Whether as a breakfast box, lunch box for adults or lunch box for the next day - meal prepping is more trendy than ever and is incredibly practical in everyday life.
If you travel a lot and can't manage to cook, but don't want to buy anything, you can easily take your food with you in a meal prep box.
When looking for the right food storage box, you'll come across countless models, especially on Amazon, but it's not always easy to make the right choice.
Find out what is important for a lunch box, the different aspects in comparison and how to find the right one for you here.
Bread tins and lunch boxes - that's what matters
As the term meal prep suggests, the trend is all about cooking meals in advance, which are then stored in tins and taken away. This way of eating not only saves you time and money, but also allows you to keep control of your diet. This can be particularly beneficial if you don't want to keep buying ready meals and want to eat something other than unhealthy fast food.
Whether it's for a protein snack after sport, a healthy lunch for university or a snack for nursery or school - food storage containers are needed everywhere and come in a wide variety of designs.
It basically depends on what the lunch box is used for. If you don't get to cook during the week, but still want to eat something freshly cooked at work, you will probably need a different food storage box than for a school child.
Material
If you are looking for a lunch box, you will find a wide range of different materials. Whether it's a glass lunch box or a stainless steel lunch box - each material has a different purpose and comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.
The right food storage container - glass or plastic? When choosing the material, many people also consider environmental and health aspects, which is why food storage containers with BPA are often not used. You can find out more about the dangers of BPA here. (Article link BPA)
For a child at school or kindergarten, for example, lightweight lunch boxes are particularly important. If you use a glass lunch box, it might be too heavy for the backpack or bag and could break if the child is not careful. A stainless steel box with a swing top could also be difficult for children's hands to open.
As you can see, it is important to consider how the person in question will handle the tin and what it will be used for. If you mainly store liquids or food such as soups and sauces in the boxes, the can should definitely be airtight with a lid.Jar food storage containers with wooden lids are particularly popular at the moment, as they can be made entirely without plastic and can be sealed airtight.
If you are interested in meal prep because you like freshly cooked food, borosilicate glass lunch boxes are suitable as you can store your food in the fridge or freeze it and then reheat it in the microwave or oven.
If you only want to take a salad with you or don't need to heat up your meals, a meal prep box that is not heat-resistant is also sufficient.
Division
Containers often come with different compartments. If you use your lunch box to store snacks, a lunch box with compartments can be very practical so that your food doesn't take over the taste or everything gets mixed up.
If you don't just want to take the food storage box with you on the go, but also use it in the kitchen to store different foods in the freezer, compartments are rather impractical as they take up space.
Size
The size of the lunch box depends entirely on where you want to use it. If it is intended for your child at school, a smaller lunch box for sandwiches will suffice.
However, if you use it to store your lunch for work, it needs to be big enough to satisfy your appetite. Instead of buying a single lunch box, it's often worth investing in a lunch box set, as this gives you more options for using the lunch box in your everyday life.
If you want to pre-cook your food and store it in the fridge until you take it with you, a whole lunch box set can be very practical. You can find our tips on meal prep here. (link article Meal Prep guide)
Design
As with the other points, the choice of container design depends on how you want to use the box. If the product will be used by several people, you should therefore avoid a design with bright colors, a pattern or animal motifs.
In principle, the design tends to take a back seat and it depends on the specific features of the food storage containers.
For example, some people opt for a meal prep box with a cutting board and knife, while others are more interested in a box that is easy to open and has a click closure.
In general, it is often worth choosing a food storage container that seals your products airtight and is therefore also suitable for the fridge.
Due to the large selection of food storage containers, it is important to familiarize yourself with the properties of the containers and get an overview of the respective benefits.
When making your decision, it can help to consider in advance how you will use the food storage container and what properties it needs so that you can use it anywhere. It also depends on the price you are willing to pay and how safe it is to transport your tin.
Whether it's bread for breakfast or a meal for lunch that you just need to heat up in the microwave or on the stove. Once you have enough food storage containers at home, you can prepare your food quickly and easily take it with you during the week.
You can find out the best way to go about meal prep planning, ordering a weekly plan and preparation in our articles.
And if you have no idea what to cook with the food you have on hand, you can find countless meal prep recipes with photos online that are ideal for the office or school. Meal prep is therefore also suitable for beginners and you don't need to have any cooking skills to eat balanced meals every day.
