# food container / lunchbox



## Bluely

Hey,
I have a question. 
Is it *correct to say lunch box or lunch pail when you are not using the lunch box to put your lunch* but you are using it to put your dinner, breakfast or leftover food?
If it's not, how do you say it then?


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## Florentia52

Please give us the sentence in which you would use the phrase.


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## Bluely

Florentia52 said:


> Please give us the sentence in which you would use the phrase.


Any sentence that you want to say lunch box but to put the breakfast, dinner or leftover food

*Examples:*
I will put the leftover food/breakfast in the_ "lunchbox" _
(or however it's called to put your breakfast, I want to know what word you would use to say lunch box but for the leftover food or breakfast)


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## Myridon

A lunchbox is used to carry food with you to a place so that you can eat it later.  You seem to be asking about something that is used to store leftovers.
Regardless, a lunchbox doesn't change its name depending on what is inside it.  If you put sand in it, it is a lunchbox with sand in it, not a sandbox.


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## heypresto

I suppose it depends on what you mean by lunch box. with something like this, you could put more or less anything (that will fit) in it and it would still be a lunch box:








But something like this is designed specifically for food, and could be more or less any food, so any meal:






I guess you could put nuts and screws or needles and threads or bits and bobs in it as well. In which case you might call it a tool box or sewing box or something. Or still call it a lunch box.


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## london calling

When you say leftovers do you actually mean waste? That would go in the recycling bin for organic waste ('lunch pail' sounds like a container I would use to collect food for pigs, or something 🤣). 

Otherwise if you are going to eat it later you'd put it in a tupperware box or similar.


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## Bluely

london calling said:


> When you say leftovers do you actually mean waste? That would go in the recycling bin for organic waste ('lunch pail' sounds like a container I would use to collect food for pigs, or something 🤣).
> 
> Otherwise if you are going to eat it later you'd put it in a tupperware box or similar.



With leftover food I mean per example a slice of meat that leftover. Thanks!



Myridon said:


> A lunchbox is used to carry food with you to a place so that you can eat it later.  You seem to be asking about something that is used to store leftovers.
> Regardless, a lunchbox doesn't change its name depending on what is inside it.  If you put sand in it, it is a lunchbox with sand in it, not a sandbox.



ok thanks. it makes sense


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## Roxxxannne

london calling said:


> When you say leftovers do you actually mean waste? That would go in the recycling bin for organic waste ('lunch pail' sounds like a container I would use to collect food for pigs, or something 🤣).
> 
> Otherwise if you are going to eat it later you'd put it in a tupperware box or similar.


That's interesting.  In the US leftovers are not waste; they are the food from one meal that you didn't eat at that meal; you store them in some kind of sealable container to eat in the next day or so.  And a lunch pail is a container that you carry your lunch in if you eat at work and bring your food from home.  To my mind it's a pretty old-fashioned word, but farmers and miners and schoolkids in the US used to carry their lunches to work or school in tin pails with covers.  I suppose one good thing about them (other than their being easy to carry) was that they were multi-purpose items; you could use them for picking berries, for instance.


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## RM1(SS)

Don't think I've ever heard "lunch pail".  It was always "lunchbox" or "dinner pail".


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## LVRBC

It must be regional, as well as generational.  Lunchpail sounds normal to me, although lunchbox is more common.  And I just talked about it with my husband and he spontaneously used the word lunch-bucket, so all of the above around here for a blue-collar fellow getting on in years.


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## Jektor

Interesting question.
I have never heard of "lunch pail" or "dinner pail"(#9) before.
_> #6: _ 'lunch pail' sounds like a container I would use to collect food for pigs, or something_... _ 

> "When I was very young my dad would go to work with his _lunch pail_...
forum.wordreference.com - a-pail-of-water-bucket-or-pail.931698/#5895683

> "In the U.S. it used to be common to hear "lunch pail", but since most people no longer use a metal box to carry their lunch in (at least as far as I can see), this term seems to have dropped out of use.  People do say "sack lunch" very commonly here...
forum.wordreference.com - lunch-packet-packed-lunch-lunch-box.374430/#2209896

> "In United States politics, the term "lunch pail Democrat", "lunchbox Democrat", or "lunchbucket Democrat" refers to members of the Democratic Party with a "blue collar" or working-class background...
wikipedia.org - Lunch Pail Democrat

> "The concept of a food container has existed for a long time, but it was not until people began using tobacco tins to carry meals in the early 20th century, followed by the use of lithographed images on metal, that the containers became a staple of youth, and a marketable product. ... With increasing industrialization resulting in Americans working outside the home in factories, it became unfeasible to go home to lunch every day, thus it was necessary to have something to protect and transport a meal...  Tinplate boxes and recycled biscuit tins were commonly used in the early 1800s, and fitted metal pails and boxes began to appear around the 1850s. Patents started to appear for lunchbox inventions in the 1860s....
wikipedia.org - Lunchbox
etc. etc...
.


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## Roymalika

heypresto said:


> you could put more or less anything (that will fit) in it and it would still be a lunch box:


Suppose I'm a schoolchild, my first class in the new term will start at 7 am in the morning from Monday 27 July 2020. Our teacher has asked us to have our breakfast in school from Monday onwards. We are required to reach school half an hour before 7 am so we can have our breakfast. The teacher says,
Bring your lunch boxes with you on Monday, so you can have breakfast before the class begins. 

Is it correct to use "lunch box" in this sentence when it's meant to be used for breakfast?


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## jazyk

Bluely said:


> Hey,
> I have a question.
> Is it *correct to say lunch box or lunch pail when you are not using the lunch box to put your lunch* but you are using it to put your dinner, breakfast or leftover food?
> If it's not, how do you say it then?


I'm not sure I understand the question, but I'll venture an answer anyway: a doggie bag?


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## london calling

Roxxxannne said:


> That's interesting.  In the US leftovers are not waste; they are the food from one meal that you didn't eat at that meal;


They're not waste in BE either. I was just wondering if the OP thought they were, since they mentioned a pail, so I was imagining a bucket full of leftovers (pigswill or something). I wasn't aware that a lunch pail was a thing, you see.


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## heypresto

Roymalika said:


> Is it correct to use "lunch box" in this sentence when it's meant to be used for breakfast?


I don't know. This is _very _unlikely to happen here, so unlikely that we haven't a word for a container used specifically for breakfast. I imagine the teacher _could_ call it a 'breakfast box/tin'. But I also imagine that the container itself would be what what we call a lunch box. I guess it doesn't matter much as long as the children know what the teacher means, and they are supposed to do.



jazyk said:


> I'm not sure I understand the question, but I'll venture an answer anyway: a doggie bag?



No, as the definition you link to says: a container for leftover food *to be carried home from a meal eaten at a restaurant*.

See this previous thread: doggy bag [doggie bag]


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## Roymalika

heypresto said:


> I don't know. This is _very _unlikely to happen here, so unlikely that we haven't a word for a container used specifically for breakfast. I imagine the teacher _could_ call it a 'breakfast box/tin'. But I also imagine that the container itself would be what what we call a lunch box. I guess it doesn't matter much as long as the children know what the teacher means, and they are supposed to do.


Does it mean that lunch box is specifically meant to be used for lunch as the name suggests?


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## heypresto

No. See posts #4 and #5 above.


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## Roymalika

heypresto said:


> No. See posts #4 and #5 above.


OK, got it. Just want to he sure... if in your country (I suppose you live in the UK), some teacher used lunchbox as I did in #12, would you consider it wrong?


Edit. Corrected a typo


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## heypresto

No, because we don't have a word 'breakfast box', so the teacher would have to call it a lunch box, as that is the name for one of these containers, but of course the teacher would be making it clear that the children were to bring a breakfast with them, so they would know what he or she meant.

This is straying into almost impossible territory, so I can only guess at what a teacher might say. It's really not a scenario that anybody has ever had to think about before.


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## Edinburgher

london calling said:


> I wasn't aware that a lunch pail was a thing, you see.


Nor I.  Do people even still use the word "pail" or has it paled into oblivion?
It's always a bucket as far as I'm concerned, except when Jack and Jill go up the hill.

I used to take my lunch to school in a container known as a "lunch kit".
That may be a Canadianism, because I don't recall hearing that term elsewhere.


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## sound shift

Edinburgher said:


> Do people even still use the word "pail" or has it paled into oblivion? I'm concerned, except when Jack and Jill go up the hill.


Have a quick dekko at the rest of the forum and you'll see that some people use it when Jack and Jill aren't about. It would appear that most of those people are in North America. My usage is the same as yours.


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## london calling

jazyk said:


> I'm not sure I understand the question, but I'll venture an answer anyway: a doggie bag?


Only if you go to a restaurant.


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## london calling

I still call the plastic boxes I use for leftovers  (or whatever) tupperware boxes/containers, even if I haven't bought any Tupperware in decades (my mother still has some 60s relics, though).


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## takiakos76

[This question has been added to a previous thread in which the same topic is discussed]
Hi!
What do you call these plastic boxes that some people use to take food to the office with them? As in,
"Please don't leave your lunch boxes / food containers / food storage containers / ...? in the fridge for the weekend."

To me lunch boxes would sound most natural, but the image it conjures up to me is something a schoolchild would take with them to school
that has a handle, opens like a suitcase (i.e., lengthwise, in the middle), possibly has compartments in it and maybe some nice picture on the side.
(Or and old-timey construction worker's lunch box.)

What I mean is more like the plastic container that has a lid and can usually be put in the microwave oven. So what is _that_ called? (In everyday parlor.)

Thanks!


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## entangledbank

Office workers could bring in lunchboxes, but they'd contain lunch: perhaps leftover curry which they microwave at lunchtime. They could be the same thing (plastic boxes) as 'food containers', but I'd use 'lunchbox' if they took it home that night to wash it - if the purpose was to be lunch, not to be their food stored for a few days in the office refrigerator.

I don't know what children take to school these days, but those simple plastic containers of various sizes are very common now, so they probably use the same thing that grown-ups do.


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## JulianStuart

I'd say a lunchbox applies to a container that has various items in: drink, piece of fruit, sandwich, for example.  Instead of the sandwich it might have a food container (Tupperware or similar) with sealed lid, with leftovers from a previous dinner - or made specially for lunch etc.  If it
s the latter you mean, it's a food container not a lunch-box. These are food (storage) containers, not lunchboxes


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## JulianStuart

For many people (myself included) I think Tupperware is close to a generonym - like Kleenex, Hoover, Xerox etc


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## london calling

Yes, that's really what I meant, but I wasn't clear.  You may have noticed that I didn't capitalise tupperware when I said 'tupperware boxes' but that I did when talking about the brand.


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## takiakos76

JulianStuart said:


> If it's the latter you mean, it's a food container not a lunch-box. These are food (storage) containers, not lunchboxes



Yes, I mean the Tupperware thingies.
So it's possible then to get an e-mail at the office, like "Hey people, don't leave your food containers in the fridge!" ?
What I'm getting at is whether it's a colloquial enough expression, because to me it sounds a little bit... non-colloquial (although "formal" would be too strong a word)...


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## LVRBC

It is fine, and nothing that starts with Hey People could possibly be considered formal.  I would suggest adding the word _please _after the comma or just before the period.  And, no, as others have said, these are not lunchboxes.


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## takiakos76

LVRBC said:


> It is fine, and nothing that starts with Hey People could possibly be considered formal.  I would suggest adding the word _please _after the comma or just before the period.  And, no, as others have said, these are not lunchboxes.



OK, I meant whether the expression "your food containers" itself is colloquial enough to fit into that intentionally sloppily written e-mail. 
But from your answer I presume the answer to that is also "yes".


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## london calling

I'd call them lunchboxes, given that that is what the containers are being used as in your context. It sounds far more natural.


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## Packard

In India (I believe) they have "bento boxes", which I've seen advertised as "lunch boxes" despite the fact that they have a more apt name.

The chain of stores in the USA, "The Container Store" calls these:

*ECOlunchbox Stainless Steel Round 3-in-1 Bento Box*


So I think "lunch box" is the omnibus term for all containers carrying a meal.  There are subheadings, but I think "lunch box" is a safe choice.


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## natkretep

Those are called tiffin carriers in my part of the world. See Wikipedia: Tiffin carrier - Wikipedia

(And 'tiffin' is a word we have retained from colonial times to refer to a light meal.)

I think the Indian term is 'tiffin box'. See Tiffin Box | Definition of Tiffin Box by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Tiffin Box


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## Roxxxannne

As far as I know, bento boxes are Japanese. The item in the picture looks more like an Indian tiffin box.

Cross-boxed


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## Packard

natkretep said:


> Those are called tiffin carrier in my part of the world. See Wikipedia: Tiffin carrier - Wikipedia
> 
> (And 'tiffin' is a word we have retained from colonial times to refer to a light meal.)
> 
> I think the Indian term is 'tiffin box'. See Tiffin Box | Definition of Tiffin Box by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Tiffin Box


I think I have heard "tiffin" also.  I wonder what the source is for "bento".

Addendum:  I just googled "bento boxes" and it appears that the Container Store is misapplying the term.  They should be calling that a "tiffin box".

A bento box has multiple compartments and seems to be mostly make from plastic.  This website shows Japanese products and is calling this a "bento box", something we would call a "compartment tray" in the USA, though this example is far more elegant than the compartment trays we normally see.

Japan's Bento Box: A Complete Guide to the Japanese Lunch Box


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## Roxxxannne

Wikipedia gives the etymology for the Japanese word_ bento_ as a slang word from several centuries ago meaning 'convenient' or 'convenience.'


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## Myridon

We've established that these aren't called lunchboxes.  In the context of cleaning out the fridge at work, there will also be paper bags, styrofoam leftover containers, etc so "food containers" is appropriate though it would probably be easier to just refer to the food rather than the containers.  Having empty containers in the refrigerator is not the problem.


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## ovaltine888

What about those one-off boxes used to wrap up the "leftover" in a restaurant? Usually made of foam or cheap plastic?
What do you guys name them?


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## Roxxxannne

I would write (and have probably received) something like
"Hey people, don't leave your leftover food in the fridge!"
The problem is not that people are putting food containers per se in the fridge but that they are leaving food containers with food that they don't eat -- leftover food -- in the fridge.

That way you can avoid focusing on the containers -- Tupperware, bento boxes, clamshell boxes, lunchboxes, lunchbags, food storage containers, etc. -- and draw people's attention instead to the stinky, moldy stuff in them.


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## JulianStuart

ovaltine888 said:


> What about those one-off boxes used to wrap up the "leftover" in a restaurant? Usually made of foam or cheap plastic?
> What do you guys name them?
> 
> View attachment 46613
> View attachment 46614


Those also come under the general category of "food containers".



Roxxxannne said:


> Wikipedia gives the etymology for the Japanese word_ bento_ as a slang word from several centuries ago meaning 'convenient' or 'convenience.'


(Indeed - a "colloquial" word using the same ben- translates to "convenience room" (WC).)
The bento (tray) we know in Japanese restaurants has been shown above, but they also exist in a configuration like the tiffin, also shown above.  This stacked version is also known as a bento:


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