M&Ms, nuts or dried fruits to get you through a long after noon. On top of that, the design is simply beautiful. The disadvantages are that you'll have to find things that fit in the boxes, so sandwiches might be out, considering each layer is 5-1/4" in diameter and 2" deep. The boxes are also not insulated, so they will have to be refrigerated if you are carrying anything that cannot be stored at room temperature. Whether the bad outweighs the good is up to you, but it's definitely a better choice if you tend to take salads and leftovers for lunch, rather than chips and sandwiches.

Far above a paper bag in terms of design and functionality and probably much cooler than anything you carried while in school, the Lunch Tote from Built NY might just be the ultimate lunch bag. The two-compartment tote is made of neoprene rubber and is fully insulated to keep both hot and cold foods for hours at a time. The smaller compartment is designed as a drink holder, so it is ideal for a water bottle, thermos or a canned drink. When it is fully unzipped, it can act as a placemat, which is useful if you don't know what's been on that table before you or if you simply prefer to set your food out neatly when eating. Because it is flexible, not only can it hold just about any size of container, but it can be stored flat or rolled up when empty. On top of that, it is also machine washable, which makes for easy cleaning. Is there anything not to like?

I'm not sure if LunchBox software will help solve child obesity, but it can't possibly make things worse.

Some school districts in South Carolina will start using LunchBox this school year. Parents will be able to track their kids eating habits and restrict what their children eat. The system works by issuing students PIN numbers that are entered each time a purchase is made. Mom and Dad can then monitor junior's purchases from home.

From looking at the company's website LunchBox seems to be a POS/inventory/ordering/sales tracking solution that's trying to get parents in the loop.That's all well and good, but parents can't possibly track everything their kids eat at school. My folks never knew about the pints of Ben & Jerry's I scarfed during my free period in high school.

More school lunch tracking:

• Texas schools use technology to track lunches
• Fingerprint scanners to monitor what kids eat
• Healthy school lunches only, in Australia

Back to school time is rolling ever closer, and if you have kids, you might be starting to think about what to put in their lunchboxes. Individually packaged servings of desserts and other foods are very convenient and are more popular than ever. Some kids, as one writer found out, even prefer the packaged stuff to homemade - at least in the case of chocolate pudding. So individual puddings were put to the test by a group of seventh graders to see which products would be good lunch box choices.

The winners were Hershey's, Swiss Miss and Handi-Snack, in that order. All three were judged to be smooth, sweet and chocolaty, with Swiss Miss and Handi-Snack garnering compliments for using the perfect amount of sugar and having a fudgy taste. Hershey's, the winner, was praised for tasting "like melted chocolate" and seemed to get bonus points for being packaged in a tube, like the popular Go-Gurts.

The main difference in store bought pudding versus homemade, aside from the packaging, is that store bought doesn't develop a "skin". Avoid a skin on homemade by placing plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding until it is cool. And you can even make your own tubes of pudding by following the instructions here. And if you want your kids to eat the homemade pudding instead of having to buy packaged, have them help you make it. They'll be so excited that they won't care about "skin" or packaging.

If ever there was a dish that needed all the help it could get, it would be vegan dinner loaf. Well, Jennifer over at the blog Vegan Lunch Box has come to the rescue by creating The Magic Loaf Studio. Based on recipes she learned at a Seventh Day Adventist vegetarian cooking class, the Loaf Studio lets you choose ingredients-legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, veggies, seasonings and binders-and then formulates a recipe with appropriate proportions and directions. There is, of course, a disclaimer saying that not every combination has been tested. Still, the nearly 50 comments on her blog post about it seem positive. Perhaps some people will be converted to loaf-lovers, but I suspect that many folks will use this to expand their existing loaf repertoire. Oh, and as an added bonus, you get to name your loaf. Cute. 

We certainly love bento boxes here at Slashfood. I think I am utterly fascinated by this utter fascination with such incredible artistry in a lunchbox. It is something that is so foreign to me as an American. When I was in elementary school, I think the most creative thing I took to school for lunch was gim-bahp, and when that happened I was totally embarrassed that I didn't have something normal like a sandwich. 

If you're as amazed as I am by these miniature masterpieces, take a peek at yet another site dedicated to bento boxes. The site is in Japanese, but the creativity and detail in the photos need no translation.