I carry my own food with me: what to take to the office and what to bring lunch in? Useful tips for packing food to take to work Paper bags, parchment, foil

08.10.2023

Monotonous business lunches in establishments located near your office, the menu of which you know by heart? Dull table meatballs and mashed potatoes? Drinking yoghurt with grain bread from the nearest supermarket? This is the wrong choice for those who strive to fill every moment of everyday life with useful pleasures. Life is short, and every meal can and should be beautiful and healthy. Healthy food can only be prepared at home - when you personally know every ingredient and are responsible for its good reputation. We will tell you how to properly pack take-out food so that you can have lunch in pleasant company.

1. Choosing a lunch box

One of the main purposes of a lunch box is to keep your bag safe (tomato sauce won't decorate your diary or wallet) and keep your food fresh. Yes – also his appearance! Lunch boxes cope least successfully with the latter. For an ideal result, there should be several lunch boxes in stock, of different shapes and volumes. Some models have different compartments, for example, for a main dish and a side dish. But only through experience can you determine which container is best for you. We advise you to pay attention to the experience of the Japanese, who, with their “bento” (the ancestors of lunch boxes), have achieved perfection over many years - they know how to fold products so that they look like an art object. So everything comes with experience. The main rule: when packing food, try to leave as little free space as possible. Rectangular lunch boxes are ergonomic, but round ones are somehow more logical to pour soup or put millet milk porridge with pumpkin.

Store your lunch box in the office refrigerator. Wash and dry it thoroughly after use. Do not forget that this is by no means an heirloom and it is better to exchange them for new ones more often and without regret.

2. Plastic or metal?

Everything that comes into contact with your food must be guaranteed to be safe. Plastic lunch boxes must have a safety certificate, and it’s right if you know as much good as possible about the manufacturer’s brand. All plastic lunch boxes (but not all food storage containers, so be careful) are microwave safe. But if it is possible to put food on a plate (this is also more aesthetically pleasing) and heat it up, it is better to do just that. Even the best plastic can release toxic substances when heated, so it’s best to keep a couple of ceramic bowls and plates on your office desk.

Metal lunch boxes are less popular - and this is undeserved. They perfectly preserve the taste of food and are safe. Glass and ceramic lunch boxes are an even more environmentally friendly option if you are not too lazy to carry extra weight in your bag.

3. How to deliver soup to the office?

Many people are used to eating hot soup for lunch and, if this is not possible at work, they suffer greatly. It's OK! Delicious borscht or creamy corn soup can be prepared at home and taken with you. To prevent your entree from spilling into your bag along the way, you can use a thermos or container with a screw-on lid, which will ensure maximum tightness. Another way to achieve tightness is to place a rubber layer between the container and the lid. True, the layer wears out quite quickly with frequent use, so check it for strength every time. Just in case, be on the safe side: do not turn the container or bag with it over and also pack the container in a plastic bag.

You are grown girls who don’t need to explain that if you put sour cream in spinach soup in advance, the result will not be very appetizing. Pack the sour cream in a separate small container or choose sour cream in 50-gram mini-packs at the supermarket.

4. Lunch bags - eat and throw away

Disposable plastic bags are, of course, a banality and a thing of the past. On the other hand, there is functional rationality. The bag weighs nothing at all and does not take up extra space. On the way back, there is more space in the bag, and you don’t have to wash anything. Sandwiches, steamed turkey, apples, pears and other firm fruits, home-baked gluten-free bread or zucchini muffins, nuts and all other dry snacks will thrive for several hours in this bag. Put everything dry and everything that doesn’t wrinkle into bags. In this case, your lunch will be in perfect order. Give preference to thick zipper bags, which are often sold in stores under the guise of freezer bags. Store food bags in the refrigerator. If you have a lot of similar lunch bags in your office refrigerator, sign yours. Or buy multi-colored bags with funny designs that are made for children's school lunches. American designers went crazy and came up with lunch bags with a pattern of mold spots on the packaging. Colleagues in the shared refrigerator will definitely not covet such a package.

5. Paper bags, parchment, foil

Delicious dinners without a side dish like quiche lauren with broccoli, cottage cheese casserole with dried apricots, cheesecakes or a portion of apple charlotte can be wrapped in parchment paper, foil or put in a craft lunch bag. The last option is the most environmentally friendly and stylish, but apparently not quite budget-friendly, and sets of paper bags are not sold everywhere. Sandwiches and lavash rolls with any filling retain freshness well in a parchment package, and a special “sandwich maker” made of soft rubber is also suitable for sandwiches. They are produced by the same manufacturers that make lunch boxes and plastic containers. By the way, if you make sandwiches for work, you shouldn’t prepare them the night before. Better before leaving the house. Soggy bread doesn't whet your appetite at all. If you have very little time in the morning, then give preference to other dishes that you can easily prepare in advance in the evening, and in the morning you can simply take the lunch container out of the refrigerator and put it in your bag.

6. Thermoses

In the era of the victorious march of smoothies across the planet, a forgotten attribute of hikers has returned to life again (although it is optimal to both prepare and take a freshly prepared smoothie on the road in a special glass with a screw-on lid). In a thermos, in warmth and comfort, a soul-warming drink lives until the end of the working day, for example, rosehip infusion or ginger tea with lemon or an infusion of herbs useful in the autumn twilight: chamomile, fireweed, thyme, mint and other aromatic herbs. This is definitely a hundred times better than the so-called tea of unidentified varieties from bags in the office. On fasting days, you can bring cabbage soup in a large thermos.

7. If possible, cook in the office.

If you've dreamed up a complex salad for lunch, add the whole ingredients and cut them into a plate in the office. Pre-cut vegetables quickly lose their slender shape and supply of vitamins, and juice also flows out of them unsightly. Wash tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, green salad and other juicy vegetables, dry with a paper towel and pack whole. If you're too lazy to fuss around and get your hands dirty in the office, take more suitable salads with you. For example, sauerkraut with cranberries, grated beets with prunes, bean salad, salad with corn and pasta, fruit salad with dense fruits (banana, kiwi, apple, nectarine). Such dishes will reach their destination without loss. The salad does not need to be salted or seasoned in advance - otherwise the juice will be released intensely.

As you can see, you can eat healthy, tasty and healthy home-cooked food in the office without any problems. The main thing is to approach this issue thoughtfully - choose a convenient food format, buy beautiful lunch boxes, craft bags, and a thermal mug. When you have a bright set of containers for food, you will cook lunch at home and take it with you, even if there is an inexpensive canteen near your work.

Homemade food is the most delicious and inexpensive, as all hungry office workers know. But, for the first time, packing a lunch package for yourself at home, you usually face a problem - how to pack the food so that it does not leak or get wrinkled? Traditionally, simple plastic containers are used for this. the site explains why some of them should not be used, and also offers several other options for transporting products.

Plastic containers

There are many options for plastic containers. These can be square and rectangular bowls with lids, matryoshka bowls that fit one inside the other, slamming sandwich containers like a suitcase. Some models have special plastic dividers to put several dishes in the container at once. Pay attention to the lids - some have valves to release steam when heated, while others must be removed in the microwave.

Pros: low price, low weight, reusable, reheatable
Minuses: there are many fakes made of plastic that is harmful to health

Metal containers with plastic lids

Pros: long service life; You can prepare a dish and take it with you without removing it from the container. It will not wrinkle or lose its shape.
Minuses: higher price, noticeable weight, cannot be placed in the microwave

Vacuum containers

These are plastic containers with a special sealed lid. A miniature pump is built into it, which sucks air from the container, and therefore the products under such a lid are stored longer. There are options with manual pressing (they are cheaper and easier to use, but they do not remove all the air completely), as well as using an electric pump (it is sold with the container and can be powered by mains or battery). Food stored in such containers lasts much longer - up to 2-3 weeks. So that the owner does not forget how many days he has stored meat or cold cuts, there is a special date and month indicator on the lids of expensive containers.

Pros: food is stored for a long time, reusable, can be heated
Minuses: price, difficulty to use (for electric pumps)

Disposable containers

Salads are often sold in bulk in such containers. They are convenient and very cheap (wholesalers ask about 600 rubles for 1000 pieces). But do not wash or use them a second or third time. When exposed to oxygen, light and room temperature, disposable tableware deteriorates. Throw it away immediately after use. By the way, it is also not recommended to heat food in the microwave - place the food on a plate.

Pros: very low price, practically weightless, you can throw it away immediately and don’t have to carry empty dishes home with you
Minuses: fragile, cannot be heated, the lid does not fit tightly, so they are only suitable for hard products.

Thermoses

If you want to carry thick soup to work, choose thermoses with a wide neck. If you prefer broths, traditional thermoses will do. The best choice is small thermoses, why do you need the extra weight?

When purchasing food containers, pay attention to their labeling. The label must contain the name of the manufacturer, its trademark, address and name of the product. The most important thing is that the material from which the container is made and an indication of what products it is intended for must be indicated.

The reason is that not all types of plastic are suitable for storing food. Therefore, study the container carefully before buying: there should be a sign with the image of a glass and fork. If this sign is crossed out, food cannot be stored in this plastic and this box is intended for something completely different, for example, for nails.

The second important factor is that some plastic can be used to store food, but not to reheat it. For example, when heated, polystyrene becomes “toxic”. Under the influence of temperature, styrene is released from it, which can accumulate in internal organs and contribute to certain diseases - for example, cirrhosis of the liver. Therefore, pay attention to the marking - it should contain the inscription "for hot foods" or designation of permissible temperature in numbers. Polypropylene polymer is considered the safest plastic. It is designated by letters RR.

That’s why it’s so important to buy food containers not from cheap Asian brands, but from trusted brands (for example, Tupperware), which guarantee not only quality, but also that the labeling clearly matches the raw materials of the product. Other problems that arise with cheap containers are that the lids may not fit tightly, and food will leak into your bag. Or, if it is a slamming lid, it will soon break at the fold.

Text: Sofya Ponomareva

Eating at a cafe 5 times a week is not a cheap pleasure. Not even to mention the fact that it’s easier to be tempted to eat a higher-calorie or unhealthy dish. But here the question arises: how to take home-cooked food with you to work in a convenient and reliable way? We will answer this today.

What should I bring for food?

If you bring lunches to work irregularly and make do sandwiches, the problem is solved quite simply: the sandwich can be wrapped in foil or cling film so that it does not fall apart, and later put in a plastic or paper bag for safety. An excellent solution in this case would be thick ziplock bags, originally intended for storage in the freezer.

If your sandwich rarely remains appetizing until lunch, try the following:

Wrap the bread separately from the filling. Alternatively, store the bread at work and only take the filling with you.
If you use sauces, take them with you in small containers or bottles and add them just before eating.
Place your sandwich in a plastic container so it doesn't get crushed in your bag on the way to work.

In Soviet times, people took with them to work soup in a glass jar. The idea is clear, but not the most convenient: it’s heavy, fragile and still not perfectly sealed. Now there is a good alternative - plastic containers. To prevent the soup from spilling, you can use a container with a screw-on lid - it will ensure maximum tightness. But it still wouldn’t hurt to be on the safe side: don’t turn the container or bag with it on its side for too long and don’t forget about the plastic bag. I have an inexpensive Bytplast container (pictured below): I don’t carry soups in it, but dishes with sauces don’t leak.

Another way to achieve a seal is to use a rubber layer between the container and the lid, which can be found in many lunchboxes. However, such a layer can become unreliable with constant use, and the tightness also depends on the quality of the fasteners that press the lid to the container.

You can even take lunch with you in a separate bag specially designed for these purposes. There are several advantages here:

load redistribution, beneficial for the back;
easy to clean if food spills inside;
It’s easy to keep food at the desired temperature;
The size of the bag will not limit the portion you would like to eat for lunch, and vice versa.

To get hired full lunch, there's nothing better than a special lunchbox. In Japan, lunches are often packed in oblong containers called bento, which became the ancestor of all lunchboxes. Classic bento is suitable exclusively for dry food (for example, sushi and vegetables) and is used mainly by schoolchildren. The Japanese have made a real art out of bento filling.

Lunchboxes - the European version of bento - have a different number of levels and compartments, so you can always choose the appropriate option among many models. Two levels are convenient because you can heat only one, and leave the second one - with a salad or snack - cold. One or more compartments must be sealed in order to carry, if not soups, then meat and gravy. Another important characteristic - the ability to be used in the microwave - is found in the vast majority of lunchboxes (but not all plastic containers). If you don’t have a microwave at work, a thermal lunchbox can help out by keeping food warm for a long time.

Lunchboxes are more expensive than regular containers, but a high price, unfortunately, is not always a guarantee of their quality. I’m sharing my own experience: we bought my husband a plastic two-tier lunchbox with a bunch of compartments for work (it’s pictured below). I dabbled in putting a variety of food into containers for only three days, then the plastic fastener cracked - the lid no longer holds and does not hold all the levels together. You won't be able to carry food in it to work anymore.

In this regard, I can advise you to choose only high-quality plastic, or even better metal: it can be used to make either the entire lunchbox or individual parts of the structure that bear the load. Particular attention to the material is also necessary because many types of plastic, when heated in the microwave, emit harmful substances that should not be in our food. Lunch boxes usually have labels indicating that the plastic is safe. If you're health conscious, simply transfer the dish to a plate before reheating, or invest in a ceramic lunchbox.

It is useful for the lunchbox to “work” with a different number of parts: for example, today you took two dishes with you on two levels, and tomorrow you want to take only a salad - it is very convenient to take only one compartment so as not to take up extra space in the bag. For example, the lunchbox in the photo below can do this.

Lifehacks

About food:

Organize a supply at your workplace consisting of bread, honey, nuts and dried fruits - these products last a long time, are healthy and can save you if you are late at work or did not have time to take lunch.
Sandwich bread can also be stored at work so it doesn't get soggy along the way.
Buy a bag of apples, tangerines or other similar fruits at least once a week for work: this way you won’t have to carry them with you every day, which is quite difficult, and a healthier alternative to chocolate will always be at hand.
Always keep your salad dressing or sauce in a separate container/bag to add before eating. A small bottle of olive oil and vinegar can also be kept at work.
Ideal if you have a refrigerator at work. If you don’t have one, and food cannot be stored for a long time without it, you can put a bottle of frozen water in the same bag with your lunchbox.

Life:

If you don’t want the lunch you brought from home to limit your rest during your lunch break, make it a habit to go for a walk. In summer, you can eat lunch in the nearest park, and in the cold season, just take a short walk in the remaining time.
If everyone goes to a cafe or canteen, and you don’t want to lose the social component of shared lunches, choose the most interesting interlocutor from among your colleagues and propose an experiment: carry lunches from home for a week or two and calculate the savings. Suddenly he gets involved.
Keep a supply of healthy snacks at work that you can use to save hungry colleagues. Let's hope this kind of generosity returns in spades.

Photos: homedorf.ru, ippinka.com, backtoherroots.com, indulgy.com, magicmag.net, gallerily.com

In the office cafeteria, I decided to take complete control of lunches. That is, bring home-cooked food to work.

My past experience in this area was in the hungry nineties - we all carried thin soup in glass jars to work. I remember then I swore to myself that “never again.” Since then, I've learned a lot, including the fact that I weighed the least while I was cooking myself.

After analyzing the failures, I developed set of simple rules for the work menu. I’ll say right away that they are suitable for those who have a refrigerator and a microwave at work, as well as the ability to wash and cut vegetables and fruits.

Rule one. Buy the right containers

Let's leave banks in the past: they are heavy, fragile and evoke orphan melancholy. I suggest buying small plastic containers designed for freezing food and heating it in the microwave.

I prefer the ones that fit exactly one serving side dish or main dish. They take up less space in the refrigerator, freezer and bag. In addition, lunch in small boxes cannot be shaken into a homogeneous mass, which often happens in large containers. It is physically impossible to put too much food in them.

If we are not talking about vacuum containers made using modern technologies, silver ions and other marketing tricks, food box can be any. Such dishes are inexpensive.

For obvious reasons, rectangular containers fit better in the freezer. It’s good if the lid has a valve for steam to escape, but you can do without it. The lid can be either regular or screw-on.

Keep in mind that containers - even "guaranteed leak-proof" models - will lose their tightness after several months of active use. Change them from time to time and use a plastic bag to protect yourself when you put the container in your bag, otherwise you will end up with sauce on your planner like I did.

Rule two. Make friends with vegetables and fruits

Seasonal salads, such as sauerkraut or grated beets, “tolerate” the commute just fine in a container. But a chopped and seasoned salad made from fresh vegetables will quickly yield juice and begin to deteriorate. This is best prepared right at work.

Check if the working kitchen has a good board? If the plaque is made of wood and has clearly seen better days, you can bring a personalized plastic– it is easy to clean and much more hygienic.

Fruits are a worthy alternative to office tea parties with cookies and pies. To avoid carrying them with me every day (and not adding weight to a heavy bag), I try to buy apples, oranges or tangerines near work once a week. I keep my supplies in a desk drawer.

Rule three. Stock up

You can keep it in a “healthy” desk drawer not only fruits, but also a small bottle of olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar for salad dressing.

Add dried fruits and nuts to your office rations in case of acute hunger, as well as whole grain bread and a pack of oatmeal or buckwheat flakes without additives. These products will help you last the whole day if you didn’t have time to take lunch with you or were late at work.

I also bring honey in small jars - it helps a lot with the desire to immediately eat a kilogram of chocolate.

Another unobvious advantage of healthy supplies: a “stash” will soon make you the most popular person who can always help out hungry colleagues.

Rule four. Break away from the team

Having a rainy day fund will help you become more popular, and that's a great thing. After all, now we have to lose some of the people's love.

When most colleagues bring lunch with them, all you have to do is join them. But if employees prefer to dine in cafes and canteens, they will have to break away from the team and deal with the misunderstanding of others.

Are you embarrassed to say directly that you are tired of unhealthy, fatty and not always fresh food? Come up with comic explanation.

Say that you are doing a survival experiment, testing how much money you can save, learning to cook using new recipes. Refer to the doctor's recommendation or diet, finally! Soon everyone will get used to the fact that you don’t go to the dining room, and they will stop inviting you along.

Rule five. Count your money

If concern for health and the desire to lose weight are not enough to systematically prepare and carry lunches with you, try talking to your “toad”.

The bill for a business lunch in the city center, of course, differs from the price for lunch in a suburban canteen. But in any case, the cost of one meal in an establishment is comparable to the price of a kilogram of chicken, turkey or fish.

In addition, if you cook yourself, you clearly control the composition and freshness of dishes. Accordingly, save on medications for indigestion, poisoning and other problems with the digestive system.

I like to count how many yoga or swimming classes I could get if I stopped eating at the neighborhood cafes. You can also increase your exercise budget by avoiding paper coffee cups and cinnamon rolls from chain coffee shops.

This is the case when the amount spent on yourself does not change. But the terms and the result become different.

So, are you determined to cook your own lunch? Then next week we will discuss what and how to cook when time is short, and most importantly, how to store it all.

According to all healthy eating standards, lunch is considered the most strategically important meal of the day. So missing it is a crime. As well as replacing a properly balanced lunch with monotonous and incomplete snacks. Therefore, I suggest you make it a rule to never neglect lunch. And cooking it yourself is not difficult at all, even if you have minimal free time. But first things first – let’s talk about the “formula” for the perfect lunch, simple recipes and the most necessary “arsenal”.

“Formula” for the perfect office lunch

Your lunch must include:

complex carbohydrates(whole grain products);
fats– (vegetable oil, avocado, nuts);
cellulose(vegetables, greens, unsweetened fruits, bran);
squirrels(legumes, meat, fish, dairy products, eggs).

This balance will make you feel great and keep you full for a long time. Here is an ideal example of a balanced lunch: a salad of fresh vegetables with herbs (more than half of the total lunch volume), rice (about a third of the volume), chicken (about a quarter). As you can see, all this fits perfectly into a standard lunch box:

"Magic" boxes

There are such a huge number of lunch boxes on sale now that the choice of convenient food containers depends only on your appetites and needs. If your office does not have a microwave, purchase a thermos container:

Or a special thermal cover that will keep lunch hot:

Well, if you have a microwave, the most convenient thing is multi-section lunch boxes, each cell of which can, if necessary, be heated individually:

Three universal recipes

1. Pasta salad with vegetables and ham

What do you need?

200 g pasta, 200 g cherry tomatoes, 150 g ham, 100 g olives, 2 tbsp. l. white wine vinegar, 2 tbsp. l. olive oil, 1 tsp. mustard, salt.

How to cook?

Boil pasta in salted water according to package instructions.
Cut the tomatoes into halves.
Cut the ham into cubes.
Make a sauce from oil, vinegar and mustard and dress the salad.
Mix everything and add salt.

2. Zucchini casserole with minced meat

What do you need?

5 medium zucchini, 500 g minced meat, 2 medium onions, 500 g tomatoes, 4 eggs, 200 g sour cream, 2 tbsp. tomato paste, 100 g hard cheese, 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, salt, pepper.

How to cook?

Prepare the minced meat - fry finely chopped onion in oil in a deep frying pan, add tomato paste and minced meat. Stir, salt and pepper.
Beat the eggs, add sour cream to the egg mixture.
Grind the zucchini on a coarse grater, add salt, and squeeze out the juice.
Grate the cheese and cut the tomatoes into plastic pieces.
Place half the zucchini in a greased pan. Then add a layer of minced meat and cover with zucchini.
Place plastic tomatoes on top and fill with egg-sour cream mixture.
Sprinkle with cheese and place in an oven preheated to 180 C for 30 minutes.

3. Stuffed peppers and tomatoes

What do you need?

2 large tomatoes, 2 large sweet red peppers, 2 tbsp. l. olive oil, 350 g rice, 100 g donated almonds, a bunch of parsley, salt, pepper.

How to cook?

Cut off the tops of the tomatoes. Use a spoon to scoop out the pulp, but don’t throw it away, you’ll need it later.
Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds.
Place the peppers and tomatoes in a baking dish and drizzle lightly with olive oil.
Finely chop the onion, chop the parsley.
Grind the remaining tomato pulp.
Fry the onion until golden brown.
Then add the tomato pulp, rice and herbs to the pan. Stir, simmer for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.
Add roasted almonds, previously coarsely chopped.
Stuff the vegetables with rice. Place in an oven preheated to 200 C for 35-40 minutes.

Illustrations: etsy.com, lelong.com.my, aliexpress.com, talkyland.com, costablanca.ee, mujeres.elsol.com.ar, shop-from-china.com