Better lunch-porting devices

With the current economic climate driving people to bring lunch to work, I’d like to see nicer options for bringing my lunch into work without getting it all over the bottom of my bag.

This happened to me earlier this week. I made some delicious halibut poached in white wine and lemon juice with vegetables, and the delicious sauce spilled all over my bag, despite my attempts to keep the fish container upright. Today, I brought in last night’s beef and mushroom soba soup, and that was more successful—Murphy let me get away with it, given that I wrapped the container in a plastic grocery bag before putting it in my tote.

When bringing saucy or soupy foods in, even the better disposable packages tend to leak. Now, this is partly my fault, as I’ll just throw whatever package I have in whatever totebag or messenger bag I’m brining to work. (As an aside: anyone want to buy me this laptop bag? My six-year-old messenger bag is pretty worn…)

But I’ve had a wonderful coffee mug that just didn’t spill, no matter how I carried it. I don’t care about insulation, really: I just want a bunch of containers like this, in appropriate lunch sizes and shapes.

Berry Cozies

Yesterday at the farmer’s market I bought two half-pints of berries, one each of blueberry and raspberry.

By the time I was home, the berries had made a very nice paste. Oops: I’d spent too much of my attention making sure I didn’t smash the tomatoes, which is what I messed up last week.

Surely someone could construct a plastic clamshell with two separate compartments, one for each half, into which berries or other small produce items could be placed for safekeeping. It would need to be dishwasher-safe, and very lightweight. For extra points it could fold flat and use a tensegrity structure with soft panels, so I don’t feel like such a doofus toting the thing around the market.