Put the ice pack on top

Put the ice pack on top of the fruit, not buried at the bottom, because cold air sinks and it’ll draft down through the whole bag.

The biggest mistake in lunch packing is treating the ice pack like a floor mat. Ice packs work by letting cold air settle. If you stash one under everything, only the bottom row stays cold. Put it on top of the fruit and the cold pours over everything below it all morning.

For veggies, the real enemy isn’t heat, it’s moisture. A sealed container traps condensation and turns a crisp spinach leaf into a slimy one by noon. Line the veggie container with a dry paper towel to soak up the moisture. Leafy stuff like lettuce or herbs, though, wants the opposite: a lightly damp paper towel wrapped around them keeps them crisp, not wet.

And don’t let fruit and vegetables share a container. Apples, bananas, and tomatoes give off ethylene gas that makes greens wilt way faster. If there’s no fridge in your future, pick sturdy produce on purpose — grapes, melon, snap peas, carrots, bell peppers — and leave the delicate salad leaves for a day you’re near a fridge.

Your lunch box is just a tiny fridge. Same rules, smaller space.