First of all get yourself a decent sized insulated Lunch Box, one that is big enough to accomodate any containers of food that you might pack plus a big or small ice pack. You might also want to invest in a Drink Thermos and/or a Warm Food Thermos (for soup, chili, mac and cheese, beef stew etc.)
If you have a fridge at work, where you can stow your lunch box, then you only need a small ice pack (big enough to keep the food cold until you get to work/school and can put the lunch pail in the fridge) if there is not fridge, you will want to have a more substantial ice pack, if the lunch box has to sit out from the time you either fix it in the morning (or fix it the night before and put it in your own fridge) until lunchtime. If there is no fridge at work/school, I would probably recommend a small cooler like This which will accommodate a larger ice pack. I like these collapsible types better than the big hard plastic ones like This because they’re much easier to store, flattened out when you are not using them.
With sandwiches, if you want to keep them from getting soggy, either pack the ingredients separately like some of the others have mentioned (to put together at work/school) or use mayonnaise spread all the way to the edge on both slices of bread, so the other stuff doesn’t ooze out. You can also do that with butter, or peanut butter depending upon what kind of sandwich you’re making. The mayo trick works quite well with tuna salad or egg salad. The other thing you can do, say if you are putting mustard on a sandwich is to put the mustard in between the slice of cheese and meat (or in between 2 slices of cheese) in the middle of the sandwich, so it doesn’t get the bread soggy. Also put the tomato inside the layer of cheese and meat, or pack it separately. Make sure your lettuce is completely dried or pack it separately.
You can keep your bread in the freezer and either thaw out your slices in a ziplock bag over night, or you can make a sandwich with frozen slices of bread (the night before) and then it they will be thawed out by the time lunchtime rolls around. You can pack your sandwiches in either ziplock bags, or in sandwich sized plastic sized containers if there are other items in the lunch box that might smash the sandwich.
When you go to the grocery store, buy multiple types of fruits and veggies, on that same day, wash and dry and slice up carrots, celery, cauliflower and broccoli. Wash and dry cherry or grape tomatoes and put these items into big ziplock bags in your fridge. You can also pack some of these items into small ziplock bags or small tupperware, ahead of time if you know that is what you want in your lunch for that week, otherwise you can just grab the prepped fruits and veggies out of the big bags the night before or in the morning.
Wash and dry some apples, pears, plums and nectarines, and citrus fruit, but don’t cut them up, as they will start to go bad. Clean and dry them, but keep them whole. Then just grab what you want when you are fixing your lunch. I usually wrap these types of fruits in a layer or two of paper towels so that they won’t get bruised, then you can use the paper towels instead of packing another napkin. These Cuties are especially nice.
Cheese sticks like These are a convenient lunch box item.
Yogurt is another great easy to tote snack. If you can get the small individual sized containers for a good price (99 cents or less per container) then get those, otherwise, if you like yogurt, get the larger sized containers (which will be less cost per oz.) and spoon some of that into a reseal-able container, and don’t forget to pack a spoon.
For salads, you can pack most of the items together, but if you have something like tomatoes that might get a little runny, or avocado, which might turn brown, put the tomatoes in a separate container, and keep the avocado un-peeled and intact into your lunch box. It’s best to keep your salad dressing in a separate small container, however lately I’ve been seeing these Salads in Jar in which they layer the the items with the dressing on the bottom. I think this would be fine if you can keep the jar upright and you aren’t worried about the jar getting jostled and broken. These are nice, because you can make 5 days worth of salads in a jar on one day and they will keep fresh for those 5 days. Just fix, then grab and go. Just make sure to pack a fork.
You can use the hot food thermos if you want to pack hot soup or chili. You can also pack those items cold into (either the hot food thermos, because it also keeps foods cold or regular tupperware style containers) and then re-heat them in a microwave safe container, like a ceramic bowl (it’s best not to re-heat food in plastic containers) or if you are lucky enough to have a stove at work/school, just reheat in a regular pan.
If you have leftovers from a Chinese restaurant, you can reheat those meals in their Paper Boxes, but make sure to remove the metal handle, otherwise it will spark in the microwave. Do not re-heat food in styrofoam containers for 2 reasons. First the styrofoam is likely to melt, and the styrofoam leeches into the food. So if you tote your leftovers in styrofoam, just make sure that you have another microwave safe container at work/school to reheat your leftovers.
For drinks, you can either buy drink boxes or plastic bottles or cartons of juice or milk, or you can put drinks into your thermos, if you have one. Just make sure you clean your thermos thoroughly every night. You don’t want the residue of milk ruining the taste or your iced tea. For water, I use a stainless steel bottle like This that I carry in my purse. You can purchase bottled water in plastic recyclable bottles (the stainless steel bottles are more economical because they’re re-usable) but don’t re-use plastic bottles (although they do make BPA free plastic re-usable water bottles now). When the plastic gets heated up by washing, the plastic can then degrade and leech into the water you might put into it next time. Don’t re-use them.
Chips, crackers, pretzels, nuts and other crunchy snacks can be packed in either small ziplock bags or plastic containers. Wasabi Peas and Sesame Sticks are 2 of my favorite snacks.
Don’t forget about frozen meals. Most frozen meals need to stay frozen until ready to be microwaved, so don’t thaw them out in the fridge the night before. Just pack them between 2 ice packs right before you leave the house and they should be fine if you are having lunch at noon. On the other hand, you can defrost veggie burgers in the fridge overnight, but you don’t really need to, because they cook so quickly in the microwave. With veggie burgers (and if you have regular already cooked hamburger patties) your best bet is to pack the bun and the toppings separately.
If you have complete meal leftovers, you might want to get several Divided Containers so that you can keep the mashed potatoes from oozing over into the roast beef and green beans (or whatever it is that you made).
Here are some great ideas for lunches (just keep in mind whether or not a microwave or stove is available, so you can pack accordingly).
Cold pizza (which can be eaten cold or re-heated)
Cold fried chicken
Sandwiches and wraps of all kinds, with sides of fruit, or veggies, or nuts or chips (go sparingly on the chips, try to eat well every day)
Curried Quinoa Wrap
Chickpea Salad Wrap (an alternative to tuna salad)
Vietnamese Bahn Mi (you can eat this cold)
Egg Salad which can be eaten as a sandwich, or spooned onto lettuce leaves.
Basil Chicken Salad Sandwich
California Wrap
Greek Wrap
Asian Tuna Wrap
Salmon Salad Sandwich
Mediterranean Wrap (this can be made with cold rotisserie chicken)
Mexican-style Bean, Avocado and Slaw Wrap
Hard boiled eggs
Burritos (homemade or from takeout)
Spaghetti
Chili
Beef Stew
Lentil Soup with Kielbasa
Macaroni and Cheese
Beef Stroganoff
Here are some salads that eat more like meals.
Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Veggies and Peanut Butter Dressing (this can be made with chicken instead of tofu, and I usually use broccoli instead of asparagus)
Dilled Crunch Sweet Corn Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
Chipotle Lime Macaroni Salad
Caprese Orzo Salad
Spicy Thai Noodle Salad (You could add cold chicken or cold salmon to this)
Wagon Wheel Taco Pasta Salad
Antipasto White Bean Salad
Chinese Noodle Salad (you could add chicken or salmon to this)
Quinoa Salad with Cilantro, Lime and Avocado
Don’t forget the desserts snackies.
Peanut Butter Cookies
Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
No Bake Peanut Butter Crisp Balls
Banana, Peanut Butter, Oat Cookies
Happy packing : )
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