Day 4: Build up a stock of useful plastic containers
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around planning and making it easier to eat well. If you’re following this group of posts, they’re marked by the picture on the left.
I work from home several days a week, but on the other days I go into clinic and see clients. These tend to be long days, so I usually pack a lunch box.
This will include my lunch, plus some snacks. Stuff that’s going to keep me from getting hungry.
Taking your lunch to work saves money. But it’s also nutritionally a better strategy. Taking your lunch means you can control what you eat. It means you’re getting a better balanced meal. Plus you’re avoiding the high fat, high sugar, high sodium options that are found in most food halls.
But to take your lunch into work requires some organisation. And one of the best steps I ever took, to make this easier was building up a stock of plastic containers.
Why is this important?
These are photographs of my favourite food carrying containers. The ones I use most frequently.
It’s all about making it easier to eat well – one of the central themes of 31 Days to a Better Diet. And these food containers mean:
- I can transport a wide variety of foods to work, which stops me from getting bored and distracted by the local cafe.
- I’m able to separate out different foodstuffs, which stops them from getting soggy.
- We don’t have a microwave at clinic, so I can take something hot in the thermos. I regularly use this for soups.
- The different containers mean if I’m running late I can pack whole ingredients and then assemble when I’m at work. I often do this with sandwiches and salads. Packing a handful of lettuce, a whole tomato, half a cucumber in one container and then using separate ones for the bread and a filling.
- Everything is leak proof, so nothing oozes out into my bag.
- They’re all dishwasher safe, so I can bring home and don’t have to spend time handwashing individual containers.
- The different sizes allow flexibility in what I take.
- The little containers mean I can pack hummous, a dressing, some cottage cheese, a tub of yoghurt – smaller quantities of ingredients from larger container.
Today’s task
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is to get yourself a selection of plastic containers.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on this. While I have a couple of Tupperware containers, one of my best buys was the clear plastic container in the photo on the right. It’s a little Bento style box, which I bought from a Korean grocery shop for just A$4.00. It has three sections, which means you can put three different foods in there. I’ve used it to transport combinations of carrot sticks, home-made muffins, hummous, bread, fruit salads, yoghurt, crackers – without any spilling or cross-contamination.
Food containers are available from supermarkets, reject shops, department stores and online. Make sure you get ones with tight lids which form a good seal, to prevent leakages. And buy two or three different sizes, to give you lunch-time flexibility.
Good, useful food containers of different sizes make it easier to take your lunch to work. Which makes it easier to eat well.
What food containers are in your cupboard?
Shopping list photograph by Hannah Boettcher.
04 August, 2008
Comments
Plenty of containers also means you can freeze things so you can make a double of a meal and set them aside in the freezer for another time or in smaller containers for lunch. Great if you know a busy week is coming up soon.
I highly recommend lock & lock containers. They come in a variety of sizes with individual segmented containers inside that can taken out if required.
We also reuse chinese takeaway containers. Handy for freezing soups/stews etc for easy meals later on.
Like the idea of the thermos.
i love tupperware. i use it for so many things. I have also recently bought some smaller containers from the supermarket which i use to make midafternoon snacks – plain yoghurt with forzen berries, cinnamon and honey. Or home made guacomole i snack on with carrot sticks.
I also freeze a lot of soup in the chinese take away containers
Also, if you have a decent sized fridge at work make use of it and go shopping in your lunch hour one day for a small handful of basics and store them in the fridge. I often keep some avocado (as a spread instead of marg), some bread, a bag of salad, wholegrain mustard, and some deli meat on occasion. Then I just bring in extras from home each day, knowing some of the ingredients are already there waiting for me.
(Note: I’ve read that it’s not a good idea to re-heat the chinese takeaway containers; pour the contents into a bowl before re-heating. Or Safeway/Coles sell a pyrex dish with plastic lids – a little more expensive, but come in all sizes and are great for soups also.)
I might skip this one :P my plastic container cupboard is already well out of control!
Plain old zip lock bags are also fabulous! They are the easiest plastic container to store, and can be washed and reused many, many times and come in a wide range of sizes. So great for kids stuff too! ALDI make a great, cheap bag if your into them!
I’m also on the zip lock bag train… the challenge for me is being extra-conscious and making sure I re-use them!
I have the same problem as Gwenyth, my plastic container cupboard is ridiculous. So my challenge for myself is to clear out all the useless junk (containers with missing lids, broken containers, etc) and reorganise the space to be more useful. Store the lids with the containers they go with, store similar sizes together, etc.
I’ve posted my first post about this 31 day challenge on my blog and will be posting my progress every week.
http://shouldyoueatthat.blogspot.com/2008/08/31-days-to-better-diet-challenge.html
I couldn’t live without my plastic containers. They are SO useful in so many different ways.
My challenge with carrying lunch around with me is that I live somewhere where it´s warm (25C and over typically for 8-9 months of the year). I´m a dancer and rush between classes and practices with things in a rucksack, so I usually end up just taking nuts, seeds and fruit with me, because those things don´t melt. I´ve tried using refrigerated containers, but those things are heavy. Dance studios, at least here, don´t usually have fridges! I already walk around with dance shoes, so I don´t want to carry too much more extra weight on my back. Any suggestions for lunches that are light and safe to carry around all day in high temperatures without spoiling?
Best thing about them is being able to freeze food (mostly leftovers) for lunch the next day or a few difficult days down the track. I also do the thing of buying fresh produce and keeping them in the fridge at work for assembling a healthy lunch but the problem is that I tend to get bored with my lunch by day 3, and there is always the race to get through the food before it goes off.
Best idea since: finding a lunch buddy and we just plow through the food during the week together.
Sue: my favourite container in the pictures on the right is a lock-and-lock. And I’m also a fan of ziplock bags.
While I agree about Chinese takeaway containers being great for freezing foods, I find they can leak in your bag, if you’re not careful. Which can be both annoying and disappointing!
Jenaveve: thanks for all your suggestions, they’re really good ideas. Having small tins of fish and 3-bean mix are also useful for work lunches.
Iona: that’s a more tricky situation. My suggestions:
An example of this strategy. Yesterday was a clinic day and I had meetings & clients from 10.30am – 7.30pm. I had lunch out with my clinic partner, but needed snacks to keep me going in the afternoon.
I used two of the small containers and packed a date and walnut muffin in one, and then some cottage cheese topped with muesli, dried fruit and honey in the other.
Top good snacks, full of nutrition that also kept me going until I got home for dinner.
Thanks for your suggestions, Kathryn. I assume the beans and tuna would be fine taken out of the tin and carried in a plastic container? Tins are too heavy. I don´t tend to carry water for the same reason (many places have water fountains or I buy mineral water). Muffins sound like a good, light option, especially as I could make them with carrot or butternut squash puree to get in some veggies. The cherry tomatoes sound good too. I love the look of the lunch boxes, but I doubt they are available here. I rely on Ziplock bags, which I can get here, since the plastics here can be a bit dodgy – there is no testing or regulation of food products.
Yes carry the beans or tuna in plastic containers – these could go in bags. You could also make some fritters and carry these around with you. Try ebay for the laptop lunchboxes?
I love this post, I have recently discovered Lock & Lock and am building up my collection. The tiny containers are wonderful as you can put salad dressing in them and they simply do not leak.
Iona, I often have a bean salad for lunch, made with frozen mixed beans, if I make it in the morning the beans defrost by lunchtime and also keep the salad cool.
Kathryn,
Re the reuse of Chinese food containers I make frozen home made ready meals in them and take them to work frozen. Come lunchtime they are defrosted and no leakage. They also make a useful cold pack when overheating on the tube too!
Leave a comment