How to Pack Lunch in the Age of Coronavirus
Many common-use facilities have closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, from swimming pools and restrooms to breakrooms and cafeterias. At my husband’s work, the microwave has been removed and the refrigerator has been mummified with tape.
The healthy, balanced lunches I used to pack for my husband, from stir-fry to salad to stew, are a no-go now because he can’t keep them properly chilled or reheat them. I resorted to packing a PB&J, a granola bar and a banana every day, but I missed being able to be creative with my cooking.
I started researching food storage that would solve our problem, and was pleased to find that the cold and hot food storage world has come a very long way from ice blocks and lunchboxes. If your work breakroom or cafeteria has been shuttered and you’re spending far too much on fancy salads, consider these options for keeping your food fresh.
If you’re looking for a lunchbag to last the ages, this is the one. The Mr. Bento is a cute lunch jar that comes with fun color options, including red, blue, yellow, plum, silver and black. It’s a cylindrical set-up: the carrying bag perfectly ensconces a spork and a stainless-steel case with four inner bowls, all of which can be microwaved. The two side dish bowls rest at room temperature at the top, while the main bowl and soup bowl are vacuum insulated and separated from the two side bowls by a heat-protection lid.
The soup and the entree really stay hot or cold for hours, whether you’re packing a refreshingly cold gazpacho or a piping hot bowl of curry. The bowls are non-stick, and as long as you don’t soak them in water, they’ll stay pristine for a really long time.
You get to choose from a variety of design options, including the Tiffin Box, which has three hot/cold bowls and one side bowl, and the Ms. Bento, which comes in two bowl and three bowl options. If you need some “Pinspiration” on how to pack for these bowls, check out these bentos — or just make your usual lunch and cut up anything big, like a large steak, into two pieces.
A friend recommended the tiny Cooluli to me, and I was of course wooed by the color selection (fuchsia and cow print are just some of the options), but this impressive warmer-cooler can do a lot. We use ours as a kimchi and Korean food fridge, but you can use it as a small beer cooler at home (it holds up to six 12-ounce cans) or as a lunch cooler on your desk. It also comes with AC, DC and USB cords, so you can use it in the office or in your car. This mini fridge morphs into a warmer at the flip of a switch, and keeps your food toasty until it’s time to eat lunch.
If you’re a one-pot-meal kinda luncher and you’re looking for a sleek, one-item option for your lunch, try this stylish stainless steel food flask from Black + Blum. It’s BPA-free, and entirely vegan — the leather strap on the outside is faux leather.
At 13.5 ounces, it’s just the right size for a small lunch of soup, stew or curry. Accompany it with a piece of naan on the side or a slice of bread or crackers. The attached spoon conforms perfectly to the side of the flask, and is perfect for eating stews, and can also be used to easily ladle the stew out of the flask.
Your food stays hot for up to six hours, and cold for up to eight hours. Plus, the flask is 100 percent leakproof.
This mini portable oven is perfect for the hardcore road tripper who wants to heat up food in the car or the construction worker who doesn’t have access to a kitchen, but it’s also great for anyone who wants the convenience of heating up food anywhere.
The outside of this oven is canvas, and the inside has an aluminum insulation lining. You can literally cook raw food in it, or just reheat leftovers. Place a flat-bottomed, sealed-top container with the food inside, and wait for your food to heat up. You can use a metal, plastic, glass, or ceramic container. It takes a while — anywhere from two to three hours for regular meals, and longer for frozen meals, but it works. Just switch it on in the morning while you’re driving to work or plug it in when you get to work. You can seriously heat up pasta, stir-fry, whatever your heart desires in this little oven.
The automatic temperature control switches the oven off before it gets too hot or burns, and it’s convenient and easy to carry with you, with a soft carrying strap.
This cute, convenient lunch warmer can heat up to 20 ounces of leftovers, whether stews, soups, oatmeal, stir-fry, pasta or pot roast. It’s a simple, one-chamber deal that resembles a rice cooker. Put your food inside the insert, cover with its lid, and keep in the fridge overnight. In the morning before work, pop the insert into the base, take it to work, plug it in and wait for it to warm, and take it out when you’re ready to eat. It can take about 30 minutes for soups and other liquid foods and about an hour for stir-fries and more solid foods.
For clean-up, the warmer is spill-proof and easy to throw into the dishwasher. The exterior doesn’t get hot to the touch when heating either, because it’s insulated. When you’re done warming, wrap up the cord around the base, grab it by the handle and go.
The YETI Daytrip Lunch Bag is roomy and can be folded down virtually flat to maximize space when you’re done with it, but it’s the structured Daytrip Lunch Box that’s really got my number because I often use my lap as an eating platform, and this unfolds into an on-the-go lunch station. You can eat wherever you are, whether on a train, in a car, or on a park bench.
This lunch box has a streamlined rectangular shape and can still easily slide into our backpacks, diaper bags and Chrome bags. We just stick a Yeti Ice in the box with a couple sandwiches or nori rolls to share, some cheese, boiled eggs, fruit salad and a drink, and we’re good to go on bike trips, lake trips and to the park. We’ve even packed our toddler’s messy lunches inside, with no leaks. The food comes out cold and fresh, which is so much more pleasant than lukewarm fruit salad and mushy sandwiches.
This lunch box features what Yeti calls Coldcell Flex Insulation, which is a closed-cell, lightweight foam that folds flexibly and provides hours of insulation. It’s never leaked, and is water-resistant to outside forces like, say, being splashed by a toddler at the pool. It’s easy to open and close, with a magnetic snap closure. The best part for a parent? It’s super easy to clean.
