KIM COOK
Associated Press
Bringing lunch from home is the workplace trend, but the brown bag is so yesterday.
Fashion-forward lunch takers may eat up the chic new lunch totes hitting the market. Whatever your style — California beach chic, uptown elegant, sleek and tailored — there’s a practical, durable and eminently portable new tote aimed to suit you.
The new totes often have some sort of insulation built in, to keep foods hot or cold. Many come with a compartment or two to stash utensils, sanitizer or beverage. Most are easily cleaned by hand or machine.
John Roscoe Swartz is a co-CEO and chief design officer of the New York-based Built, which makes a broad range of funky yet functional carry cases for everything from laptops to lipstick to Lego.
“We came up with the concept for our first lunch tote when we couldn’t find one that we liked, and now they’re top- selling Built products,” he said.
Made of lightweight, malleable neoprene — the wetsuit material — Built’S lunch totes are machine washable. There are several styles, for both men and women.
Sally Bartz, a former designer for Roxy, Volcom and Paul Frank, started her Newport Beach, Calif., company Halsea when she decided to focus on “easy, sophisticated women” rather than the young surfer crowd. Her laminated canvas, leather-trimmed lunch totes could easily serve as handbags, and come in a range of groovy yet timeless prints and hues.
Pottery Barn stocks both a lunch bag and tote in muted earth tones; both can be monogrammed.
Target has Nexxt’s tailored nylon totes, each named after a different world city. Choose from plaids, Chanel-style quilt patterns, and a range of modern hues.
Long Beach, Calif.,photographer Vangie Ogg will reproduce your favorite photo onto a retro-style metal lunch box. You can add a monogram or additional photo on the other side. They may not be the most high tech or efficient food totes, but they’re charming and fun. (www.photolunchboxes.com)
In her search for a healthier and more eco-conscious way to prepare takeaway lunches, Sheri Lindquist discovered the Japanese o-bento box. Her company, iloveobento.com, is so hip they’re on You Tube, and have their own Facebook page where contributors offer new ideas for food “art in a box.”
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Jenny Little, community manager for the online retailer Delight.com, likes to bring a carrot ginger sandwich, minestrone soup and sliced red peppers in her company’s Oots lunch tote. There’s even a handy indentation on the lid, just right for a reusable bottle to be held with the sturdy attached elastic.
Wondering how a switch to take-from-home lunches will impact your wallet and waistline? Then visit www.grainpower.org. Calculate your cash and calorie savings by comparing homemade and purchased meals: If I bring my turkey sandwich, crunchy snack and fruit to work every day instead of buying it at the downtown deli, I’ll save 60,580 calories and $1,120 a year.
Just think of all the hip lunch totes that could buy.
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Sourcebook:
www.iloveobento.com – single, 2-tier Japanese compartmented boxes, $20 and up
www.delight.com – Oots lunch box with recess on lid for bottle, $45.50
www.photolunchboxes.com – metal retro tins personalized with a photo, $25-$45
www.halsea.com – laminated canvas and leather trimmed totes, $55
www.potterybarn.com – lunch bags and totes in earth tones, $10-$24
www.target.com – Nexxt nylon lunch bags, $14.99 and up
www.grainpower.org – Brown Bag Club, a joint venture of milling&baking industries, lets you compare the food and dollar values of your lunch options