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Safety in Brown Bag Lunch Preparation
The gold standard in lunches is the brown bag lunch. For a long time this standard has been good enough for kids and adults alike. Brown bag lunches are definitely making a come back today. Brown bag lunches are economical, practical and they provide a wealth of choices for lunchtime eating.
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Safety in Brown Bag Lunch Preparation
What makes the brown bag lunch so popular? Maybe it's the convenience that we are so attracted to. Brown bag lunches need to provide a fantastic lunch meal while keeping safety in mind.
A lot of the traditional brown bag lunches provide no insulation in any way. You can always use an ice pack, but that will only make the bag soggy and your food will fall out. Substituting an insulated bag for a brown bag is one of your options. If you choose to use the brown bag be sure that the food items inside do not need to remain cold for an extended period of time.
Avoid using mayonnaise if you are using the traditional brown bag. To avoid spoiling, mayonnaise needs to be kept cold. The mayonnaise may not go bad from breakfast to lunchtime but it's always better to be safe than sorry. If it is a very hot day the chicken salad sandwich could become the ptomaine treat of the day if it is not kept cold.
Most people prefer their sandwiches fresh and tasty. If you add condiments to a sandwich in the morning this could mean soggy wet bread by lunchtime. Who wants to eat a soggy wet sandwich? A sectioned lunch container will prevent this from happening to your sandwich.
Pre-packaged condiments are perfect for a child's lunch. You can get these types of condiments at a bulk shopping warehouse. What the child does not use that day can be shared or kept for another day. These pre-packaged condiments limit waste and illness from open condiments that can go bad. This is the safest way to get mayonnaise if it’s to be a part of a daily brown bag lunch.
Plastic utensils and napkins work great for brown bag lunches. The plastic utensils can be tossed in the garbage can after lunch. Insert a packaged wet napkin if the sandwich is particularly messy. This helps to clean sticky hands versus the dry napkins.
By fixing brown bag lunches the night before, the food inside has an entire night to stay cold before it goes to school or to work. This is very important for school aged children because refrigeration is not an option for them. On the other hand, at work there is probably a refrigerator in the lunchroom.
It is best to limit the amount of items in a brown bag lunch that need to be kept cold. If you are taking a brown bag lunch that needs to be kept cold you will want to protect your lunch with proper refrigeration. As long as brown bag lunches are kept safe they can be healthy and fun for all.
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