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.

Prime Steak index?

Reading The Big Money today, I caught an item claiming that a decline in steakhouse eating has led to a surplus of USDA Prime steaks.

It seems like only yesterday that The New York Times reported a shortage of top-quality meat for steakhouses — but it turns out that was at the peak of the bubble.

Leaving aside any debate as to whether prime steak is worthwhile, I wonder if we could or should assemble data as to where prime steaks are headed to determine the direction of the economy.