I’m always on the look out for shortcuts in order to save time packing lunches and snacks to go. While browsing my photo gallery today I was reminded of three new time savers that really helped me out this year. And all three of my new time savers use the largest set of the LunchBots Clicks for storage.

The Clicks are airtight stainless steel food containers with easy snap on and off lids. The Clicks can go in the oven, refrigerator, and the freezer.

The largest set is LARGE and includes one container with a capacity of 7 cups and one container with a capacity of 11 1/2 cups.

1. SHORTCUT #1 Homemade Bulk Snacks

For a family movie night, we were popping organic popcorn in coconut oil (YUM!) and I decided to make an extra batch. Stored in the air tight stainless steel container, I had a quick snack on hand that stayed fresh for weeks.

I’ve also made large quantities of almond butter balls, gluten-free muffins, and egg muffins that I froze for quick and healthy snacks.

2. SHORTCUT #2 Organic Fruit Year Round

Costco had the sweetest organic grapes for sale last fall and I stocked up, washed, and froze them so we could enjoy grapes for a few more months to come. They were sweet enough to eat for dessert and tasted like mini popsicles.

This was so helpful that in the future, I’ll buy fresh organic fruit in bulk when it is in season (and less expensive) and wash and freeze to enjoy throughout the year. Sure, it is great to eat with the seasons, and it would be great if we grew our own produce, raised our own chickens for fresh eggs, and the list goes on…

3. SHORTCUT #3 Salad Bar Extravaganza

When I chopped up all our raw vegetables on Sunday we had salad fixins available for a variety of meals at home and on the go. We use them for “salad night” dinner where everyone mixes their own creation, taco toppings, work lunches and school sides with a dip.

At the end of the week, my husband combined the leftover lettuce, all the other remaining vegetables, and some grilled chicken for his work lunch. Now that’s a BIG SALAD!

LunchBots predicts the next big trends for healthy eating.

At the end of every year we like to get perspective on what changes we’ve observed. We then take the trends we see and project them forward in an ever-positive manner to predict what the next year will bring.

We hope that 2013 will bring all of you good health, a positive attitude, and most importantly – the satisfaction of knowing you are taking good care of your body and mind! Here are our top five healthy eating predictions for 2013:

All too often a treat is a sugar-laden food that we use to express happiness or love (Birthday cake, Valentine’s Day candy, Halloween). We enjoy the momentary high it gives us. We send our children the message that sweet=happy. It is no surprise that sugar is contributing to our obesity epidemic and harming our health. In 2013 we will redefine what a “treat” is and find more ways to celebrate and feel good without sugary foods.

We predict that as a larger number of people start critically reading nutrition labels, the demand for low quality, processed foods will continue to decline. REAL FOODS like fruits and vegetables don’t need nutrition labels. It is easy to identify and avoid foods with chemicals and to teach to your kids to do the same. If we do not know what an ingredient is, we won’t be eating it!

It isn’t sufficient to just know the calorie content of a meal. Savvy, better educated consumers will want to know the types of oils used for cooking and the source of their meat, dairy, and eggs. Is the produce organic? Locally grown? For our family, we primarily dine at a few restaurants that are open about their ingredients. They use grass-fed beef, pastured eggs, organic vegetables, and other healthy foods to make delicious meals.

Our grandmothers were right. Natural solutions are everywhere and the health benefits people are experiencing from dietary changes are staggering. Instead of looking for a pill or a quick fix of symptoms, more people will look for the root cause of a health issue and seek out natural solutions. This includes chicken soup and more!

Whenever I feel a sore throat coming on or a bit under the weather, I buy a Lemon-Ginger Tonic from the juice bar at our local Whole Foods. This hot drink has fresh ginger, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a bit of honey. It soothes my throat and keeps me healthy. Combined with lots of water, organic foods, low stress, and some extra rest/sleep and I rarely get sick.

We predict that the number of people taking lunch to work or school will double in 2013. If you are serious about eating healthy you cannot rely on cafeterias, restaurants, and office snacks. When you pack your own lunch, you know the quality of the ingredients, you control the portion size, and you save money!

Books like “Mindless Eating” have woken us up to the power we can have over our mind’s desire to overeat. Using the correct plate or container can make us content with the correct portion sizes.

LunchBots food containers can help you portion out your food, and more importantly they can encourage you to bring YOUR food to work, school, or a sporting event, and not be forced to purchase that 2 lb. burrito you feel compelled to finish.

Here’s to a HEALTHY 2013 to all!

Nothing goes better with cool weather than a nice warm meal throughout the day. That’s right—not just at the end of the day, throughout for lunch at school or work. When you pack soups or stews in a LunchBots Thermal, food stays warm for four to five hours, eliminating the need for microwave reheating. We think winter’s the perfect time for hot lunches to make a comeback, and here’s why Thermals are the ones to do it.

Why Thermals Are Great For The Season

1. Tall, cylindrical insulated containers may have been popular in the past, but their inconvenient shape quickly faded out of style. LunchBots Thermals are short and wide—more like the bowls you’d typically use for warm foods.
2. Not sure what to pack in your Thermal? Think soups, rice bowls, chili, spaghetti…and check out our user-submitted list of more than 40 Thermal-friendly foods.
3. Thermals let you send kids to school with a warm meal. School cafeterias rarely have microwaves, and kids don’t usually want to take the time to reheat foods, anyway. Leakproof, portable, and easy to carry, our containers make it easy to pack a nice, hot soup.
4. With a capacity of 16 oz, Thermals are more generous than most insulated containers (for those extra chilly days).

Important Tips for Keeping Your Lunch Hot

1. To keep food warmer longer, pre-heat your Thermal container by filling it to the top with boiling water for five minutes before filling it with food. This step will warm the stainless steel so your hot food won’t cool down as soon as you pour it into the bowl. This is the same reason that nice restaurants warm their plates.
2. Fill with your LunchBots Thermal with the right foods. The hotter it is when you pack it, the hotter it’ll be at lunch. Soups, stews, and pastas with a sauce have a higher starting temperature than scrambled eggs or a hot dog, so they retain their warmth longer.
3. Keep it someplace warm. Storing your Thermal in a lunch bag that has an ice pack or in a back pack in the cold outdoors will make it more challenging to keep food hot. Store separately from cold items and indoors if possible.
4. Fill it up. A full container will keep food warmer than one with plenty of air space.

Follow our tips for best results. We tested this out and after five hours, soup was still warm at 115 degrees, warm to the palate and pleasant to eat.

Have you started packing warm meals in your LunchBots Thermals yet? If so, where to?