How to bring your lunch to work

I make about 8 cups worth of popcorn each morning and bring it to work in a Gladware deep dish container. The clear container doesn’t look professional though, so I’m looking for an opaque container that isn’t unsightly in the cubicle farm.

Mr. just gets a repeat of what we had the night before. I make 5 servings for 3 people every night and both he and our housemate bring the leftovers. They have fancy insulated bags with fancy plastic containers and I’m about to buy Mr. this awesome cutlery set for Valentine’s Day.

- Frugal Urbanite

I couldn’t eat the same thing everyday! I think that would make me go out for lunch even more in the interest of spicing up my lunch

Ooh, I need to get me one of those cute lunch bags. The one right now is something I got for free & is beat up!

Oh & the other big thing for me is to keep snacks readily available @ work or else I find myself venturing to the vending machine for unhealthy things sometimes & also spending unnecessary money.

I leave ready to go lunches in my desk, in case I forget to bring my lunch and don’t want to spend the extra cash to buy a lunch. Things like Ramen Noodles and Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup will keep, are cheap, can easily be made at work, and will suffice for lunch in a pinch.

A lot of people at my office bring sandwich supplies to work and leave it in the fridge. Each day they make a fresh sandwich at the office. We also work within walking distance from a Whole Foods, so stopping in there is an option as well.

Worse comes to worse, you can always look up lunch specials at local restaurants and bring 1/2 home for dinner. Sometimes I’ll buy a $5 foot long from Subway. I’ll eat 1/2 at work along with crackers or whatever else is available in the office. Then I’ll either leave the 1/2 half for the next day or take it home for dinner. $2.50 for a sandwich doesn’t break the bank.

Thanks for not calling me out on this one! Ha. I’ll never not bring a lunch again but I probably will skip the cute bag part.

Shop on the weekend for next week’s lunch. I try to keep a variety of things available for snacks (pretzels, peanuts, carrots, oranges, etc) so I can choose something different every day.

I put things that need heating in pyrex glass containers and I have a padded lunchbox so no plastic!

I bring a small thermos filled with hot water so I can have tea at work.

I use a rice cooker to make a big batch of oatmeal, put it into pyrex containers, and have it for breakfast on my first break (I have trouble getting up early enough for breakfast at home).

I think these are good tips. It really isn’t that difficult to pack a lunch at all. I typically have veggie burgers everyday at lunch with some pretzels and some veggies. It’s quick, convenient and yummy. Buying individual bags of baby carrots or even 100 calorie bags of pretzels is more expensive, but if it helps one from eating out, then there’s money saved in the long run.

And definitely bonus to you for mentioning not microwaving plastic. I always keep a glass dish in my desk if I need to heat something up. When I’m done, just wash it and put in back in my desk. No excuses.

I do something similar except I mix it up a little. Stuff in the freezer will keep for a few weeks so today’s lunch was Sunday’s big dish two weeks ago! I think it’s the last of it…I also buy some premade frozen meals if I’m not in the mood for my cooking, it’s still cheaper than eating out. I grab whatever and throw it in the bag with a drink, a yogurt, a snack and fruit or veggies.

Chapters has super cute lunch bags AND laptop bags, so you can buy a matching set. Yes, I own a set. I am a geek. There are lots of really good lunchy foods…I really like the Campbell’s Healthy Request soups that are prepackaged in single-serving sizes. Lean Stuffs/Hot Stuffs are good as well, and easy to pack.