Lunch Bags

How an insulated lunch bag keeps food cool

Insulation does not make food colder. A layer of insulation between the outside of the bag and its lining slows the warmth of the day on its way in, so food that goes in cold stays cool for longer. Pack food straight from the fridge, tuck an ice pack beside it, and the bag has more cold to hold on to.

Where the bag spends the day matters too. A peg in a cool cloakroom is better than a sunny windowsill or a hot car, and the bag works best kept closed, with the ice pack added just before you leave the house.

Lunch bags and cool bags: how they differ

The names overlap. A cool bag is a soft, insulated bag for keeping food and drink cool, and it can be big enough for a family picnic. An insulated lunch bag is the smaller version, made for one person's lunch, a drink and a snack. For a single lunch, it is lighter to carry and easier to find room for.

If cold food is going in, make sure the bag you pick is insulated; for a lunch that keeps happily at room temperature, insulation matters less.

How big a lunch bag needs to be

Start with the containers you already have. Set out a typical lunch, perhaps a sandwich box, a drink bottle, a piece of fruit and a snack, and look for a bag that takes them with room left for an ice pack. Too big, and things slide about; too small, and the sandwiches get squashed and the zip strains.

Some pieces in our range are mini, so it is worth checking the size of the one you like against what it needs to hold. Think about the drink, too: a tall bottle needs a bag deep enough to stand it upright, and a slimmer bag suits a child who carries lunch inside a school bag.

Picking a kids' lunch bag for the school day

For a child, the best lunch bag is one they can open, close and carry on their own, so look at the fastening, the handle and how heavy it is once packed. Let them choose a design they like, since a bag they are proud of is a bag that comes home, and write their name inside to help it find its way back from lost property.

Plenty in our range are made with back to school in mind, and a lunch bag makes a practical gift for the start of term. A few are a fit for Christmas, as a present that gets used long after the wrapping paper has gone. For brothers and sisters, different designs mean nobody mixes up whose lunch is whose.

What a lunch bag is made from

Many pieces in our range use plastic, while most are nylon and a few polyester. In a lunch bag, plastic is often the wipeable lining or a coating on the outside fabric. Nylon and polyester are light, hard-wearing synthetic fabrics that do not soak up a spill the way cotton does, which suits a bag that gets dropped, kicked and squashed in with the PE kit.

A good number in our range are made with recycled material, so a bag that goes back and forth to school can give something already used a second life.

Wiping down and airing out a lunch bag

Most pieces in our range wipe clean, so a damp cloth with a drop of washing-up liquid usually does the job. Empty the bag as soon as it comes home, wipe it inside and out, then leave it open to dry fully before you close it, since a bag shut away damp soon smells musty.

Deal with a leaked drink or yoghurt straight away rather than leaving it until morning, and wipe ice packs dry before they go back in. Keep forks and anything sharp inside a container, so they cannot nick the lining, and check the care label before you try the washing machine, as linings and insulation vary.