Rotomolded coolers are the only lunch boxes that survive a truck bed

Rotomolded coolers like the Pelican 20QT or Yeti Roadie 24 are the most durable lunch boxes you can buy, and they’re not even marketed as lunch boxes.

The problem with every traditional lunch box — metal or plastic — is the weak points: latches, hinges, and thin walls. That old-school steel lunch box will dent, and the latch will bend after a few weeks of getting tossed around. Plastic ones crack in the cold.

Rotomolded coolers solve all of that. The plastic is melted and rotated in a mold, so the walls are thick and seamless. No seams to split, no thin spots to crack. The latches on a Pelican are over-engineered and replaceable. The handle is solid. Dropping it from tailgate height into a truck bed is nothing. It’ll outlive the truck.

Bonus: it actually keeps food cold, which a tin box won’t, and it doubles as a seat or step. The downside is weight and price — you’re spending $100+ instead of $20. But if you’ve been replacing lunch boxes every season, it pays for itself by spring.

Buy it once, abuse it daily, never think about it again.