... it doesn't hold frozen meals like lean cuisine and the like so that's why I only give it 4 stars.
Overall, I love this bag (I bought it in solid black, but the review here says print for some reason). I like having the top section for things like pretzels and other things that could get crunched up pretty easily. It's a nice deep main area that will easily hold a workday's worth of food and snacks. Perfect for sandwiches, juice box or soda, my 17 oz. Platypus even fits in it nicely with several other items.
I ended up having to purchase the regular rectangular lunchbox (luckily also on sale) in order to fit the lean cuisine kind of meals in correctly. Depending on the size of the container you might be able to put it in at an angle in this particular bag, but it makes it difficult to put other things in. No regrets on either purchase though since I've always had to use 2 different kinds of lunchbags for these exact reasons anyway.
My measurements were as follows: 8 inches (from the left to the right side of the bag); 6 inches (from the bag's front to its back); 4 inches (from the top to the bottom of the bag's interior, excluding the flip-top portion).
I had planned to use this bag for work, so I'd have lunch and dinner in it -- two sandwiches, a small apple and a small snack container. Well, they fit, but barely. And if I put a cold pack in the flip-top, the minimal space was further reduced.
Those sandwiches are not footlong subs; I'm talking two slices of bread and two slices of thin deli-sliced meat. That's not large, but when two of them are stacked on top of each other, they filled up HALF the bag!
I also tried fitting in the smallest round soup container I had -- 3 inches tall -- and there was very little room between the top of the container and the zippered edge of the bag. Which, again, leaves little space when using a cold pack in the flip top.
Now, while I feel this bag is too small compared to the one I currently use, I do love the design. Making the base a little deeper -- increasing it from 3-4 inches to 5-6 inches -- will allow more space for soup/salad bowls, larger apples, sandwiches using kaiser rolls, etc.
We have these lunch boxes and they will be two years old in September. My kids are in grade four and grade two and they have had two years of lunches every day, and the bags are still intact and working great. I did promise they could have new ones for next year even tho' the ones they have would probably still get them through another year. Well worth the money.
This is a big lunch box that holds a lot of extra drinks and containers easily, great for upcoming summer months. While considering buying another one I made an observation. In the description for this item it says "easy-clean lining is tested as safe for lead, phthalates and PVC." LLBean doesn't say this product is PVC/lead free. If you're shopping for a PVC free lunch box this might not be the one to buy. Even a small amount of exposure to toxic chemicals can affect health. Ask before you buy!
