Skint But Stylish: Lunch Boxes

It's January, we're skint, there's an unfeasibly long wait til payday and the days of swanning to Pret for a Christmas sandwich are long gone. But just because we have to get up early and make a packed lunch doesn't mean that (a) it has to be joyless or (b) we have to carry it in a boring tupperware box with a mismatched lid.

Let's start with a statement of intent:

Hooray! It's LUNCHTIME! You're halfway through the working day (unless you've cracked and opened it at 10am)! This sunshine yellow lunchbox is £4.79 from Temptation Gifts.

It's a Lego lunchbox, allegedly for children but most certainly for adults too, judging by how many are in the fridge in my office. Choose between pink, yellow and black at Debenhams, each priced at £9.

There's something wonderfully simple about lunch carried in a brown paper bag. Less pleasing: the inevitable disintegration just as you're stepping off the train. So well done Luckies, who have made a tough, insulated, tear-proof carrier that looks just like a brown bag but is made of tyvek, which sounds made-up but is dead strong and that. It's yours for £11.95 from Not The Usual.

Let's head to the future now with these incredible Foodskin flexible lunchboxes that mould themselves to the shape of your food. No need for your beautifully made baguette to rattle around in a plastic box all day, leaving you to reassemble it at lunchtime. The elasticated silicon skin perfectly hugs whatever you put inside, keeping it as fresh and unsquashed as it was when you made it. Firebox has them in three different colours, each £19.99.

Let's keep the futuristic theme by heading to the Science Museum and these thermo-pots that will keep your food hot for five hours. Not only that, those clever scientists have thoughtfully added a magnetised spoon that sticks to the side. Take your porridge, soup or chilli to work and don't worry about queueing for the microwave. They're £30 but come guaranteed by SCIENCE, so what more could you want?

And as for what to fill them with - take a look at our soup recipes, the world's greatest sandwich, our best chickpea recipes (tasty, cheap and filling) and our favourite winter warmers.