National Brown Bag-it Day 

May 25th is National Brown Bag-It Day. Packing your lunch can sound like a great idea in theory, but it isn’t always easy in practice. It takes planning, preparation and time you may not have. Brown bag lunches can also get pretty boring if creative meal prep isn’t your thing,  

Here are a few shortcuts to make brown-bagging faster and easier: 

Collect some sturdy, leakproof containers for transporting your lunch. If you’ll be using a microwave at lunch, be sure to get glass instead of plastic. If you’re using separate containers instead of a bento box, invest in an insulated bag.

If you don’t mind leftovers, the fastest way to pack your lunch is to double up on dinner recipes and then pack the leftovers for lunch the next day. This is easiest if you have access to a refrigerator and microwave at work. However, if you don’t, you can microwave your food in the morning and use insulated containers to keep it hot until lunch.  

You can use Sunday afternoon to put together a little assembly line for making 5 identical weekday lunches. This is a timesaver for people who don’t mind eating the exact same thing five days in a row.  

Here are a few shortcuts to make brown-bagging tastier:

Think beyond the standard sandwich. Reimagining the Sandwich | Rush Memorial Hospital

For freshness and flavor, try bento boxes. Bento Packs a Lunch that Packs a Punch | Rush Memorial Hospital

Nothing adds flavor like spices. Keep salt and pepper (or another favorite spice) at the office if you can. If not, pack some in a couple of tiny spice containers.

Pack a variety of flavors: sweet, salty, tart or sour…..whatever appeals to you.

Everyone has their own favorite foods. Pack at least one special thing each day. This gives you something to look forward to.