The best container for a packed lunch bowl, grain bowl or salad is a glass container with an airtight, leak-proof lid that's also freezer, oven and microwave safe. That way dressing doesn't leak in your bag, last night's dinner reheats cleanly at your desk, and the container itself won't stain or hold onto smells the way plastic tends to. Glass containers with silicone-sealed, locking lids hold up best to daily use — loose plastic clip lids are usually the first thing to fail.
Why is everyone suddenly packing lunch again?
If your feed has been full of lunch bowls lately, you're not imagining it. UK retail data reported this month shows searches for "lunch bowls" up 79% year-on-year, with grain bowls up 173% and salad bowls doubling. Nearly half of UK professionals say they're packing lunch more often than last year, and most point to the cost of buying lunch out as the main reason — alongside wanting more control over what's actually in their food.
It's less a fad and more a return to something people did for years before expensive meal-deals and desk delivery apps took over. The difference this time is that people are packing proper meals — rice and protein bowls, noodle salads, leftovers from dinner — rather than just a sandwich. That's exactly where a decent container earns its keep.
What actually makes a good lunch bowl container?
A few things separate a container you'll still be using in a year from one that's cracked, stained or binned within a month:
A lid that actually seals. If you're carrying a dressed salad or a saucy bowl in a bag, a snap-on lid with a proper silicone gasket is the difference between lunch and a bag you need to wash out. Good For You's glass containers use a locking, airtight lid design for exactly this reason.
Freezer, oven, fridge and microwave safe — the same container. Batch-cook on Sunday, freeze half, reheat the rest through the week without decanting into something else. Borosilicate glass handles that range without warping, unlike most plastic.
Doesn't stain or smell. Glass is non-porous, so it doesn't take on the orange tint from a tomato-based curry or hold onto the smell of last week's fish the way plastic can after a few washes.
Actually food-safe. Good For You's containers are LFGB-certified glass and completely BPA-free, so there's nothing to worry about with hot food going straight in.
Can I put a hot grain bowl straight from the freezer into the oven?
With genuine borosilicate glass, yes — that's one of the main reasons people switch from plastic in the first place. The short version: let it come up slightly from frozen rather than going straight from a deep freeze into a very hot oven, and avoid extreme, sudden temperature swings (glass dislikes shock, not heat). We've covered the full rules for freezer-to-oven use in more detail elsewhere on this blog if you want the specifics.
Will it actually survive daily use — the dishwasher, a bag, a desk drawer?
This is really a question about lids and glass base separately. The glass bases are dishwasher-safe and, being glass, don't scratch, cloud or absorb odours the way plastic containers do after a few dozen washes — they still look new well after the plastic equivalent would be discoloured. Lids get more wear, which is why Good For You backs every container with a 2-year warranty: if a lid seal or clip wears out, you get it fixed or replaced rather than needing to bin the whole set and buy again. It's a small thing, but it means one lunch container set can genuinely last years instead of being a September purchase you're replacing by January.
What size should I actually buy?
For a proper grain bowl or main meal, the larger single-compartment containers give you room for rice or noodles, protein and vegetables without everything getting mashed together on the walk to the office. If you're prepping bowls for the week, a 5-pack covers a working week without needing to wash up daily; the 10-pack suits batch cooking for the freezer alongside your weekly lunches, or a household packing more than one lunch a day. If you're prepping for kids' packed lunches specifically, the smaller kids' containers are sized for that rather than an adult portion.
The takeaway
The packed-lunch comeback isn't just nostalgia — it's a genuine response to the cost of buying lunch out, and glass containers are having a moment because they're one of the few things that actually stand up to being used, washed and reheated every single day without degrading. A good set pays for itself fairly quickly once you're not replacing warped, stained plastic every few months — and with free UK shipping regularly available at checkout, there's no real reason to put it off.
Ready to pack a proper lunch bowl instead of another soggy sandwich? Browse Good For You's glass meal prep containers and find the size that fits your week.