How do you pack your lunch? What do you use to keep your soup safe and your sandwich well-contained. Do you use a tiffin? A plastic box? An insulated tote? We get lots of questions and requests on this topic, so we thought we'd turn it over to you and find out how our readers carry their lunches every day.
Do you go bento-style? Do you use an old-fashioned paper bag? We'd love to hear your best tips and smart ideas for packing a good lunch and transporting it to work. What products have worked best for you?
More lunchboxes:
• Packing a Lunch? 9 Useful and Cool Lunchboxes and Bags (pictured above)
• A Colorful Lunchbox: Eva Hand Painted Tiffin (pictured above)
• Lunch Bag Art! Bags Painted By Dad, For Kids
• Recycled Lunch Box: Tyvek Lunch Bag
• Lunchbox Search: Oilcloth Lunch Bags
• Tiffin Lunch Pails at World Market
(Images: Sammo Lunch Bags; Nkuku)

Comments (19)
Lock and Locks are really the only lunch box - I don't carry a separate lunch bag, so everything has to be secure enough not to spill in my purse!
I and my fiance both have a bento-style lunchbox with an insulated tote from http://www.laptoplunches.com. We love them! Makes it super simple to plan out healthy lunches with just right portion sizes. He says his co-workers often comment on the lunches that I make for him (in a good way!) :-D
We each have an insulated lunch thingie. Works for us.
I have a built lunch tote - works well for me, though I need better storage containers to keep inside since I always bring leftovers, and I've had things like soup spill out of my weak tupperware. I also sometimes bring dinner if I'm going out after work, and on those days I wish I had something bigger
I carry a lunch tote that I think is supposed to be a book bag and pack my lunch in recycled containers. I have a fridge at work so I just throw everything in there and wash the dishes when I get home. Sometimes when I leave my house with my purse, lunch, and gym bag I feel like a pack animal though.
I use my little Chico bag. It opens big enough to hold whatever, but squishes into a pouch small enough to chuck in my purse. That way, I won't leave it at work like I used to do all the time with lunch boxes/totes.
I love the Planetbox.com lunchbox & lunchbag. It's made of stainless steel so no worries about plastics. There are separate compartments for each food, but everything is visible at once, which helps insure that my kids actually know what all is in their lunch, which translates into their lunch getting eaten. And the separate compartments help me to pack a balanced lunch. I wash the lunch container in the dishwasher. There is a space for a cold pack in the bag. (No, I don't get a kickback from Planetbox!) Works great for my kids and for me too.
I pack my daughter's lunch everyday obento style, in one of those cute Japanese boxes and then, into an insulated obento bag or a Built lunch tote (love this since it is flexible and fits all kinds of odd shaped obento boxes!
When I was growing up I always used a vintage coffee pail my Uncle Joe made, with a gingham napkin wrapped all around an apple and a sandwich.
i have an insulated, zippered Artic Zone lunch tote that my mom bought me when i started college about 12 years ago. inside i just use basic tupperware, recycled food containers, or sometimes a small glass jar if i'm packing something leaky. i have a fridge at work, so no need for a cold pack, but i'm sure i could fit one in if i needed. i like it because it has a nice carrying strap that I can clip my Klean Kanteen to, and it fits nicely into my bike basket. it also has an outside pocket for silverware, napkins, etc.
Luckily my office has a fridge any my commute is short, so I just carry my leftovers in their container and a drink in a little Hello Kitty tote I found in the $1 section at Target. It's silly but it makes me happy.
While there is a fridge in the room next to my office there is rarely enough room so I bring lunch in an insulated lunchbag with an ice-brick.
I bought a insulated lunch bag at the llbean outlet in maine, my daughter has one that's lasted her 6 years so I decided to invest in one. It's blue iwth orange sharks on it so it makes quite the fashion statement!
@aafilipp: Yes.
we use a combo of tiffins, glass-lock containers and those klip-it sandwich cubes with dividers to pack lunches. sandwiches and tacos do well in the sandwich cube. salads, pastas and other non-drippy meals in the tiffin and the glass-lock containers for leak proof. have a couple of thermos to transport yogurts and hot soups.
I have a blue insulated lunch bag from the Columbia store in Portland; it was cheap and the only lunch bag I could find that was big enough for my two Klean Kanteen bottles, a mug for afternoon coffee, a homemade granola bar for mid-morning, and--oh, yeah--my lunch.
I've totally gotten into bentos (I use a laptop lunch box and for soupy stuff old school thermos) http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-bento-box-rocks.html I love it. It make me feel like a kid at recess :) They are a great way to make sure my meal is balanced (I do high protein, low carb for health reasons) but the best part is they encourage me to get out of the house/office and get fresh air, soak up some sunshine, Vit. D more too.
My son is allergic to peanuts; especially when he was younger, I worried about making a clean surface for him to eat on. Eventually this evolved to the lunch wrap, which we now sell online. (http://www.luluwraps.com) They are furoshiki made for toting food - a square of cloth with with a matching napkin and a water resistant lining. You just knot the corners and *voila*! They adapt to the shape of the contents, so they tote any take out, bento boxes, soup thermi, jars, subs, whatever.
Currently using a rather beat up metal lunch box. I'd like to turn it into some sort of storage and get something that fits my water bottle, rather than having to lug it along separately.