Who ever knew that buying a re-usable lunch box or tote would take so much time, energy and research. I have spent the past week searching for the perfect item to take my lunch to work. Well, I should correct that, it is really a meal carrier. I am on a “clean” eating plan (following Body for Life Nutrition) which involves eating 6 small meals a day. Four of these meals, are consumed during the work day which requires a certain amount of preparation on my part. Every day, I bring my breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, and mid-afternoon snack to the office. The ideal meal carrier must be:
- Insulated. This rules out grocery bags and tote bags that I have received at conferences.
- Lead Free. Apparently there was lead in kid’s lunch boxes? Who knew? Explains a lot about those dorky kids who brought lunch every day to school (ha-ha). You know the ones.
- A decent size. The current lunch box barely fits my container and I have to jam fruit, or additional containers in the bag. It has to be at least 10 inches diagonally with 7-10 inches in depth.
- Easy to carry. This means a shoulder strap would be ideal since I carry so many things to work.
- Aesthetically pleasing. Something cute would be ideal…and it would be even more helpful if it is somewhat feminine.
I narrowed it down to three choices, the Built NY Extra Relish LunchTote
the Mr/Ms. Bento Stainless Steel lunch jar
and the The Spring Los Angeles Berry Bliss Large Tote
I do love that the Built NY Lunch totes are made of neoprene (the same fabric used in wetsuits) and is machine washable. It is also stretchy so it will accommodate several different sized containers. Now the Zojirushi Mr Bento offers a very convenient way to bring your lunch, if you bring everything in a closed container. It is designed for the Japanese meal and definitely helps with portion control. The Built NY tote on the other hand, is super cute, comes in many colors and people will think I’m carrying some enviro-friendly handbag, not a lunch box. The Mr. Bento resembles a camping thermos (boring) and I read that the Mr/Ms. Bento is not to be placed in the dishwasher (um, then what do I wash it with….don’t even say my hands). I also read that they leak (ick) and they just aren’t cute. However, they have 254 reviews on Amazon.com and have a 4.5/5.0 star rating. I also visited ebags.com, looked at L.L. Bean.com‘s bags, among others. No dice.
I finally made the decision last night to get the Built NY Extra Relish lunch tote and clicked “Buy Online” and got a blank page. I was devastated. So today I went to the brick-and-mortar stores listed on the Built NY website as carrying their products. One of them didn’t exist (hit by the recession?) and the other only had a laptop bag. I also found a couple of the lunch bags at Staples, but they didn’t have straps. How could they lead me on like this! I sent an email to Built NY and hope it’s just a website glitch and they will respond and let me order the bag. It’s not yet available on Amazon.com so for now I sit and wait. Next week, I will bring my lunch to work in a substandard carrier. If anyone has any suggestions that will meet the criteria above, by all means, please comment! I will do a review of the finalist once I have my purchase in hand!
Update: I have recently added the Spring Los Angeles Berry Bliss Large Lunch Tote which is super cute and seems large enough to suit my needs. It also has a square bottom that would easily accommodate the square containers I use for my food. It doesn’t have a shoulder strap, but how cute are these? I might just pull the trigger on this purchase!
Oooh.. the Built NY Bag is super cute, and I love the funky shape and material! I hope you find it! That one’s my choice.
[...] This is reason #4,232 that I plan to drive my paid off 2002 Jetta into the ground. Figure out what you need, stop living in excess, and bring your own lunch. [...]
I reuse plastic bags until they have holes in them and they no longer can hold anything without something dropping out. I figure this is ME being green rather then tossing the plastic bags out and ending up in some landfill. Looks ghetto, but whatever.
Yah, that’s pretty ghetto. LOL. I use my plastic bags for doggie poop.
Ramona,
What bag did you end up purchasing? I’d love to get an update because I am in exactly the same predicament. I eat clean and eat very small “meals” every 2 hours. I need a bag large enough to take 6-16 oz. Tupperware containers to work each day (2 extra in case I end up staying late) & preferably insulated. Any suggestions you have will be extremely helpful. BTW, Amazon is fully stocked in the Built NY bags now. Thanks!
Okay, I just discovered (in another post) that you ended up getting the Built NY bag. Yippee, I have been eying that one also! I’ll ask my questions under that post. Thanks!