Do you use a brown bag, or do you have an actual lunchbox? Is it insulated? How much food do you bring, and what types of food?

Thanks in advance, I'm super interested by this type of relatively mundane stuff.

For myself I usually bring some kind of sandwich in a paper bag, nuts/dried fruit in the bags they come in from the store, and tea in a thermos. All of those things in my backpack.

Two rye bread sandwiches wrapped in paper towel and put inside a minigrip bag.
Coffee in a thermos with a wool sock around it and a plastic bag around that for insulation.
A small jug of milk.
Water.

I've been eating the same thing every single day for well over 5 years.

Whatever hubs feels like throwing in a bag for me. He's done everything from box frozen dinner to meal prepped frozen dinner, restaurant leftovers, a sandwich meal from the shop he's a part timer at, fresh cooked food, and one time he custom wrapped Philly roll style rice balls for me. Then some weeks it's nothing and I eat pistachios out of the vending machine (although work added a refrigerated machine with heatable meals so that'll be an upgrade).

TLDR; I eat and get fucked really well when my husband is manic. He's kind of an asshole though and I have to hide my credit card, so it's not really worth leaving him like that.

I pack my spouse's lunch every morning. One of our prepped meals, a small dish of almonds, 2 cookies, 2 peanut mini butter cups, a nalgene of lemon water, and a spork.

As for lunch bag, she has a collection of different dino or space themed bags that we cycle through depending on her mood.

I usually do a sandwich and some nuts in an insulated lunch box with an ice pack to keep it cold

It's changed over the years, but right now I usually have a sandwich wrap, some small fruit, and something else relatively healthy. All in reusable bags or containers, inside an insulated bag. Sometimes it's leftovers. I'm tracking my calories and macros at the moment so work lunch is usually 500 to 700 calories. 

Don’t you get tired of the same taste?

I’ve been packing both breakfast and lunch lately. Breakfast is simple - a yogurt, banana and protein bar, and that’s been my go-to for a while.

Lunch varies. Sometimes it’s a frozen meal, leftovers from dinner, this week it’s ham and swiss on whole grain bread. Haven’t thought ahead to next week though.

Not really. It's just fuel.

Usually it’s dinner leftovers in a plastic lunch box with a fruit. At work there is a microwave and some cutlery and plates, so I can even plate my food.

I rationally understand your point, I just can’t live like that.

I don't.

Don't eat until dinner time.

My debit card allows me to exchange electronically verifiable records - here representing money - for lunch, which I guess is the how and the what. I make sure to always carry my debit card with. But just to stretch the "what do you pack" to "what do you end up eating", most often I buy some LCHF salad and a piece of smoked salmon or the likes, which usually costs me $5-7. I hate eating until saturated/feeling full and it makes me sleepy and less productive anyway.

Brown rice, jalapeno, red onion, Sriracha, any other veg I have kicking around, and some protein in a glass container. Heat up, and add freshly-shredded cheese (shredded that morning and kept in another small container with an ice pack) and enjoy.

Salad (usually shredded cabbage), homemade balsamic vinaigrette, carrot, red onion, bell pepper, shredded cheese, gluten free knekkebrød (Kindy seedy crackers/flatbreads) for crunch. Sometimes I'd add chicken or salmon.

Seems like we're pretty similar.

When I used to pack a lunch it was always a sandwich, a piece of fruit and usually something chocolate like a KitKat or a Twix (or some off-brand equivalent).

Sandwich often had some kind of lettuce, meat slice and maybe some other salad vegetable. Bread varied. Wholemeal some days, white others, depending on what loaf I was working through at home.

Fruit was generally apple, Gala preferred, although the rare ones that tasted amazing got more and more rare towards when I eventually gave up apples due to digestive issues. Occasionally easy-peel oranges of some variety. Satsumas or tangerines.

The sandwich went in a plastic, self-sealing sandwich bag to stop it falling apart. Everything then went into a plastic sandwich box to prevent things getting squashed in my backpack.

If I was going somewhere without drink making facilities, which was almost never, I would pack a flask of tea. Hot with milk pre-added. Can't remember when I sweetened it, it's been so long.

When this was for work, I already had my own tea-bags and sugar at my desk because the company-provided stuff was always terrible and/or contaminated somehow. Some filthy animal always put their tea or coffee-soaked spoon into the sugar bowl, because f--k everyone else, I guess. Anyway, I mention this because it might count as part of the packed lunch, since I brought it, even if it wasn't strictly brought every day along with the main items.

Edit to add: I sometimes used to pack a re-used 500ml plastic pop bottle with diluted squash in it as an alternative to tea. That would have been during summer.

Additional #2: I went through a phase of buying lunch at a local shop every day to save time preparing food in a morning, and realised with horror that it was costing me a four figure sum per year to do that. That gave me more impetus to make my own darn lunch!

Leftover dinner in a plastic box. Reheated in the microwave at work. Carried by hand to and from my car.

You chill your nuts?

I have stainless containers with silicone lids. Turkey sandwich with cranberry goat cheese on ciabatta and a side of cheese crackers, and something like a rice krispie treat for a late afternoon snack.

I can't remember how long I've been eating that, but it's simple and I haven't grown tired of it. My wife makes it for me, and I make her a nice fancy coffee every morning in exchange.

I’d love to swap lunches with several here. I can offer Norwegian matpakke in trade.

I can do the same with breakfast but for some reason my brain can't handle that with lunch. Thanks for being expensive brain.

I don't, there's a canteen where I work.

Plastic lunch box though my gf has a glass one, and it seems better, i'll probably get one someday.

Most of the times, i cook dinner for 3 so i can get a portion for lunch the next day, so what i eat depends on the previous day, pasta, pizza, risotto, etc. Sometimes i'll add a cookie if i have some on hand. And for the how much, i tend to overcharge a bit, i prefer feeling stuffed than still feeling hungry after eating.

thermos with a wool sock around it and a plastic bag

Ever thought of getting one that actually works?

With extra insulation even that one would work better.

I'd trade for matpakke. You guys look to have a lot of ingredients we don't get here in the US like all kinds of cheeses, pate, that caviar in a tube, different breads, etc. A lot of pics had cucumber in them though. I have yet to find any form of cucumber I enjoy, so skip that and we have a deal.

These are the little containers I have, but my lids are orange.

I bring 3 oranges, a sandwich (surprising, I know), a yogurt, water and generally a gatorade.

I really like oranges, and this way I have fresh fruit every day. Bananas check a lot of the same boxes for portability and convenience, but I mainly only like them when they're still green so it's not always easy to have them consistently through a work week.

The sandwich can be almost anything, since I tend to swap sandwich ingredients weekly, but I really like sourdough so that's my staple bread most of the time.

I usually just wrap a bocata with aluminium foil.

I have 3 mandarins almost every day! Otherwise my lunch is just whatever leftovers we prepared recently: penne marinara, red beans and rice, mac & cheese, gnocchi soup, chicken wild rice soup, beyond burgers. Sometimes I'm unprepared and just drink a Soylent. I use a cloth shopping bag to carry it all, each in glass or plastic reusable containers.

I live in an 18-wheeler for most of the week; I keep a mini-fridge behind my passenger seat. It's mostly there for drinks, but I save some shelf space for sandwich supplies. Deli meats, cheeses, etc., plus some occasional treats in the freezer. I generally just slap a sandwich together, maybe pop it in the toaster oven for a bit, and then I'm off again.

My microwave gets some occasional action, and every now and then I'll use my coffee maker to boil some ramen. I'm also thinking about hooking up a crockpot for this winter, have soups or stews going while I'm driving all day. Just depends on what food I bring onto the truck; convenience store and vending machine prices hurt my wallet, so I try to stay away from those.

Berries included?

Usually whatever leftovers from dinner. In a glass pyrex container in a lunchbox that fits in my saddlebag on my motorcycle. If there are no leftovers, usually a sandwich of some kind with chips and fruit.

Best feeling in the world.

Whatever I put in the fridge. I work from home, and I enjoy cooking, so the cantina at work is great.

I think those are either a new addition or AI. Mine came empty, likely for the better. Plus those strawberries look very small.

Trader Joe's salad and a fruit. any heavier and I'm sluggish all afternoon. And the vitamins seem to give me energy instead.

no job so I just grab or make stuff whenever. when I work in an office I mostly pick up something local unless there are leftovers or such that are easy to bring which happens once in awhile. sometimes I would fast cuz it was easier to do at an office away from temptations.

Small insulated lunch bag (cheap) - and almost always some kind of sandwich. Leftovers from the weekend dinners too. I eat in my car as the lunch room is an awkward silence

One sandwich with 3 pieces of ham rolled up and a single slice of cheese under the meat. With that I bring a string cheese and a 12 ounce soda.

I've been using the same cooler for years, just a simple Coleman one with an icepack in it.

You know how much your truck jostles around better than me, but there are crockpots with rubber sealed lids and locks to keep it shut that might be good!

That sounds amazing tbh damn

Legit, but I would be too hungryy

Nice! And the picture! Well done.

I’ve been eating the same thing every single day for well over 5 years.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

OP I'm curious what your reasoning is behind using a paper bag. I put my lunches (usually just dinner leftovers) in a reusable bag or lunch bag, and that is mostly to keep things clean if there's leaks.

I can't imagine that a paper bag would do much if something leaked, and they're more difficult to carry (though I guess not if you have handles). Plus you can't reuse them forever. No judgment, just genuinely curious if there's some benefit I'm not seeing.

The bags themselves are "free" because I bring home other stuff (mostly bulk dry goods) from the store in them, and I don't really put anything that would leak into them. I typically reuse the same bag for at least a few days until it gets messed up. I have been thinking about getting a lunchbox, though, just because they're neat, hence this thread.

I usually do a smoothie in the morning that works as a brunch of sorts that includes:

Oats, chia seeds, benefiber, magnesium, frozen berries, maybe a banana, nut-butter, maybe a scoop of protein powder.

I work in sales (ironic, I’m anti-capitalist) barely take breaks and like to not die from colon cancer so it fits my lifestyle.

I always pack two meals. I can’t eat much in the mornings, so I pack a breakfast and a lunch. Before work I usually just have something really small, either a small bowl of cereal or a single slice of toast or maybe a small muffin or something. Then I pack a wrap of some kind for my first real meal. I’ve been a big fan of Buffalo wraps the last 6 months or so, but I’ll mix it up sometimes with something else. Today was more of a citrus marinade with chicken thighs and rice. Then for my second meal, usually leftovers from whatever I had for supper the night before. In the odd chance I don’t have anything left over, I’ll make something the night before that resembles a typical supper meal, or maybe buy something but that’s pretty rare.

I have it in an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack as my lunch usually hangs out in my car the whole day.

It's honestly really good! And all Aldi ingredients, so it's cheap. Was even better when I was working from home, as I could warm it in the toaster oven!

Rye bread is just that good.

My job has a canteen, so I spent several years eating there.

This year, they increased their prices at the same time as my rent went up, so I've started bringing in my own lunch. Every couple of Sundays, I make a huge pot of brown rice and beans and parcel it out into takeaway containers. Those things are airtight and hold enough for a sensible meal.

You get used to it after a week or two. The trouble is, if you eat anything before your normal eating time, you've awoken the beast and will feel ravenous when you would normally not feel hungry at all

5 identical glass Tupperware. Usually it's a can of refried beans, 2 chopped green peppers, chopped sweet onion, small bag of frozen corn, and brown rice with a packet of taco seasoning mixed in. All divided roughly equal between the 5 containers.

Been doing this for like a decade. Used to have broccoli, chicken, pork, mushrooms, and other stuff but more or less the same idea. Been trying to go more vegetarian/vegan over the years.

I love it. I love spending 1 hour on Sunday to make all my lunches for the week.