Perhaps one of the most loathed tasks among parents and working adults alike is packing a lunch. Sure, initially packing a meal seems easy: just slap together a sandwich, add a few side items, and you’re there! But after about the 32nd PB & J in a row, a simple task becomes a monumental burden, and the Whole Foods hot bar becomes increasingly enticing.

However, brown-bagging it doesn’t have to be a chore, provided you have the right equipment and a few convenient recipe ideas. For tonight’s Reader Request post, I present to you Lunch-Packing 101.

The first step to healthy lunch-packing is ensuring that you have the right equipment.

The bag

The type of bag you need depends on your specific work/class situation. If you’ll have access to a refrigerator and have a relatively short commute, just a neoprene bag (such as those by BuiltNY) should be sufficient. The company claim that these bags can retain temperatures for up to four hours, but my personal experience has proved otherwise—I’m lucky if I get two hours’ worth of chill-factor. The advantage of these bags is that they are machine washable in case you happen to have a little dribble action during meal time.

If you won’t have such convenience for your lunch storage, you definitely need an insulated lunch bag, which should look something like this on the inside:

In addition, you’ll need some source of ice-cold temperatures. I use re-freezable chill packs, but a frozen bottle of water works well too—plus, you have a built-in beverage! Temperature control is vital, but most people don’t pay much attention as indicated by these findings. Eating foods at improper temperatures is a major public health threat.

The containers

When I was a kid, we Yoder girls went through a ridiculous amount of Ziploc bags. Three girls x five days a week x 32 weeks a year = lots of plastic. Since my youth, however, I have realized that there are more sustainable options out there.

When I began graduate school, I used nothing but Pyrex glass dishes for packing my lunches. Glass is ideal for safely re-heating food as well as for retaining cool temperatures. However, they are friggin’ heavy. With a laptop, notebooks, and textbooks, adding a 10-pound lunch bag was not exactly practical. Also, glass always has the potential for shattering.

All it took was a sale on food storage containers at Target for me to switch to plastic containers. I was sure to choose a BPA-free set to avoid any possible health complications. Even still, I rarely re-heat food in these containers, as microwaving in any kind of plastic is poses a risk of contaminating your food.

I would also advise you to start collecting a variety of sizes of jars. Every now and then you might have the oddly shaped meal component for which only a jar will do. Tiny containers are perfect for transporting salad dressing and avoiding wilted lettuce from a pre-dressed salad. I saved my set of teeny jars from a sample pack of nut butters, but similar containers are sole at—where else?—The Container Store.

The grub

My general rule of thumb for any meal is to aim for at least 3-4 food groups…and fruits & veggies are not optional. Eating this way ensures a variety of nutrients to get you through your day.

When I am packing a lunch, I generally eat vegan. Although plant-based foods are certainly capable of causing food-borne illness, meat and dairy are more vulnerable to microbial invasion if proper temperatures are not maintained.

How to combine this variety of food groups with limited animal products? Salad. But I’m not talking a wimpy mound of lettuce. I mean a mondo salad with hefty amounts of healthy fat, lean protein, and colorful produce.

Ginger Peanut Tofu Salad

Sweet Potato-Black Bean Salad

Avocado Eggless Salad

Don’t groove on salad? Consider packing a hummus plate:

Spicy Spinach Hummus

Peanut Sesame Hummus

Or perhaps a wrap:

Hummus & Grilled Vegetable Wrap

Using these recipes, perhaps you can banish those 32 consecutive PBJs

How often do you pack a lunch? What are your favorite items to pack?

Here’s a look at the day’s eats:

Breakfast this morning was another recipe for Pea Week, the Chocolate Cherry Almond Smoothie. As long-time readers are well-aware, I’ve had my fair share of smoothies in my lifetime (I made at least one daily, for about three years!), and this combination was truly one of my favorites. I tend to gravitate toward the usual strawberries, bananas, and blueberries when making my smoothies, so the cherries offered a nice change of pace. Although delicious, my beverage was a little muddy-looking, likely due to being a tad heavy-handed with the cocoa powder. There’s no such thing as too much chocolate, right?

For lunch, I packed Avocado-Eggless Salad. Does the picture look familiar?

Tonight’s meal was an Ellie recipe, Scallops with Succotash and Parsley Drizzle.

My tweaks:

-I used much smaller (frozen) scallops than the fresh ones called for in the recipe. Hey, I am on a student’s budget after all—there’s only so much I can afford!

-I had trouble getting the parsley to emulsify into a “drizzle.” After a few, ahem, choice words uttered at the immersion blender, I abandoned the sauce and added simple chopped parsley instead.

-As you can see, I made a honkin’ huge serving of succotash—more than what the recipe requires per serving. Holy fiber.

This was a pretty simple dish, relying mostly on the natural deliciousness of the vegetables. That being said, it got me to eat lima beans, which is a feat in itself. (On that note, anyone have a recipe for leftover lima beans??). I think the bottom line is that I enjoyed the succotash more than the scallops!

If you’re still reading this monster post, congratulations! Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back soon to announce the winner of the ZICO giveaway.

Filed under: Meals