Table Of Content
· What Is A Lunch Cooler?
· Why Use A Lunch Cooler?
· Features To Look For In A Lunch Cooler
· Extra Features To Look For
· Top Lunch Cooler Brands
· Best Lunch Cooler For Work
· Best Lunch Cooler For Men (For Construction Workers, Body Builders, Work Truck)
· Best Lunch Cooler For Women (Cute, Breast Milk)
· Best Soft-Sided Lunch Cooler (lunch bag coolers)
· Best Hard-Sided Lunch Cooler (lunch box coolers)
· Best Lunch Cooler For Outdoor
· Best Beach Lunch Cooler
· Best Lunch Cooler For Extreme Heat
· Best Summer Tailgating Lunch Cooler
· Best Camping Lunch Cooler
· Best Lunch Cooler By Size
· Best Small Lunch Cooler
· Best Large Lunch Cooler
· Best Lunch Cooler By Type
· Best Backpack Lunch Cooler
· Best Rolling Lunch Cooler
· Best Expandable Lunch Cooler
· Best Heavy-Duty Lunch Cooler
· Lunch Cooler FAQ
· Final Thoughts: Deciding On A Lunch Cooler
Home-made meals are attractive due to the level of control (dieting and budgeting) you can achieve over cooking your own meals. However, without a quality lunch cooler, there’s no way you can eat healthy and pleasant meals outside of your home.
A lunch cooler is just one of the pieces of putting together, an epic meal in a rugged outdoor cum work-leisure system. Ice packs, and lunch box containers, are also necessary. But a quality lunch cooler comes before them all — without it, nothing else matters.
But what makes a lunch cooler good or bad? The answer to that question hinges on your budget, your work nature, your diet needs, and the features that you are looking for in a lunch cooler.
In this article, we will look into lunch coolers so deeply that you will walk away with enough information to start selling lunch coolers through word of mouth. I have broken this article up into seven sections:
What lunch coolers are and the main features to look for
The most popular lunch cooler brands on the market
The best lunch cooler, grouped by work
The best lunch cooler, grouped by build quality
The best lunch cooler, grouped by outdoor use
The best lunch cooler, grouped by size
The best lunch cooler, grouped by type
If you are just interested in the best lunch coolers, then take a look at the chart below. Otherwise, let’s dig into lunch coolers!
What is a Lunch Cooler?
At their most basic, lunch coolers are insulated storage containers that is wrapped around by an exterior lining made of plastic, polyester, metal, or stainless. They are designed with an insulating material on the inside, so as much ice as possible is used in preserving your meals.
Lunch bag coolers differ from lunch boxes in that they are versatile and easy to transport, while lunch boxes are often heavy, but less fragile.
These days, almost everyone use lunch bag coolers but professionals like the construction workers mostly use custom lunch boxes or lunch pail.
Why Use a Lunch Cooler?
Simply put, controlling your diet and eating healthy is crucial to getting the efficiency and productivity that you want.
The first line of lunch packing is containing your meals in a temperature regulated space – which is what a lunch cooler is for.
After you have a lunch cooler, you can move on to other factors that influence your meal, like quantity of ice packs, the weather condition, and quality of your lunch cooler.
Features to Look For in a Lunch Cooler (Soft-Sided/ Lunch Bag Coolers)
The world of lunch coolers can be confusing if you are just relying on an online shop or your local lunch bag store.
These days there are hundreds of lunch cooler manufacturers, all with different sizes, features, and price points.
It is difficult to streamline the best brands, as some lunch coolers manufacturers make up fancy names for their coolers that speak highly of them.
To make your buying decision a lot easier, here are the features that you should be on the lookout for when choosing the best lunch bag coolers for your meals.
Water Repellent Exterior
One of the biggest advantages to using a lunch cooler is the water resistant properties of the exterior walls. It ensures that you are getting the most out of your ice packs.
However, not all polyester material is created equally. You should look for coolers that offer a repellant property with as close to 100% as possible.
Some manufacturers use an exterior fabric with different patterns. 600D polyester seems to have the best repellant quality and some of the top lunch bag coolers offer it as standard.
No Gapping in the Fabric
One of the main reasons to buy a lunch cooler is to use your ice packs effectively, so that cold meals stay frozen until lunch time.
The best coolers are completely air-tight, meaning that when you have your lunch properly packed, absolutely no air should escape or dust particles should come in.
The features to look for here are overlapping, and stitching quality edges to seal off corners and edges, along with the zipper construction.
Portability
Most lunch cooler manufacturers include a portable model in their coolers as a bonus feature. A good example would be the backpack coolers.
These are handy if you are carrying items that don't need a lot of storage, or you are working in an environment that requires a constant movement
Zipper Durability
The zippers on your lunch bag coolers are usually the first point of disappointment, as they are used every single day. It is most likely that wear and tear would occur, especially if the zippers are poorly constructed.
The zippers should be easy to zip up, as the harder they are to zip, the more likely you will damage the zipper, letting air leak out of the bag and dust to enter the packaged items.
Quality Insulating Material
Another advantage to using a lunch cooler is the insulating properties of the interior linings or walls. It ensures that you’re getting the most out of your ice packs.
However, not all insulating material is created equally. You should look for bag coolers that offer insulative foam with as close to 100% insulation as possible.
Handle Construction
A typical lunch bag comes with a sturdy top handle and shoulder strap. While many lunch coolers have a detachable long strap for carrying the cooler around, others like the Carhartt dual compartment do not have this detachable option.
This could pose a nuisance to you while carrying the handle alone, although it can be overlooked as other features are functional.
The absolute best coolers will use top handles that secures the bag in place, this prevents a catastrophy from happening.
Storage Capacity and Vertical Height
Lunch coolers are always constructed and graded by their storage capacities. This is a good feature, as there are great options to choose from to suit your choice. And if you are packing lunch for friends or family, you would require a lunch cooler with a lot of space and height.
Most manufacturers offer coolers with drink-appropriate heights, meaning you don’t need to bend your cans or wine bottles any longer while packing.
But this is mostly seen in hard-sided coolers, which come with a lot of heavy-duty use. However, some soft coolers with dome-shaped top, seem to offer more storage than those without.
Frame Strength
The fabric or outer part can be made of polyester, stainless steel, or metals. When in doubt, go for stainless steel over metals, and for polyester over any other type of fabric.
The frequent opening of the lunch cooler over time can cause degradation of the ice. Look for coolers that gives you quick access to your meals or have a snapping mechanisms to lock them in once you open.
Although, this is based on your preference as some people would like a collapsible lunch bag, while others would prefer a more sturdy lunch cooler.
Number of Mesh Pockets, Loops, and Bottle Opener
There are several extras on a lunch bag cooler but this is dependent on the brand making. However, mesh pockets, loops, and are not far fetched from a good lunch bag cooler.
Mesh pockets are typically storage secured on the exterior to help secure tools, gadgets, and other valuables aside food. Make sure there is at least two of these on your lunch bag cooler.
Loops are for the avid outdoor enthusiast like the hikers, including workers to hang gears. There is typically at least three loops, although backpack coolers will have more than one of these.
Finally, bottle opener. It sounds like an unnecessary detail, but having well-placed bottle opener is the difference between going for a picnic and simply packing your meals for work.
Extra Features to Look For (Hard-Sided/ Lunch Box Coolers)
Top Cover and Lid Opening
These are a must-have feature if you want to preserve your meals for longer without opening it. They are usually secured tightly with lids to prevent air leakage when fully loaded with food items.
If you are having frozen meals as your lunch box menu, top lids are a crucial way to prevent losing all of that precious cool air from the ice packs.
Seating Option
A lunch box with a flat, wide top is nice to have, especially if you want an extra use with your hard box coolers.
In case you work in an environment with no seat, and you want to eat, this wide top structure in some way provides a strong base for you to sit on.
The Klein tools are an example of a brand that perfectly suits this job. It can hold up to 300 pound of human weight, in addition to its own weight.
Tool Storage
As small as this feature may look, I probably don’t need to tell you how handy they are, especially for a construction worker.
When you keep misplacing your tools around your jobsite like I do, you’ll be thankful to have a tool pouch inside of your lunch box.
Top Lunch Coolers Brands
Carhartt Lunch Coolers
Final Thoughts: Deciding on a Lunch Cooler
I hope this lunch cooler buyer’s guide has given you every bit of info you need to choose the right lunch cooler for your unique situation.
You should have a good understanding of what makes a lunch cooler good or bad, know a bit about the popular brands, and understand what the best recommendations are based on the storage capacity of the lunch cooler that you need.
The goal with this piece was to demystify the world of lunch coolers. And a quick way to decide which lunch cooler is best for you is to:
Decide how large or small of a lunch picnic you are going for
Decide which features matter the most to you
Decide what meal you’re cooling, the ice packs you’ll use, and how long your meals will stay
Select the best cooler you can afford that fits all of the above criteria
If you want my personal opinion on the best lunch cooler to buy as an adult, I would go with Carhartt Deluxe Dual Compartment Cooler. From my lunch cooler collection, I always come back to my trusty Carhartt lunch coolers.
No matter what you decide to take for lunch or how you decide to insulate it, a lunch cooler will make your life a whole lot easier and you will save a lot as well!
It takes a little bit of time to get used to packing your meals from home, but after you are past the learning curve, you will be glad you got the best lunch cooler.
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