With the new school year here, we find ourselves with the debate of hot or cold lunches. The brown bag lunch represents a gold standard in lunches. Over time this standard may have slipped to the back burner with hectic lifestyles and trying to get out of the house faster in the morning. However, brown bag lunches are making their way back into the mainstream. They are simply more economical, practical, and provide a wealth of choices for lunchtime eating.

Have you ever wondered What is it about the brown bag lunch that we like so much? Is it the convenience that we are attracted to? For this reason, brown bag lunches need to provide a fantastic lunch meal with safety in mind.

Taking a brown bag lunch is traditionally not insulated in any way. And, if you put an ice pack in the brown bag it will make the bag soggy and your food will fall out. A good option is an insulated bag can be substituted but if you want to use paper bags, be sure that the items inside do not need to be refrigerated.

One thing you should do it is to avoid using mayonnaise. Mayonnaise needs to be kept cold to avoid spoiling. Now, it may not go bad from breakfast to lunchtime but better to be safe than sorry. If the temperature rises on a hot day, the chicken salad sandwich could become the ptomaine treat of the day.

If you’re like most people you probably like your sandwiches fresh and tasty. Adding condiments and wet items to a sandwich in the morning can mean soggy wet bread by lunchtime. No one will eat that. Try using a sectioned lunch container keeps that from happening. Put the lunch meat in one section and the bread in another. Using two zip lock bags are another option for this.

Buying pre-packaged condiments that are perfect for a child’s lunch. What they don’t use can be shared or kept for another day. It limits waste and illness from condiments going bad. If your kids are like mine they must have mayonnaise or maybe you prefer it, this is the safest way.

Pack plastic utensils and napkins with lunch. Plastic utensils can be thrown away after lunch. If the sandwich that day is something particularly messy, insert a packaged wet napkin to clean sticky hands. They do sell the packs with both and a wet wipe if you prefer to go that route or have limited room.

Try and fix brown bag lunches the night before. The food inside gets an entire night to stay cold before it goes to school or to work. This is more important for school children because they don’t have refrigeration for their lunches. At work, there is probably a refrigerator in the lunchroom.

Protect your lunch with proper refrigeration, avoiding soggy sandwiches, and limiting the amount of items that need to be kept cold. Brown bag lunches can be healthy and fun as long as they are kept safe.