Get a soft cooler with big zipper pulls

For a construction worker who needs to open it with gloves, the best lunch box is a soft-sided cooler with a wide mouth and oversized zipper pulls.

Hard lunchboxes—old metal tins or plastic totes—look tough, but their latches are exactly what you don’t want when your hands are covered in calluses and dirt. You end up fumbling, dropping your sandwich, or giving up and eating it warm. A soft cooler with a chunky zipper pull lets you grip and yank with a gloved hand, and the wide opening means you can see inside without digging around.

Go for one with a rugged outer shell—ballistic nylon or TPU-coated fabric—and thick insulation. Brands like Stanley, Carhartt, and Yeti make job-site-rated versions that survive getting tossed in a truck bed. The Yeti Daytrip is a good pick if you want something compact; the Stanley FatMax line has more capacity and a tougher exterior. Either way, the zipper is the key. If you can’t grab the pull with work gloves, it’s the wrong bag.

Cold food is nice, but not hitting your head on a metal latch is nicer.