Bring Lunch Everyday - Gear Up!

August 28, 2023

(cover image credit: Ella Olsson)

If it's convenient, easy, tasty, meaty, ricey, pretty or any other factor I haven't mentioned yet that you can add a "t" to the back yet, I would assume everyone would want to bring lunch every day... I think🤔, instead of spending at least $8 daily on a semi-satisfying lunch. And that's what we're going to discuss here. Not about what to cook yet, but what gear is needed to prepare your microwavable office lunch at home and some other factors.

Storage

The number one annoyance (for me)? Food storage. The main issue I encountered while prepping for the entire week is not having enough Tupperware, and usually, they are all in different sizes. This means they don’t stack well in the fridge, taking up a lot of room! So, my first piece of advice is to buy a set of identical Tupperware containers that will suffice for 5 days' worth of packing.

Personally, I always opt for glass Tupperware when dealing with high heat, like microwaving lunch at the office:

	Ikea 365+ $6.99/ea
	Brieftons Glass Meal Prep Containers $5.99/ea
	M MCIRCO Glass Meal Prep Containers 2 Compartments $7/ea
	3-Cup/24 Ounce Glass Food Storage Containers $8/ea
	Souper Cubes 1/2 Cup Freezing Tray with lid $34.99

Utensils

I love my silverwares. Not all companies provide silverwares, some even provide plastic utensils...so thoughtful. I hate them for all kind of reasons. Get your own set is the best way to go:

	INKULEER Travel cutlery set
	Outlery \| Portable & Reusable Stainless Steel Travel Cutlery

Protein Prep

Another annoying part is the meat. The cooking can be intimidating to some, and the storage can only last up to 4 days in the fridge. So to make it simpler, here is a simple break down that hopefully can be more encouraging:

To Buy - If you have absolutely no desire to handle meat, store-bought rotisserie chicken and steamed protein from Chinese takeout will be your friends. These choices of protein have basic to no seasoning, which won’t interfere with whichever sauce or dressing you decide to have for the day.

To Freeze - If you plan on cooking the protein ahead of time on the weekend and using it later in the week, opt for ground or lean protein. The freezer can change the texture of protein, and lean protein seems to be affected the least. And ground protein, well, it's already ground, so the differences are not significant enough.

Freshly Cook Every Day - I personally prefer preparing my meat fresh daily. My Ninja Foodi pressure cooker and air fryer simplify the cooking process immensely. Without it, steaming and baking are the least demanding methods and require minimal supervision for protein preparation. You can easily find some basic steaming and baking instruction online.