I can still hear my sandwich, apple and thermos rattling around in that blue, plastic lunch box I brought to school each day in elementary school.

The food would be making a deep clunking sound as I carried my Snoopy lunch box with my little backpack slung across my shoulders. Ka-clunck, ka-clunk, ka-clunck.

My elementary school in Mt. Lebanon, just a couple blocks from the house, didn’t serve hot food, so we packed our lunches each day or walked up to the now defunct Chicago’s Pizzeria when we were old enough. The only thing I did buy each day was a half-pint of milk.

But by the time we made it to junior high, we were too cool for lunch boxes and usually brown bagged it or ate that scrumptious cafeteria food (anyone remember those pizza boats and tater tots?). By then, my Snoopy lunch box had a crack in the side and I had moved on to cooler things like video games or POGs.

So, do kids even use lunch boxes any more? Or are they satisfied pulling a tattered brown bag to school each day? Or is there some new fad (like Angry Birds or Twitter) that I’m not hip enough to understand?

Tell me your lunch box memories in the comments section or explain what your kids are bringing to school on the first day at primary school ...

Mike Jones is the editor of Chartiers Valley Patch.