Soft lunch boxes win in the office mini fridge

Soft lunch boxes are the right call because they can squeeze into the odd nooks a mini fridge leaves you.

Mini fridges are terrible at storing things. There’s a freezer compartment hogging height, a curved back, and those little wire shelves that never fit a standard grocery bag. A rigid plastic or metal box just won’t fit the way you want it to. A soft-sided bag can be squished, laid on its side, stacked, or tucked into that one weird shelf your coworker’s yogurt lives on.

Measure your fridge’s interior before you buy. Most mini fridges have a shelf that’s about 10-12 inches deep and maybe 8-10 inches tall. So look for a lunch box that’s wider than it is tall — basically a shallow rectangle, not a cube. Also skip the heavy insulated models with thick walls. You don’t need to keep ice frozen for a campout, just until noon. Thin insulation takes up less space and still keeps your sandwich chill.

Final thought: Your lunch will fit, and so will everyone else’s.