Comments on: Unitasker Wednesday: Incredibly specific containers

By: Almost American

Almost American — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:21:46 +0000

I like to keep a couple of Nutrigrain bars in my bag for emergency snacks for my kids – saves me buying much more expensive spur-of-the-moment snacks. They do get crumbly eventually though, which means the kids spill most of them on the floor. I recently discovered that a glasses case, recycled from one of my old pairs of glasses, works perfectly to keep them intact!

By: ziggee

ziggee — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:07:59 +0000

my dh loves his Poptart container even though he uses the store brand poptarts to put them in.

Zig

By: Mo

Mo — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:29:33 +0000

I got Laptop Lunches e-newsletter last week, so I’m guessing they are still around.

I agree with the general consensus that these branded things are silly, but… for things that you keep on hand for “emergencies” – like power bars in purse or car, a small, light dedicated container would be a good thing. My husband had a power bar in one of these in the pocket of his car door. If he ate it, he put the empty in his briefcase, so he’d know to restock. An ordinary tupperware wouldn’t really have fit.

But I really can’t see spending money on these – I think we got ours for boxtops.

By: Java Monster

Java Monster — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:22:58 +0000

I went to the Laptop Lunches site, but unfortunately, none of the links to buy their product are working. Have they gone out of business? Does anyone know?

By: vladimir cole

vladimir cole — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:07:46 +0000

You had me going. I just started reading the blog, so I wasn’t aware that these were joke posts. I was ready to storm down here to the comments box and let you have it. Haha. This is a great find. What a worthless product. I’ve been collecting these myself. So far, just a small collection of four worthless consumer products:

http://www.vladcole.net/?cat=10

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:30:19 +0000

These are so funny. I guess if you ate Nutrigrain bars or one of those other foods every day, it *might* be okay…as I have experienced the crumbly bar that someone else mentioned. But, my answer to that was to stop buying them. Part of the benefit of having pre-packaged food–as wasteful as it is–is to NOT have a container afterward, in my opinion. You might as well just make your own granola bars if you have to put them in a container anyway. BTW, my mom got me one of those laptop lunches someone posted about for Christmas. We sent it back because it just didn’t work for me.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:54:09 +0000

I’m all about protecting your food on the go, but this is so specific. I use a small school supply container that I got at Wal-Mart for $1 to carry a few granola bars and a banana around in my backpack. It works perfectly and I can fit more than one piece of food in it.

By: Emma

Emma — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:28:10 +0000

Totally off topic but ooooh Pop Tarts, I’ve not had one of those for years… I need one now!

By: Hillary

Hillary — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:42:27 +0000

I was addicted to Pop Tarts at one point in time and go the container for free after mailing in a few UPCs. I’ll tell you after I got it, I never ate Pop Tarts again and it just kicked around the house. CLUTTER! But had I kept eating PT I would have used it. Nothing worse than having crumbly Pop Tarts. Hopefully someone is getting use out of it now, as it was donated…

By: carol

carol — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:47:50 +0000

rescued that nutri-grain container from the 99 cent store two years ago & haven’t eaten a squished / melted Powerbar since.

tough enough to toss into a gym bag, tiny enough for a clutch, but LIVES in my laptop bag – random lunch is always ready

absolutely saved me hundreds in on-the-go meals

not to mention the extra calories, packaging & environmentally unsound sadness of fast food…

talk about uncluttered

By: Sue

Sue — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:34:08 +0000

It’s not just clutter–it’s ADVERTISING!!!

By: tay

tay — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:23:57 +0000

why would i want one more piece of clutter in my kitchen? That’s all it would turn into. I’m thinking minimalist here.

By: Baerana

Baerana — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:25:32 +0000

i’d actually like a nutrigrain container – i keep one in my bag at all times (for when my blood sugar drops too low) and they are always crumbs by the time i eat them

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:00:01 +0000

My wife and I were at my folks house for dinner last week, and my mom sent us home with a few cupcakes, neatly packaged in individual cupcake tupperware.

I will say that they made it home in perfect condition

By: Celeste

Celeste — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:38:41 +0000

My daughter’s plastic cupcake holder is truly a uni-tasker, but it clutches the bottom of the cake so the frosting stays put.

You can still eat a Nutri-grain bar if it’s in pieces, but a cupcake is delicate enough to need protection in transit.

By: spark

spark — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:15:10 +0000

Some of those containers aren’t really unitaskers, they could be used for other things. They’d just become a “fancy” tupperware or gladware container.

But I MUST agree, for the most part, those are absolutely absurd. Especially the nutri-grain container and similar ones. Creating a product specific container for an already pre-packaged food is a definite waste.

I love my apple-cinnamon nutri-grain bar and don’t especially like it once it gets squished in my backpack…but no way in hell would I waste cash on that container thingy. They still taste good, squished flat or fresh from the box puffed up.

By: zonebattler

zonebattler — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:14:58 +0000

To me, brand specific food containers seem to be a waste of precious resources. However, it might make sense to get a fancy container to protect delicate fruits like bananas in your backpack:

http://bananabunker.com

http://www.banabox.de

Then again, I somehow managed to get around for some 48 years without buying plastic stuff like that. And I carried a lot of bananas in my life!

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:09:38 +0000

I regularly use one that holds pringles. I store it in my lunch box. It holds a serving of pringles, and keeps them from being broken in my bag. Plus it was free.

And it is better then using a plastic bag every day.

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:57:10 +0000

I’ve seen the sandwich containers at the local supermarket. Since they’re flatter than the containers I use to pack my sandwich every day, they would take up less space in my bag than the selection of containers I already have. I would consider getting one if they weren’t branded.

Neat link. Thanks!

By: Steph

Steph — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:56:50 +0000

I used to have one of those Oreo containers… ahh, childhood.

The Nutri-Grain ones are really something else, though.