Get a Squishy Lunch Bag, Not a Hard Box

For a tiny locker or mini-fridge, the best lunch box is a soft-sided insulated bag that you can squish into tight spots.

Hard-sided lunch boxes and bulky coolers are the enemy of small workspaces. They take up exactly as much room as their shape demands, and they don’t bend. A soft insulated bag — think neoprene or padded fabric — will compress to slide into the corner of a mini-fridge or wedge between the side of a locker and your coat. That flexibility is the whole game.

When you’re picking one, don’t obsess over brand names. Look for something with a narrow profile and a shape that works in your space. If your locker is tall and shallow, get a vertical bag. If your fridge shelf is short, get a flatter one that can also squish. Skip the giant 30-can cooler you’d take to the beach. That’s not where you are.

A bonus: many soft bags have a top handle or loop, so you can hang them in a locker and free up shelf space entirely.

Your sandwich doesn’t care about the brand, but your locker space does.