Packing a healthy, zero waste lunch for school or work can be a struggle, and then there's the challenge of keeping it cool and fresh for several hours. For instance: ice packs. They're necessary to keep our food fresh and safe, but how safe are the ice packs? What happens if they leak? How toxic are they? Are they safe to have around food? With the PackIt Freezable Lunch Bag and an accompanying Bento Lunchbox, you no longer need to worry. See our range of PackIt here >
How to make an Ice Pack Free Lunch with PackIt Bento
1. The day before, put the outer sleeve into the freezer
The PackIt bags all have an outer sleeve wall with built-in eco-gel, which freezes and keeps lunches fresh all day long. It keeps contents cold for up to 10 hours, and the insulation traps the cool air around the food. No more ice packs to keep track of, and no more toxic gel near your food.
2. Choose a healthy lunch and pop it into a Bento style lunchbox
To go inside your new Packit Bag, you are going to need some sort of container. This can be a regular container, but for the purposes of a waste free lunch we recommend a Bento style lunch box. (Read why here!)
When choosing your lunchbox, there are a few important considerations. Firstly, you will want to ensure the lunchbox you choose is going to fit inside the Packit bag you have chosen.
- Packit Freezable Lunch Bag with a Yumbox Lunchbox is one of our recommended combinations. The triangular vertical cross-section of the Packit bag means that it can fit any of the Yumbox styles with a little extra room for some fruit (like a whole apple) and/or an extra small container.
All of our plastic lunchbox options are made from BPA & PVC free plastics and will not leach any chemicals into your food. However, some people understandably still prefer to have as little plastic touching their food as possible.
- For this purpose, a Packit Everyday Lunchbox and Green Essentials Triple Layer Bento is a great solution. The three layers of the bento give you lots of flexibility in how and what you pack, and still leaves lots of room in the lunch bag for other containers, fruit or snacks. Best of all, this bento is made entirely form stainless steel, ensuring that no plastic will touch your food.
Figuring out which lunchbox can fit in which bag can be difficult. Check out this blog post for more information, or contact us if you have a specific question.
3. In the morning, put your Bento into the frozen sleeve
Once the outer sleeve is frozen, just pop your lunchbox into it and it's ready to go! You can't put sharp objects inside the sleeve, but most Packit styles have an exterior zip pocket for utensils. At the end of the day, just refreeze the PackIt bento sleeve and it'll be set to use again.
4. Take a school or work lunch with a difference!
Not only is the PackIt & Bento Box system convenient and easy to use, it's also helping to reduce single use plastic and save resources. The gel liner saves water and resources that would have otherwise gone into making ice cubes or toxic ice packs. The eco-friendly, sleeve poly canvas contains no PVC, so no resources have gone into making toxic materials. Lastly, an investment in reusable lunchware and storage not only saves money, but also prevents waste from entering landfill.
See our PackIt Freezable Lunch Bag range here >
Image thanks @packitcool
