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Open white takeaway carton of chopped salad with a wooden fork, next to a laptop keyboard and a glass of water
Meal planning7 min read

Packed lunches you can eat cold at your desk

Lunches built to be eaten cold, the four-hour rule for a bag with no fridge, and the rice and grain timings, so a desk lunch is safe and not sad.

A packed lunch with no microwave should be built from things that are good cold on purpose: grain salads, bean salads, frittata, wraps, and dishes that were never meant to be hot. Pack it the night before, keep it cold until you leave, and if there's no ice pack or office fridge, eat it within four hours of it leaving the fridge. Those two rules cover the safety side. The rest is making it something you'd actually want to eat.

Most sad desk lunches are last night's dinner eaten at the wrong temperature. The fix isn't a better container. It's choosing dishes that are at their best cool or at room temperature:

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