Instead of Eating Takeout, Bring Meals in Reusable Containers—from Home to Work (or to School, or Wherever you’re Headed)

We admit to a slight obsession with food: delicious, simple-to-make food that won’t make us fat or sick. Food that’s healthy, and with the simple style that comes from smart recipes and great ingredients. Lucky for everyone: in 2012 we inhabit a Foodie Culture. Most of us have unprecedented access to celebrity chefs, home-cook bloggers, and inspired organic entrepreneurs. Just check out EatingWell or Food52, or the Family Dinner website. Frankly, anyone who says they can’t figure out how to eat right just isn’t giving it a fair chance.

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One way to stay mouthwateringly inspired is the daily dose of Recipes for Health from Martha Rose Shulman of The New York Times. Every week Martha picks one ingredient, or one type of food (muffins, anyone?) and goes nuts (heh heh). This week’s theme: “Lunches to Take to Work.”

Although I work at home, my lunch requirements are probably similar to those of many of you who work in an office. I don’t like to eat complex dishes with strong flavors like raw garlic or onion at midday, because I don’t want those flavors lingering when I get back to work. I want a lunch that’s light and simple, enjoyable but not distracting….

I so enjoyed working on these recipes, as they provided me with great lunches all week long. They’ve kept all week in the refrigerator, and they don’t require refrigeration during those few hours between the time to get you work and the time you eat your lunch, though all of them will taste fresher if they have been in the fridge.

Egg Salad & Greens Wrap: If you can hard-boil an egg, you can make a scrumptious wrap to take with you for lunch (TY nytimes.com)

Have fun with Martha’s recipes, post your lunchbox favorites for all to share—and please, don’t neglect to check off this 20-point action!

There are many great reasons to BYO meals to work. First up, the food. Who knows what sort of produce, meat, preservatives, and chemicals are in the corner deli’s turkey club or the coffee shop’s muffin. When you pack your own meals, you control the ingredients. If you’d like lunch to be local, organic, and free of hormones, antibiotics, pesticide residues, and trans fats, brown bagging it is healthiest for you, your farmers, and the earth we all share.

Black Bean Chili: A medium-hot vegetarian chili that freezes well. From "Clean out the Pantry" week on Recipes for Health

A Goodbyn bento box makes your BYO meal more fun, guaranteed!

Speaking of brown bags, packing meals in reusable containers reduces waste. According to CleanAir.org, the U.S. population tosses out enough of them plus plastic cups, forks, and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. These one-use items clog our landfills. Many resources go into making takeout containers. Our food is in them for mere moments before we toss them. It’s a system that doesn’t make much common sense.

If you can’t commit to bringing your own food daily, try for a few times a week. Bonus: you’ll save money.

Grocery shop and pack your lunch. If you eat breakfast or even dinner at your desk, try packing them, too. There are many waste-free reusable containers and wraps available in stores and online. Shop around. And don’t forget a cloth napkin and a reusable water bottle.

Ask your office manager to stock the kitchen with real plates, reusable utensils, and glasses.

When eating takeout, BYO reusable containers for the counter staff to use instead of their disposables.