During my tenure as a full-time office employee, I packed my breakfast and lunch up in canning jars on a near-daily basis. I drank iced coffee out of a pint and a half jar, spooned yogurt out of a wide mouth pint and toted servings of soup around in whatever mason jar would do the job.
The one issue I always had with this food in glass habit was that the jars were prone to clanking in my lunch bag. Many times, I wished for a bag that kept them padded and contained.
Recently (and without knowing about my desire for such a product), the owner of the Etsy shop called A Tiny Forest got in touch. Kim wanted to know if I’d be interested in checking out her design. It was a handmade cloth lunch bag, fitted with padded sleeves that were intended to keep a pair of canning jars firmly in place. Of course I said yes.
When it arrived, I did my fair share of cooing and squealing over this sweet little bag (each one comes with a coordinating cloth napkin, a touch that makes me love it all the more). I even packed myself a little picnic as an excuse to use it. It does an excellent job of keeping the jars secure while still being roomy (and sturdy) enough to hold a piece of fruit and a big container of salad (or whatever other item you feel moved to add).
The bags come in a number of fabric choices and each one is delightful. With September just around the corner, treating oneself to a new lunch bag seems like the right choice (I don’t know about there rest of you, but I’ve never lost the desire for new pens, notebooks and back packs come Fall).
If a new lunch tote isn’t in the budget right now, you may also be in luck. Because Kim is lovely, she’s letting me give one of her sturdy bags away here on the blog. The winner even gets to choose the fabric, so if the classic blue striped number you see above doesn’t float your boat, there are many others to choose from. Here’s what to do to enter.
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite home-packed lunch is.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Friday, August 17. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Saturday, August 18, 2012.
- Giveaway is open to US residents.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog, I cannot accept submissions via email.
Disclosure: A Tiny Forest sent me a one of their lunch totes for trial and review and are providing an additional bag for giveaway purposes. My opinions, as always, remain entirely my own.
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In the winter it would be homemade soup. In the summer I almost always take a salad and usually it is a grain salad – quinoa with cherry tomatoes, edamame, feta, and kalamata olives
My favorite lunch is a sandwich (tuna, ham, chicken salad) with fresh tomatoes from our garden and pickles that I canned last summer. Yum!
Forgot to mention the home made whole grain bread. Delish!
Such a cute bag! In the winter I like to have my soup. The rest of the year it is salads and sandwiches, in summer with our omegrown tomatoes
My favorite lunch is a wide-mouth quart mason jar filled with juicy cut-up tomatoes, a dollop of mayonnaise, a generous handful of blue cheese crumbles, and freshly ground sea salt and black pepper. Home-brewed ice tea in another jar and you’re good to go. Yummy!!!
These are so cute! Favorite lunch on the go?… hmm. Anything homemade. Right now a homemade vegetarian meatloaf-knockoff (say a dinner loaf) sounds delicious – even better with homemade ketchup!
Papaya chunks and Greek yogurt with granola and artisan bread. The bag is a great idea. I also like kippers and crackers for lunch.
Peanut butter and banana sandwiches with fruit and yogurt
Peaches, peaches and more peaches! Over lettuce with goat cheese and almonds!
Yippee! It would hold my homemade goat mozzarella sliced and layered with my fresh heirloom tomatoes and purple basil, drizzled with EVOO…while the other would cradle some homegrown canteloupe from my friends at the farmers market. Love it.
I vacuum seal romaine lettuce in pint jars with small containers of dried cranberries, feta and almonds and rasberry vinegrette.
I don’t know if someone mentioned these already, but I’ve become recently obsessed with layered salads in jars. Dressing on the bottom, followed by heartier stuff (chickpeas, carrots, peppers, etc), then lighter stuff (quinoa, nuts, seeds, berries), then spinach. The greens don’t get slimy, everything keeps well in the fridge for days, AND it’s beautiful! I like to bring greek yogurt with a spoonful of jam (in a jar, of course) as my side. Jars really are the ultimate to-go container.
Leftovers! That way I have some variety instead of eating variations of the same thing all the time.
I’m a flight attendant and I usually bring some homemade yoghurt and granola on my trips.
I am a nurse & I go to work at 4am. My favorite thing to take to work is overnight oats in a mason jar. Yum!!
My favorite thing to take in my lunch is leftovers rom dinner. I work really hard on dinner so it is nice to show off what I made with the other teachers.
If only this were open to Canadians. Sigh. Oh well, I will still answer the question by saying that my lunch pick would be green bean and farmer sausage soup in a jar, a homebaked bun, and chocolate cake in a jar.
And congrats to whichever US winner is chosen.
I would pack homemade yogurt with either honey or jam. Vegetarian protein and sweets!
I love tomato soup! I’m also a sucker for salads and fresh fruit! Lunches in jars makes everything so much easier. This tote would be perfect!
[...] thing! We’ve got a winner in the Jars to Go Lunch Tote giveaway. Random.org has selected #164, which is Debra Meadow. Here’s how she uses her jars [...]
[...] the only sign of life around here! The lovely Marisa of the Food in Jars blog was kind enough to review the Jars to Go bag. The results were more than I could ever have dreamed. See all these bags? [...]