Get the salad box with the ice pack in the lid

The best salad lunch box is the one with a freezable ice pack built into the lid, like the Bentgo Salad container.

That lid-mounted ice pack is the whole trick. Cold is what keeps greens crisp, and it keeps the entire container fridge-cold without adding bulk or weight. The dressing sits in its own little screw-top cup, so nothing touches the lettuce until you’re ready to eat. It even has a small side well for croutons or cherry tomatoes and a fork that snaps into the lid.

You can make cheaper setups work — any bento box with a separate dressing well, like a Sistema, is fine if you pack everything cold and eat early. But by 1 p.m. those greens start to go limp. Glass containers with dressing cups work too, but they’re heavy and don’t hold cold.

If you eat salad at work on the regular, spend the $25. It’s the one lunch container where the gimmick actually does the job.