Get A Great Lunch Box

As long as humans have grappled with the idea of taking food with them, they've wrestled with the various concepts for a lunch box. Lunch boxes hold food and drink, sometimes just acting as a portable container and sometimes they are also called upon to keep hot and cold foods at their respective temperatures.

The humble "brown paper bag" is one of the most common ways that people carry their lunch, but this container offers little physical protection to the food and can do nothing about food temperatures. It also has a short lifespan due to it's very limited durability. With the increased interest in durable and sustainable goods, investing in a reusable lunch box is a great idea.

Lunch pails, lunch boxes, totes and bags can be found in a variety of cloths, plastics and metals, in a range of shapes and sizes. My grandmother brought my mother a wonderful "antique lunch box" from Thailand one year. It's a series of stacking silver bowls with lids, and two long sticks slide down through slots and screw together to hold all four of them together.

Many people dismiss making and taking their own lunch to work or school as too much trouble but really there are some good reasons for bringing your own lunch.

1. Save money - this is often a big reason for why people switch from buying lunch out to bringing their own. Lunch can frequently be made at home for less than the $10-$15 most people spend daily on eating lunch on the run.

2. Trying to lose weight - making healthier choices and controlling portion size is a lot easier when done with a meal you put together rather than one you buy.

3. Special dietary needs - sometimes due to food tolerances or allergies, some people just aren't able to find foods that are okay for them when eating out.

4. Efficient use of leftovers - often closely related to reason number one, those dinner leftovers can make for a fantastic lunch the next day.

5. Less garbage and waste - Bringing your own lunch and using a lunch box is a great way to reduce packaging and trash generated by buying lunch out.

Here are some of the main things to think about when you go to pick a lunch box:

1. How much do you eat? Some people like small lunches and some like them to be one of the larger meals of the day. Pick your size accordingly.
   
   
2. What do you like to eat for lunch? Are you a sandwich lunch eater? Do you prefer soup? Is lunch more like a series of snacks? Or do you eat your dinner leftovers for lunch? If you pack a sandwich, you'll want a lunch box that can protect it, or you might need compartments to keep food separated.
   
   
3. Do you need to keep lunch foods hot or cold? Or would you like a lunch box that can go right into a microwave? You can now get all sorts of bags and boxes depending on if you need to control the temperature of the foods you are carrying.