My debit card allows me to exchange electronically verifiable records - here representing money - for lunch, which I guess is the how and the what. I make sure to always carry my debit card with. But just to stretch the “what do you pack” to “what do you end up eating”, most often I buy some LCHF salad and a piece of smoked salmon or the likes, which usually costs me $5-7. I hate eating until saturated/feeling full and it makes me sleepy and less productive anyway.

I pack my spouse’s lunch every morning. One of our prepped meals, a small dish of almonds, 2 cookies, 2 peanut mini butter cups, a nalgene of lemon water, and a spork.

As for lunch bag, she has a collection of different dino or space themed bags that we cycle through depending on her mood.

I usually do a sandwich and some nuts in an insulated lunch box with an ice pack to keep it cold

Seems like we’re pretty similar.

When I used to pack a lunch it was always a sandwich, a piece of fruit and usually something chocolate like a KitKat or a Twix (or some off-brand equivalent).

Sandwich often had some kind of lettuce, meat slice and maybe some other salad vegetable. Bread varied. Wholemeal some days, white others, depending on what loaf I was working through at home.

Fruit was generally apple, Gala preferred, although the rare ones that tasted amazing got more and more rare towards when I eventually gave up apples due to digestive issues. Occasionally easy-peel oranges of some variety. Satsumas or tangerines.

The sandwich went in a plastic, self-sealing sandwich bag to stop it falling apart. Everything then went into a plastic sandwich box to prevent things getting squashed in my backpack.

If I was going somewhere without drink making facilities, which was almost never, I would pack a flask of tea. Hot with milk pre-added. Can’t remember when I sweetened it, it’s been so long.

When this was for work, I already had my own tea-bags and sugar at my desk because the company-provided stuff was always terrible and/or contaminated somehow. Some filthy animal always put their tea or coffee-soaked spoon into the sugar bowl, because f–k everyone else, I guess. Anyway, I mention this because it might count as part of the packed lunch, since I brought it, even if it wasn’t strictly brought every day along with the main items.

Edit to add: I sometimes used to pack a re-used 500ml plastic pop bottle with diluted squash in it as an alternative to tea. That would have been during summer.

Additional #2: I went through a phase of buying lunch at a local shop every day to save time preparing food in a morning, and realised with horror that it was costing me a four figure sum per year to do that. That gave me more impetus to make my own darn lunch!

I live in an 18-wheeler for most of the week; I keep a mini-fridge behind my passenger seat. It’s mostly there for drinks, but I save some shelf space for sandwich supplies. Deli meats, cheeses, etc., plus some occasional treats in the freezer. I generally just slap a sandwich together, maybe pop it in the toaster oven for a bit, and then I’m off again.

My microwave gets some occasional action, and every now and then I’ll use my coffee maker to boil some ramen. I’m also thinking about hooking up a crockpot for this winter, have soups or stews going while I’m driving all day. Just depends on what food I bring onto the truck; convenience store and vending machine prices hurt my wallet, so I try to stay away from those.

I’ve been packing both breakfast and lunch lately. Breakfast is simple - a yogurt, banana and protein bar, and that’s been my go-to for a while.

Lunch varies. Sometimes it’s a frozen meal, leftovers from dinner, this week it’s ham and swiss on whole grain bread. Haven’t thought ahead to next week though.

One sandwich with 3 pieces of ham rolled up and a single slice of cheese under the meat. With that I bring a string cheese and a 12 ounce soda.

I’ve been using the same cooler for years, just a simple Coleman one with an icepack in it.

no job so I just grab or make stuff whenever. when I work in an office I mostly pick up something local unless there are leftovers or such that are easy to bring which happens once in awhile. sometimes I would fast cuz it was easier to do at an office away from temptations.

Trader Joe’s salad and a fruit. any heavier and I’m sluggish all afternoon. And the vitamins seem to give me energy instead.

I usually just wrap a bocata with aluminium foil.

Small insulated lunch bag (cheap) - and almost always some kind of sandwich. Leftovers from the weekend dinners too. I eat in my car as the lunch room is an awkward silence

It’s changed over the years, but right now I usually have a sandwich wrap, some small fruit, and something else relatively healthy. All in reusable bags or containers, inside an insulated bag. Sometimes it’s leftovers. I’m tracking my calories and macros at the moment so work lunch is usually 500 to 700 calories. 

I don’t, there’s a canteen where I work.

OP I’m curious what your reasoning is behind using a paper bag. I put my lunches (usually just dinner leftovers) in a reusable bag or lunch bag, and that is mostly to keep things clean if there’s leaks.

I can’t imagine that a paper bag would do much if something leaked, and they’re more difficult to carry (though I guess not if you have handles). Plus you can’t reuse them forever. No judgment, just genuinely curious if there’s some benefit I’m not seeing.

I usually do a smoothie in the morning that works as a brunch of sorts that includes:

Oats, chia seeds, benefiber, magnesium, frozen berries, maybe a banana, nut-butter, maybe a scoop of protein powder.

I work in sales (ironic, I’m anti-capitalist) barely take breaks and like to not die from colon cancer so it fits my lifestyle.