Bringing Lunch

During the week, I eat 90% of my daily food at work. I usually eat breakfast, lunch, and an early, light dinner at my desk. I also eat a large volume of food. I’m (mostly) vegetarian, so I consume a lot of bulky items. Every morning, I haul a few pounds of meals and snacks to work:


Last Thursday’s “lunch:” oatmeal, protein powder, banana, apple, two hard-boiled eggs, potato chips, cranberry-apricot-orange bread, curried beet and squash soup, croutons, Odwalla bar, apricots, almonds, peanut butter sandwich, cheese sandwich, roasted potatoes. And I bought milk at work.


I included Walter for scale…but instead of illustrating the huge size of my lunch, he looks giant.
As I assemble my smorgasboard on the counter each day, I wrestle with how to get it all to work. Believe it or not, it doesn't fit in my everyday bag (pictured at right). That’s probably because it’s already crammed full with my laptop, paperwork, running clothes, and spare shoes. I also worry about the liquid lunch items leaking. I’ve worn a curry-stained (and smelling!) tee to Zumba courtesy of a faulty lid. I shudder to think of what beet soup would do to my favorite white running shirt.

Because of the sheer volume of food and danger of leakage, I often end up carrying my lunch like this:


Earth-friendly, but so NOT chic.
I’m curious. Do you take a big “lunch” each day? How do you carry it? Is there a stylish substitute for the grocery sack? I’ve seen plenty of cute, reuseable lunchbags on the market, but never one big enough for my lunch!