September 1, 2023
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Whether you make an egg salad sandwich or pair it with crackers, you’ll want it to last until lunch.
In this post, you’ll learn how to pack egg salad in a lunch box and keep it fresh for hours.
How Long Will Egg Salad Last in a Lunchbox?
The best part about egg salad is that it lasts up to 5 hours without refrigeration, making it the perfect protein-rich food to send to school.
You’ll want to add an ice pack to keep the temperature inside the lunch bag cool for optimal storage and freshness.
Using an insulated lunch bag is always a good idea, especially if the lunch bag is kept outdoors, which can increase the temperature of the food inside the bag.
Is Egg Salad Safe for School Lunch?
Whether you’re using store-bought mayonnaise to make a traditional egg salad or Greek yogurt to make a mayo-free egg salad, it’s completely safe to send egg salad for school lunch.
It’s not recommended when the egg salad is made with homemade mayonnaise since it’s made with raw eggs.
How to Pack Egg Salad for Lunch
Whether you make an egg salad sandwich or want to send egg salad for lunch with crackers, how you pack it to-go matters.
Here is how to keep it fresh:
- Pack the egg salad by itself.
Store the sandwich or egg salad inside its own compartment of a bento box, zip bag, or sandwich container. - Add an ice pack.
Keeping the temperature cool inside the lunch bag is especially important if the bag is stored outside and not in a temperature-controlled environment (like a classroom).
How to Pack Egg Salad without the Smell
The best way to prevent the eggy smell is to pack the egg salad sandwich or the egg salad in a container by itself and include an ice pack inside the lunch bag to keep the temperature cool since that eggy smell happens when the temperature of the egg salad gets warm.
How to prevent egg salad sandwich from getting soggy
You can avoid soggy sandwiches by using lettuce leaves as a barrier between the bread and the egg salad, reducing the amount of mayo used to make the salad, or swapping the airy sandwich bread for a bread roll sandwich or a tortilla to make an egg salad wrap.
Store-bought egg salads tend to be heavy on the mayo, making them great to pair with crackers to make an egg salad bento, but not so much for sandwiches. You can always add avocado to it and turn it into an avocado egg salad.
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