Author Topic: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch  (Read 12272 times)

freya

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 476
Re: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch
« Reply #50 on: December 16, 2018, 09:53:30 AM »
I also don't have a need or patience for fancy lunch boxes.  I just put food into containers or baggies, put into a larger plastic bag (the kind you get from grocery shopping in the produce section) for extra leak guarding, and put it into my bag.  The produce bags are the only ones that are reliably leak-proof.  Honestly, seconds count in the morning and it's important to keep things simple!

The one critical gear requirement is leak-proof and microwave-proof containers.  I found a screw-on Ziploc round container at my local grocery, and I also have a couple of those IKEA locking glass containers (they're heavy though).  In both cases, the lids are not microwave proof, so I take those off and lay a paper towel over the container.

I also splurged a bit on behalf of the Elixir of Life, otherwise known as coffee.  I got a $6 collapsing silicone drip cone on Amazon and take in #2 coffee filters, a mason jar of fine ground coffee, and half and half.  A friend and I share a small fridge & electric kettle.   Take that, Keurig!  I also take the drip cone & supplies on business trips, along with dehydrated powdered cream.  If you don't have a fridge, the powdered cream plus a small battery powered frother works nicely.

JLee

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7512
Re: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch
« Reply #51 on: December 19, 2018, 03:32:26 AM »
Are you sure? I heard something a while back on NPR I think where LL Bean had to change their warranty b/c some people were abusing it.

They did indeed change their warranty due to abuse.

availablelight

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 38
Re: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch
« Reply #52 on: December 22, 2018, 11:05:33 AM »
Truth be told, I hadn't considered a thermos before, but it seems like a good way to get soup back into my lunch rotation, so I might just get one now.

To be fair, I am already making and bringing lunch the better part of the time, so this would be adding a tool to expand what I'm already doing, rather than buying things to try to get myself to do something I'm not doing.

faithless

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 108
Re: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch
« Reply #53 on: December 28, 2018, 01:28:43 AM »
So the thing I don't get with the Thermos is how people heat it up? They seem to be made of metal, so you presumably can't microwave the soup in it? So either you'd have to dirty a pan to heat the soup on the hob in the morning before work, (or even make the soup then? hahaha) or microwave it in a jug/bowl and then transfer it to the Thermos. Seems a lot of effort and mess unless I'm missing something?
I get it if you're travelling or outside or otherwise don't have access to a microwave.

When I take soup to work for lunch in the cold months, I usually use the Sistema soup mugs with clip seal lids that you can microwave. They aren't perfectly leak proof though, but I don't know of a better alternative. I usually freeze the soup in them after making it and then take it to work frozen to avoid leaks.

Goldielocks

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7062
  • Location: BC
Re: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch
« Reply #54 on: January 01, 2019, 06:37:54 PM »
A thermos is supposed to keep the food hot without rewarming it, for 3-4 hours.   (pre warm the thermos and fill it with very hot soup / food, and it will be hot/warm for 4 hours).

My DS , a teenager,-- although I do have a few containers, and several nice lunch bags, insists on using a grocery store plastic bag.   Yep.  I have to NOT use my re-usable grocery bags once in a while to have a grocery bag on hand for him to take to school.  He HATES the washable, re-usable ones.  Memories from elementary school, I think, when he did not know how to care for them....  He wants something he can toss, and get a clean "fresh" bag every time. 

familyandfarming

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 145
Re: NYT: 5 Cheap(ish) Things To Help You Start Packing Your Lunch
« Reply #55 on: January 01, 2019, 07:07:35 PM »
Sams Club sells a nice set of 24 glass storage set. I bought it when my years-old plastic storage set died. Very pleased with the glass set!

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/24pc-glass-food-strg-member-s-mark/prod21364166.ip?xid=plp_product_1_1